The Innisfree Poetry Journal www.innisfreepoetry.org by Richard Harteis
family photo Autumn on the River "Downriver, other dogs take up the work. They are clearing a path for the barges of cold and silence which the creatures are expecting." William Meredith, "Winter on the River" My head drinks in the pillow, the phylactery is full. The provident geese have all flown town, the lazy swans dawdle on, oblivious. The cricket plays to an empty house. A battalion of bees has commandeered the humming bird feeder. School busses careen around the countryside like yellow dragons. Red bleeds into the maple bright as a warning flag: Here she comes, here she comes. Better get off the tracks. Autumn comes barreling down with barges of ice sure to follow. Time to buy some No More Tears and shampoo my baby-thin hair. Time for a cap and scarf, time to air the moth balls and assess the damage. Time to repair, transplant and harvest, time to nurture the heart till spring once more revives.
family photo The Cricket Sings the Blues Que Sera Sera Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet. We danced the night away under the electric moon. Music was as easy as crossing your legs, love, a non-stop friction. Stars exploded anywhere we looked across the majestic sky. We seized every minute of the day. We ate our fill, at will, from the earth's resplendent bounty and we lost ourselves in the endless kiss of summer. Now fall comes roaring in in his pimpmobile to shut down the party and collect the rent. It's all soggy confetti and stale beer. The drummer's split, the fiddle repossessed. All we can muster is an arthritic squeak for the bored clean-up crew mopping the floors. No place left to crash, the sun bears down like a nasty hangover. crows line up in their black robes and caw from the tops of trees: "get your ass out of the garden, and get a job" to we, who only lately were the very definition of delight! Oh man . . . . Wind Over Water (A country song) Like a wind over water The tide in the sea Your spirit still moves me Though the world has stopped turning Since you are not here. When the wheat field is waving And the clouds dance above Your love it protects me from pain and the grave So blow on me darling Rekindle my fire Let memory take us The heart's full desire We'll walk in the valley The mountain's high bliss I give you my soul dear This eternal kiss You live deep inside me like the core of a tree that reaches to heaven and grows tenderly I'll carry you darling for days and for years time hasn't the power to dry up these tears For like a wind over water The tide in the sea You spirit still moves me and the world will start turning When you reappear The Lone Swan makes his radiant way on a ribbon of light that mirrors the sky's proud flag: red, gold, silver, lavender. Such a brave white chest gliding effortlessly on the water, concealing the great paddles pulling against the current below. Where is he traveling in the fading light? Where is his legendary mate? Not even his reflection for comfort, oblivious to his beauty. Tonight no fox will ruin his nest no hunter trespass his sleep. Tonight he'll ascend the ladder of light cast across the water to lay his breast against the moon, to wrap his wings about his lover and blanket the dreaming world below in the sweet consummation of their shadow. Copyright 2006-2012 by Cook Communication |
