Appeasement
What you did wasn’t so bad
so you told yourself
as you stood in the garage, waiting for hope.
Hope for appeasement by an ex-best friend
but the rusting white chariot that slowed then accelerated
was Tundra not Tacoma
No, you’re right, it was terrible
to live without love
in small rooms with flawed creations,
the trivial handiwork of a dream gone bad
Do you know the grail is not mine to give
only yours to take
by query of due decorum
Dreaming is the only time you breathe
But you must find a way to die
to live
I suppose you were right
Mine was a failure to stand forever
Confusing liberty for freedom
is a blunder I should not make
When I think about this life
I think of Tintagel, the life we led,
of secret grottos that open only in starlight
of heady ale, meat and laughter
now veiled in a fog of loss
like Chamberlin after Munich
never to rise again
Lament of the One-Wish Djinn
Six years back…
said the Harvson
what I wouldn't give for a drink at this bar
thought the Djinn
a worthy wish
The bottle rubbed
the elixir glugged
a mighty spell be cast
Six years forward
a shrouded portal
on the threshold of gracious shores
in glory and ruin of a light and dark
so deeply tinted and keenly burnished
that only four strands
in God’s beard could gleam
this finely gray
Is thy sword riven Harvson?
Do you seek the Crone?
Herin lies the passage to the hidden forge
of the black handed smith
her anvil a womb
where death hath no dominion
but can be hammered with molten drachma
pilfered from the crucible at the jester's mint
Life is a song
of humility and smelted courage
when there is no luck to be had
only coin to be paid
said the Harvson
brother, can you spare a silver dime?
thought the Djinn
my old bottle is long gone dry
The Last Earth Day (22 April 2112)
When the last of us departs
in the stiffened arms of the next to last
will the Great Mother take notice
Or will Earth spin on in silent harmony
Deliberately marshaling a horizon of infinite futures
but caring naught
in steadfast eternal divinity
the trivial infestation
that was human
that was us
Or will Earth schedule a neighborhood recital
singing baritone in 3-part harmony
with the Moon’s tenor and Mars’ bass
A mournful ballad titled ‘The Last Earth Day’
to mark the passing of minion creatures
sharp in mind
dull in wisdom
soft in heart
doomed by their nature
to despoil it
Or will Gaia strut a solo rave of tectonic glee
Quaking earth
Spewing lava
Hurling glorious effervescent tsunamis
one after another
for eons in ecstasy
of shedding our stink
Whatever way
How fine it would be
if the earth deigned notice
when the last of us departs