Tuesday's Poem #3

"The Light's Not There"

Twinkle, twinkle little star

Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

How I wonder where you are!

Aching neck, he looks again
To the left and to the right
Eyes scanning horizon
From sea to sky
- never finding

Hands rest wearily
Clasping gently rising, falling
Tension coiled in shoulders
Falls the length of arms
Pooling, roaring through fingers
- out into the ocean

A head hangs
Swings right
Swings left
Stretching
Coaxing some peace
- in this nothingness

Facing again, eyes piercing darkness
No light comes
No star, no wish, no gods
The things on high
- remain so silent

No hope shattered
He knew, but he did wish
He looks again
Before making his choice
Choice already made
- 'north, it has to be north'

The dark swallows
Ship without light
Man without soul
Mind without faith
- so he sails.

Tuesday's Poem #2

"Welcome Fire"

Comes to the edge
Long, broken road behind

Everyone fled
None to mind

Scattered gear
The wages of war
- only company

Seen this vast expanse
Now this, this, this

Here the gauntlet falls
Metal will taste
- no success

Helmet joins the ravages
Sword bites the earth

Every piece
- once shielded llife
Now strewn
- before this edge

Naked, standing
Before this edge

Wall of flame
Fire fills the void

War has led
Blood
- the golden brick road

Death and peace
Hell and chaos

None the wiser
But this is end

End in thought
End in fire

End of passion
End of fire

End by self
End by the flame

No question remains
Only the hesitancy
- to jump

A hand passes through
Like the finger of a child
- through the flame of a candle

A hand becomes an arm

Arm the chest

One leg

Then another
- swallowed by fire

A swell of dust
Sole leaves this earth

War left behind
None left to mind

Tuesday's Poem #1

"Ready"

The cauldron
burns and spews
Violent eruption
No ceasing
No end

The cloud
opens and empties
Heavy fall
Immediate beginning
Sudden end

The rain
cascades and tumbles
Gentle, gentle
It may stop
It may end

Collides with cauldron
Meeting with force
Drama
The rain stops
- never ending
Rising again
Far gentler
than it's gentle, violent beginning

The cauldron empties
Not churning
No violence
Though no peace

Hot but never heavy
The cauldron lets go

The cloud waits for the return

Return to grace
Violence to peace
Never peaceful.