You lay upon that ledge of death and grabbed
My hand, I begged you not to let it go,
But saw the razor edge of breath that stabbed
And thus released your fettered soul. I know
I was a fool, distracted by a cloud
That wept above your ledge to frame this scene
In hills of sorrow, graying, heavy browed
Through winds of comfort blowing in between.
But now I understand my fall was best
Toward this grand abyss of life, was shown
You earned your lofty ledge of death, so rest;
And I shall climb to one that is my own.
I see now that the tears of that cloud
Were rains of mercy we were both allowed.
Under The Influence
If we know we’re going to speed
In the clutches of a spirit
Or the overdrive of weed,
But there is an old intoxicant
The heart can feed the brain
That can taint our blood without a trace
And make us go insane.
And the only way to keep that drug
From getting in our veins
Is to bring respect, humanity
And patience to our lanes.
Anger injures, anger maims,
Anger kills, anger burns
Like a coal from hell behind the wheel
Negotiating turns.
And even shun your phone
As you rev up all four thousand pounds
Of metal that you own.
Bring our decency along,
Show some spine and wage restraint
Against the influences strong
Of the deadliest impulses
That can ornament the wrong.
Let’s not cast the melody of life
But defuse this bomb, locate those wires
To return where life begins, and learn
To breathe. And let breathe.
Swiping Away My Tears
Diamond In The Rough
Deep down beneath a hundred miles of earth,
And stay there as a billion years go by
To grow in hardness lending it it’s worth.
It’s fascinating how a child may live
Deep down beneath a thousand miles of pain,
And stay there, although everything may give
Till beating heart and fighting soul remain.
This is the tale of diamonds in the rough,
Unknown and unacknowledged through their time,
And as if all that pressure’s not enough,
They’re covered with the thickest coats of grime.
To shine is not up to the stone or child
But to the hand that finds it in the wild.
On Riverside Walks
Heart And Sole
They stand me up and sit me down,
I’m safe when they are on the ground,
Past fields, through woods, up canyons grand,
Oh, how I love the touch of land.
I know my feet have served me well,
Though there were times I know I fell.
And bikes and trams and trains and cars,
And ships and planes and flights to Mars
Are one side of the great divide
Between a ride and happy stride.
A bond that’s shared by earth and heart
Grows stronger as they drift apart,
From dust we come, in dust demise
Till all that settles comes to rise.
The Kingdom Trap
When waters whelmed the tyrant and his men
And drained that wealthy kingdom of its power,
It seemed the consequence of all that then
Would be for slaves to rise up to the hour
And take it back. But came the high command
That turned them east and set them desert-bound
That they may become of the Promised Land
Of Paradise where lasting peace is found.
And thus the most beloved of the Lord
Returned, a conqueor with head bowed low
With reason for the conquest: to afford
The Abrahamic pilgrimage. So know:
Seek kingdom and authority on earth
To be deprived of it where has it worth.
Falling Snow
Forging a new form. I find this one works well to combine a visual scene with an abstract thought that it inspires. The form comprises five stanzas:
- A sestet detailing a scene (two lines of trimeter and one tetrameter, repeating as aac bbc)
- A couplet summarizing the scene (trimeter, i.e. keep it short)
- A sestet re-inforcing the preceding stanzas and/or gradually introducing the abstraction (same meter as first sestet)
- A couplet followed by
- A tercet – i.e. five lines that clarify the abstraction.
I’m going to try and repeat this form in a future post to see if it holds up :-). Share your thoughts in a comment here, or email me.
Powdered sugar driveways;
Slipping on the highways;
Crystal wonder flakes in motion;
Fallen in an hour
In a gentle shower,
Look around you: it’s an ocean.
Snow, snow, snow, everywhere,
Float and blow through the air,
Let the whiners blather
On that they would rather
Brave the summertime commotion.
Feel the mercy falling,
I can hear you calling
Through the layers of this notion.
Snow and love fall the same
From above in the name
Of the ever living,
And forever giving
Center of a heart’s devotion.
On The Not So Many Things I Cannot Stand
This sonnet was borne by the silence of an early afternoon Metra ride out of Chicago. I think it was inspired by some “explosive laughter” on a conference call from earlier in the day.
On Healy’s Insightful Observation
I WIll Grieve, I Will Laugh, But I Am Not Charlie, by Josh Healy