7/5/2021 – rise from the doldrums

Yes, I know it’s not the 5th. I once again missed a poem, which means I owe you two.

So oft the world bears down upon
A tired, anxious mind;
And though we try to soldier on,
Our fates are intertwined
With all the world purports to be,
And all its stops and turns;
In life we are not from it free
Nor immune to its burns;
And so with anxious mind and heart
We listen to the peace –
What peace we can but find – and start
To force the pain to cease;
And from the wind and trees and skies,
A fresh breath at last comes;
And spirits can finally rise
From earth’s painful doldrums.

Since we locked eyes

By firelight did I see your eyes
The first they locked on mine
And burrowed beneath my disguise
With clarity divine

You saw beneath the hardened shell
I’d built upon my skin
And saw into the untapped well
Of spirit trapped within

And patiently you chipped away
At walls both thick and thin
‘Til flooding in came light of day
O’er my heart’s raucous din

So since we locked eyes in the red
And flick’ring light of dying fire
E’er have I owed, my belovéd,
To you my love and my desire.