SEASONALS THREE

1 [] WAKING IN WINTER []

2 OUT IN THE COUNTRY 2003

3 FROM THE MOUTHS OF GUNS

8 April 2003 Copyright © 2003 Richard P. Richter .............

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[] WAKING IN WINTER []

Icicles and snow [] and a grounded cardinal [] bear the weight of cold [] as if forever has come.

I look beyond and see [] the end of everything [] roaring across the street [] at me, all plants and trees [] and all the animals [] and the millions of man-made things.

Panicking, I look [] within myself, where minutes [] can melt, colors fly. [] The winter, of course, will die.

 

 

[] WAKING IN WINTER []

OUT IN THE COUNTRY 2003

FROM THE MOUTHS OF GUNS

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OUT IN THE COUNTRY 2003

Easter is coming very late this spring.

Early April rain is mixing with snow.

Children of soldiers lost in Iraq are crying.

Squirrels are shaking seed from the bird feeder.

 

You are are not feeling the usual harmonies.

Your socks will not pull over your toes evenly.

The pants you are choosing are not warm enough.

The sheep lie down; the hawks fill all sky.

 

 

[] WAKING IN WINTER []

OUT IN THE COUNTRY 2003

FROM THE MOUTHS OF GUNS

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FROM THE MOUTHS OF GUNS

Now or never. The blackbird plunges.

Others follow. Branches tremble,

relieved of weight.

Life as action

turns to brush strokes in the lasting

studio of thought, where nothing

quite began and never quite

ends.

The Battle of Baghdad brings

our armies rattling to the brink

of instant death in the Fertile Crescent.

The sand erases the tracks of tanks

before commanders cease their shouting.

Here, where human life is said

to have, perhaps, begun, their guns

anticipate a thousand flowing thoughts.

 

 

[] WAKING IN WINTER []

OUT IN THE COUNTRY 2003

FROM THE MOUTHS OF GUNS

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