Listen

… Listen    listen

To the children

Those who are like flower buds

Opening     as they are

Into their adulthood

Listen to them

You who close your minds

Your hearts

To give them safety

Safety through laws

That could prevent them

Ever having to witness

Death

In what was the cocoon

Of their school

 

It is time     it is past

Time

To ban weapons built

Only to kill     to destroy

Where does your intent

Lie

You who are labeled maker of

Laws

Do you use your powers

Of office

To bolster the existence of

Assault weapons

Or

Will you listen to the children

Will you listen

As you never listened to their elders

And act on what needs

Doing

Ban the assault guns

Ban them     ban them

 

NOW

                                   photo credit

 

Thus It Is So

Beethoven composes his majestic Ninth Symphony

Mozart the sacred Requiem

Handel his powerful Messiah

Poverty is alive all around them

And children go hungry

 

Every age     every millennium

Carries suffering

Gives birth to those who live

Impelled to help

Gives birth to those who choose

To turn away

Leaving their powers for change

Lost

Like a blade of sea grass

Pulled with the tide

Into the deepest depth

Of the ocean

Thus it is so

 

Why

Fishing

He runs down the sand dune

Slipping sliding down

Flings his fishing line over his head

A school of dolphin near the shore

Dive in and out of the water

I can’t believe it

Father wants to catch

One

 

He runs down the beach

Races with the dolphins

They play with him

Tease him

Never losing pace

His feet

Pound the shoreline

Keeping up

Until

Far down the beach

He loses breath

Falls back

And they swim

Away

 

—1981

(under)Painting by Brian McQueen

Night Owl

From early childhood

I am drawn to the night

A night owl

Drawn to the light from windows

Of houses

With no knowledge of who

Lives inside

Still     I imagine them

Surrounded with love

Feeling secure

Behind the warm glow

Of their lighted windows

That draw my attention

Like a moth to lamp light

 

I love the moon

I love each phase of her journey

Against a dark sky

Brightest when no clouds

Share the atmosphere

But when clouds

Do cover her face

Move around her    frame her

Light

All are moon magic for me

All are gifts of the night

 

And as day folds into the

Coming night

Never do I fear the dark

It is a blanket I wrap

Around myself

Freedom to be totally who

I am

Who I’ve always been

Who I will always be

-September 2017