We Walked By Starlight

 

We walked by starlight

The several of us

One house to another

On dark dirt roads

Where ne’er shone a light.

We walked by starlight

Carrying wine and friendship

To see the neighbors.

And share our happy hearts.

We laughed in whispers

Fearing our voices might be too bright

And take the starlight from our eyes.

Our feet knew the road sure

Scarce making a susurration with a scuff

And we moved like shadows.

One held another’s hand and

The farther the walk, the plainer the way

As we inhaled the dark

Becoming dark, that starlight would

Shine brighter.

We walked by starlight

With wine and friendship and happy hearts. 

The Loneliest Place

 

There’s a tall wrought iron fence

A thicket of dead leaves piled against it.

Somewhere in the trees

Below the endless gray sky

A crow caws out displeasure

At the change of seasons,

The failure of fall,

The woe of winter.

It’s the loneliest place

A garden full of stones

Stones with names

And dates and brief epitaphs

Together Forever

Resting in His Arms

Sweet Wife, Devoted Husband

The chill wind wanders

Amid the stones

Tossing leaves from its path

Lingering at an obelisk from early last century

Curling around a mausoleum

With its stout wooden door

Locked to keep out the living.

A scattering of flowers are shriveled and shedding petals

Mortal like the quiet ones buried here.

It’s the loneliest place

Yet all of us will one day visit

Some to linger for a moment, an hour

Some to stay

Till trumpets call to the dawn

and bring us to His presence

 

Great Blue Heron

Gliding over the trees

Now gilded with fall

A great blue heron

Strokes the air

With long silent wings

It tilts eastward

Toward the pond

Descending in a long spiral

Now reaching for the dark water

With stilts of legs

Landing, leans forward

Over its reflection

Watching

Watching

Fireflies

In the muggy air

Fireflies

Wander the lawn

As darkness creeps across the grass

Steals through the trees

Envelopes the house

Lightning silently illuminates a distant cloud

Heat lightning

We used to say

Those childhood evenings

When we meandered

With the fireflies

Waiting for their lambent calls

One to another

And with a jar

One by one we caught them

Then wandered silently

Back across the grass

To the house

Carrying our luminaries

As if they could light our way home

Hobbes

Hobbes again
(who, when he passed at 18 years old, had lived 9 lives twice)

It’s a year since I laid
His worn out body
Wrapped in an old towel
Deep in a sandy hole
In the terraces under the maple
And over the months
The tears have retreated
Behind my eyes
Then tonight
In a bookstore
A small book titled
“I still miss you.”
And tears for that old cat threatened again
I kept thumbing the pages
Until I found this
“Thousands of years ago, people worshipped cats as gods
And they have never forgotten.”
I laughed
Easy again
Tears in retreat
From an assault of giggles

Young Love

Young love

A tired gray day
Not quite spring
A couple strolls the damp sidewalk
Fingers entwined
She’s wearing a sweater
A patchwork of frantic colors
And with a sweep of fingers
Tucks hair behind her ears
He’s in tattered jeans and a black jacket
And does not yet know
So young
How fortunate he is

Office Poem

Office Poem

At the end of the day
Feet up, chardonnay at my right hand
Supper done, dishes washed
My mind turns around events
Looking for meaning
From the hours in the office
Phone calls by the dozen
Emails uncounted
Reports shuffled from left to right
A meeting around a conference table
A dozen faces, voices, opinions
Questions, answers, ideas
For an hour I try to steer everyone
Like a captain raising and lowering sails
Turning the rudder
Directing the crew
Till we arrive in port, or consensus
Then lunch is something
Coffee insures that I will wrap up what’s due
Today
It all has meaning, I conclude
For it all leads somewhere
From the first cup of coffee
And the eight mile commute
Greetings as I make my way to my cubie
To the welcome relief of shutting down the lap top
And exiting to the parking lot
It all has meaning I conclude
Else the chardonnay is no reward