Teacher
Rewards crouch still behind the door
Not breathing,
As the clock moves on its busy treadmill as before.
Then, in an hour of unconcern,
A fleeting, half-familiar smile slips out
To punctuate the hour's beaten path
With glowing chips of grinning diamonds.
Les
Genius, casual in white levis,
Smiles privately
At life's demands
That slip between his fingers
Like grains of sand.
Tony
Fluttering and noisy,
He seems a scolding jay
Darting chaos
Into blessed, still domains
And powerless to halt
His own wild flight.
A quiet hand discovers just
A tired bird
In need of home.
John
A fresh breeze bearing colored bubbles,
He sparkles unpredictably in morning sun.
Careless wind would hide its secret.
But evening catches it at work
Filling steady sails
With treasure-bearing strength.
Nancy
Sunlight cupped and blown
Beside a budding tree,
She casts a heartache to the winds
And squints a smile upward
With arms around a collie's neck.
Greg
I missed the sun.
A lissome ray
Was used to cross my eyes
Each day,
Till I scarcely noticed it
In watching for the roses.
Today
I missed the sun ray
That was too silent,
And the roses weren't so sweet.
Bill
A bitter chip
To smash through careless air,
He spins to the ground
And slivers to the touch.
Ray
Apathy,
Draped heavy and warm,
Sheathes a sharpened knife.
He waits--oblivious--
For the challenge sufficient
For baring the blade.
Sandy Lost
Eyes dark in leaden depth
Rage battles
Somewhere under shadowed coral reefs
And leave a wake of dying foam
Upon a sand-swept beach.
Sandy Found
Midst footsteps
Vanishing into sand and waves,
Beside decaying gulls
Half-buried with smooth-blown sand,
Another track--
Steps holding moisture--
Leads out toward the trees.
Tom
All-boy enough
To grin through football smashups,
He tackles, too, the larger foe
Of disappointment, dailiness, decision,
Emerging in the floodlight victory
Of God's designs, a priest.
Kathy
Uncertain and afraid,
She beats a tuneless drum
To drive away ignoring, silent ghosts--
But silent listeners also flee.
And then she weeps
For silence.
Death Steals In At Dawn
Shiny model airplanes stand expectant
Until packed away
In some courageous moment.
How can the wings catch sun so commonly
When they will fly no more
From carefree scattered places?
There lies a bit of school,
Traced yesterday in frowning earnestness
And stacked in readied disarray
To fill tomorrow's needs.
A rustling wave of blue and green
Blurs near and focuses
As fellow scouts file into place
And kneel
And bow their heads.
One empty space breathes silent echoing
Where "Agnus Dei" will not meet again
The simple innocence of whispered hope.
Threads of blue sky-winged play
Eraser-labored problems,
And unmarked offerings--
All stretching from short yesterdays into today...
Cut short.
Tomorrow is in heaven.
For James Wilcutt
Spring Concert
They come, ejected from assembly lines
And automatic kitchens, stamped designs...
Fatigued, big-city bored, but conquering
Thick hot spring dusk to do
Dull duty and review
Their adolescent offspring's studied toil.
A vision springs before them, banking snows
Of stage-ranged flowers, royal
And cool (that close look knows
To be the teens--transformed, behaved, all smiles).
Then music flows down the aisles.
Tranced surprise
Matures to pride and drifts in clouds to easy skies.
Time vaporizes.
Spring flowers blush in loyal
Expectancy to hear
Bright bugles call "The Battle Hymn" to rise:
...Quiet wonder whispers to appear
Before the gloried Lord
And beat united chord
Of marching hearts: one fire-pillared prismed voice
Following one choice
For all, and honoring
A single call. Gold coil
Explodes in pompous drums, excited clarinets,
And soaring voices; sets
Itself afloat to lift and hold
Above the gold
Of trumpet calls, "...Amen...."
Tears swelter from strong men.
They feel the call, and light
Plays through the purple mists of flooding tears
To catch pink-cloud hoped years
Of youth.
They turn to face the stifling night.
Poetry by Dorothy
Original midi "Could Be" by Andy Klapwyk