I walk upon a dark and frozen lake
Beneath a sky bereft of stars and moon
And wondering if each next step I take
Will bring the plunging cold more near, more soon
Tag: iambic pentameter

1/13/2023 – their imaginings
A child looks out upon the world and sees
A land of promise, colors bright and true
I wish to look, through their eyes, at this freeze
And their imaginings I’ll take on too
1/10/2023 – that shadowed cloud
A stormcloud wandered into my blue sky
With falling rain and thunder booming loud
Instead of hiding, there I hoped to fly
To learn what lay within that shadowed cloud
1/5/2023 – life’s breath
I started on a long and troubled tale
That ended with a sudden, tragic death
And so discovered stories often ail
From heartstring-tugging writ without life’s breath
Sonnet 17 – my heart in hand
I watched as gracefully you stepped into
A door to far-off places past my sight
And watched as bright day turned to curséd night
For such is day without the light of you
I know you shall return before the end
That this great loneliness will someday cease
That I will at long last feel that release
Of your warm presence near, my soul to mend
But till the sun of that day crests the hill
And blesses all before me with its rays
I walk as one entrapped in a grey haze
And have no warmth to keep away the chill
By Time’s hourglass I watch the falling sand
Till you at last return, my heart in hand

10/19/2022 – from each wound
I walk unbroken ‘neath the moon’s bright gaze
Though not without the scars I’ve often earned
For with a lifted chin I’ve faced my days
And from each wound such wisdom have I learned
Sonnet 16 – the halfway point
At this, the halfway point, solid I stand
Having traversed the rapids and the cliffs
And all the brambled cov’ring of the land
The wetted dirt and blinding snowy drifts
My thoughts turn to the journey yet to come
The veiléd mountain hulking over me
The second half of what will be the sum
Of one year’s efforts faced not fearlessly
Yet as the shadows cloud my troubled mind
And unmet trials start to overwhelm
The morning sun ascends with summer’s wind
And I once more stand strong there at the helm
For having come so far to this I know
There is no distance that I cannot go
5/21/2022 – the salted sea
I stood before the cliff’s edge, staring down
And watching waves do violence on the stone
Up there I asked what song the cliff had sung
To so infuriate the salted sea
5/3/2022
Amazed am I that with but pen and pad
I can create a place that’s never been
And visit its wide wonders in my head
As if I knew it like a childhood friend
4/28/2022
The blesséd morning brings a warning word
Before even the gull rises from bed
A sign to see, for it cannot be heard
When deep as blood the sky awakens red