He tastes solitude
on Gama,
Savoury to his buds.
He is a bird,
Pearching hymns,
He is a fig
Among fronds.
You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.
That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair
......
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
......
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day
For half his flock were in their beds
Or under green sods lay.
Once, while he nodded in a chair
At the moth-hour of the eve
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.
......
And sometimes I am sorry when the grass
Is growing over the stones in quiet hollows
And the cocksfoot leans across the rutted cart-pass
That I am not the voice of country fellows
Who now are standing by some headland talking
Of turnips and potatoes or young corn
Of turf banks stripped for victory.
Here Peace is still hawking
His coloured combs and scarves and beads of horn.
......
Peace and sadness have similar effects on the body,
But the meaning is vastly different.
A calm, weightless chest
Compared to a thoughtless, numb heartbeat.
A mind free from worry
Compared to protection, a split between mind and body.
Between thought and reality.
A cry of understanding,
Beauty found on earth.
......
I feel my heartbeat through an empty chest,
Calm is a state of mind.
A state of being.
Physically, calmness is the ability to block the mind,
Focus on slow breaths and smooth heartbeats.
11/19/23
Ocean waves transform to music through the ears,
The sunset an original painting for the eyes.
Cold wind washes the body in peace,
The salty air a feast for the mind.
11/14/23
To be a bird,
a beauty of nature.
Continuous skies, endless sights.
No limits, no Borders.
My peace would be as a bird.
sitting amongst scenes of peace and tranquility.
Forgetfulness is a cabin on the beach,
A rocking chair on a pier.
A sunset over a sailboat.
The ocean's tide swallows fear and worry,
It's salty mist spraying serenity and rest.
The crash of waves bring power from stormy seas,
Lapping of ripples under a dock from wind and tide.
......