Who can say what words the wind has spoken,
when cast out in the night, it has its say?
Its speech slips out in whispers, clipped and broken.
Who can say
what language that it speaks, to curse, or pray;
and what translation key exists, what token,
to know its words, first heard at break of day?
So many lonely years it speaks, heartbroken,
unanswered in misunderstood wordplay.
What conversation passes with the woken?
Who can say?
12 MAY 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, conversation, English verse forms, morning, poetic forms, quiet, roundel, sound, whispers, wind
Wake early, quietly, deliberate;
look closely, carefully, attentively.
Pay greater attention, specifically,
to whispers: lingering, ephemeral.
26 APR 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, awakening, morning, poetic forms, purpose, rhopalic verse
Little bird:
did you think that no one heard
your bright melody at dawn,
long gone before day’s first word?
Seems absurd
that your little tune conferred
on my thoughts such peaceful ease
across the breeze, little bird.
17 APR 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, birds, Irish verse forms, morning, poetic forms, rannaigheacht ghairid, song
This is the morning of the first day;
nothing much remains of yesterday
except some dust in the clay on the wheel,
a flew flecks of shadow in the gray.
This is the morning of moving on;
what happens now is already gone,
chaff on today’s mown lawn blown by a breeze
that has no memory of the dawn.
This is the morning of here and now;
in past soil turned under by the plow
its seeds take hold, somehow, and make their way.
No pause for reminisce is allowed.
This is the morning of the new day;
what can remain of yesterday,
except the faint scent of decay that hangs
above fragrant, new blooms as they sway?
This is the morning of what will be;
let all yesterday’s visions go free.
What good their subtlety to you today?
Past boldness provides no guarantee.
27 MAR 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, gwawdodyn, morning, poetic forms, presence, relativity, time, Welsh verse forms
Soon the sound that breaks the day
comes to chase our sleep away;
and the darkest dreams night grew
blink from black into lighter blue.
The world, barely recognized
through half-open, hazy eyes,
wakes slow with us, its warm glow
buried below the pillows.
Arise again and don your shield,
the ancient weapons you wield
against the dumb drones that come
reeking of rum and humdrum.
Be conscious now! You must choose.
Do not linger, or you lose
this moment’s span; if you can
still stand, battle is at hand.
Until the sound that stills the day
comes quietly to end the fray,
fight on fearless, king or pawn,
at every dawn, until you’re gone.
23 FEB 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, battle, consciousness, darkness, deibhidhe, Irish verse forms, morning, poetic forms
The scrabble of claws
across the linoleum:
waking with the dogs.
At the first hint of morning,
they are ready to go.
Forget your sleeping.
The moment your body stirs,
their insistence starts.
Outside, outside! they clamor,
until you do their bidding.
Resistance is futile:
bedcovers pulled from your eyes,
the morning sun blinds.
You need no alarm clock’s ring
once these furry kids awake.
02 FEB 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged children, choka, daily poems, dogs, domesticity, Japanese verse forms, morning, poetic forms
At dawn
the mist still lingers on the lawn:
the shortening shade, like Avalon,
seeks wisps of cloud to linger on
but soon surrenders, and is gone.
At dawn
the world, by inches, cracks its eyes:
and in the place of lullabies
begins to sound the hue and cry,
its hustle-bustle of disguise.
At dawn
the sweet and tender touch of light
begins the slow ascent of sight
and sends to shadows, warm and bright,
the last reminders of the night.
At dawn
again, I hear the sigh
of breathing, gentle and nearby,
and thank the earth and sea and sky
for life and love and you and I.
05 JAN 2017
Posted in Poems
Tagged #BookofForms, #LewisTurco, alba, aubade, daily poems, dawn, love, morning, poetic forms
