My muse is mostly mute,
Her eyes closed and mouth shut.
She’s particular about when to speak,
And will brook no truck with any cheek.
The passing fancy doesn’t amuse;
Not interested in the current news.
Will never even waste a glance
When her mind’s caught in a trance.
But then her moment comes around,
Her voice clear and strong as a belltower gong.
So never ignore an elusive sage,
Diviner of truth and beauty in every age.
Silver moonlight dapples the furtive wood elves —
All indistinct, glimpsed, perhaps only imagined,
Just as vague recollections flash by in the mind,
While it searches in vain for anything tangible.
In the moonlight that is recollecting,
The mind touches a weathered door that creeks open,
Revealing dimly the dusty furnishings of a bygone age.
Mere sight or sound or smell stirs vague memories,
Hinting at experiences hiding in the past.
But one wanders in the moon’s faint light,
As in the past, without clear sight,
So leave the moonlight to the owls and the ravens, you say,
And the past to itself, alone and forgotten,
For this bright new day.
Hark, fair wind,
Take my soul
To a peaceful harbor
Beyond yon horizon.
A lost glove on the ground,
Its pair equally at a loss somewhere,
Just as a long-lived partner,
Separated by death, soldiers on.
When your soul’s companion departs,
How do you answer when no one replies;
How do you spend time without the other;
How do you accept?
Alone on a solitary journey
Not by choice, but here am I…
Just a lost glove on the ground,
A lost glove, nothing more.
Time sweeps on…
A raging river.
Young and old,
All caught in the torrent.
Dickens said it best:
“Time…wait(s) for no man.”
We are all pulled along,
Hurtling toward our Niagara.
Holding hands,
An elderly couple
Walks slowly through the park.
Like a bee hovering momentarily over flowers,
The couple stops now and then
To share comments about this and that,
Savoring the nectar,
Then moves on to the next attraction,
To the next blossom,
Unhurried, self-contained, free.
All around the couple,
Singles clutch their cell phones,
Ever impatient to be elsewhere.
