A Conversation Poem, April, 1798
No cloud, no relique of the sunken day
Distinguishes the West, no long thin slip
Of sullen light, no obscure trembling hues.
Come, we will rest on this old mossy bridge!
You see the glimmer of the stream beneath,
But hear no murmuring: it flows silently.
O'er its soft bed of verdure. All is still.
A balmy night! and though the stars be dim,
......
The memory of you emerges from the night around me.
The river mingles its stubborn lament with the sea.
Deserted like the wharves at dawn.
It is the hour of departure, oh deserted one!
Cold flower heads are raining over my heart.
Oh pit of debris, fierce cave of the shipwrecked.
In you the wars and the flights accumulated.
......
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
......
It would be good to give much thought, before
you try to find words for something so lost,
for those long childhood afternoons you knew
that vanished so completely -and why?
We're still reminded-: sometimes by a rain,
but we can no longer say what it means;
life was never again so filled with meeting,
with reunion and with passing on
......
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretense
Our wanderings to guide.
Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
......
Down the driveway and along the sidewalk
Fallen leaves whisper underfoot of a teetering post-toddler
Through the front yard and over the fence
Laughter of the leaves grows louder under velcroed shoes
Up a tree and over the great stone wall
Crunches and snaps and crackles in twigs under bunny eared sneakers
A long trail long silent
A railway lingering in disuse
The new conductor’s symphony of nature has covered over the tracks of the predecessor
The Railroad never known in its operation to a child who has only lived so long
......
I woke up one day,thought I had it all right,
Books in my bag,future shinning so bright.
Life felt so smooth,like a "perfect design",
Then it all crumbled, couldn't "cross the line".
School was a blast,I was "top of my game,"
Acing each "test",building up my name.
Then "homework" piled up,stacked way too high,
I tried to escape,but my "controller denied."
I failed to "re-spawn", "focus" started to fade,
Karate class came, but I was afraid,
......
The child within me
does not ask for much-
a patch of sunlight,
a question answered with honesty,
a hand held without reason.
She laughs at shadows
and speaks to birds,
not to be clever,
but because they listen.
......
(terza rima)
While once a lad and kindergarten small,
at end of class one day in grammar school
I heard a piano playing in the hall.
A peek revealed a man astride a stool,
but there were none about to me explain
the tuning fork and crooked lever tool.
......
Dancing with the golden sun,
Through fields of grass, I laugh and run.
A little child, so light and free,
No cares, no worries follow me.
Happy heart and flying feet,
Skipping through the meadow sweet,
Little One, how far you'll stray,
Chasing dreams along the way!
What path you'll choose, what place to find,
Adventure calls your open mind.
......