Noble and Sentimental

Eight-thirty.  It’s dark in the room 

at my daughter’s house. Just across 

a blackened lawn the Quaker church 

glows—eight double windows 

blazing bright.  Twelve people pair 

as partners face-to-face, one hand 

on a shoulder, another at a waist, 

two clasped firm, held up high. 

Six couples move, flow over the floor, 

ONE two-three, ONE two-three, 

gliding out of sight, back in view,

out of sight. No music permeates 

the night, silence separates them 

from me. But dresses whirl, couples 

twirl, shoes barely brush the floor.  

I can hear my last waltz so long

ago—Strauss, maybe Ravel.  Lord, 

let me dance this fleeting life.

© Martha E. Snell, 2019

A couple dancing
Photo by Alvin Mahmudov
Originally posted on Unsplash;
from Wikimedia Commons

To Open All the Doors and Windows I Can Find

WAFTING SUN ON WINDED WATER

MAKES THE RIVER MOLTEN GOLD

LET ME BASK IN THIS MOMENT’S GRACE

ISN’T THIS MY PLACE?

TO OPEN ALL THE DOORS AND WINDOWS I CAN FIND?

TO LISTEN, TO SEE, AND FEEL THE DIVINE?

NINE HUNGRY BUZZARDS CRUISE THE SKY,

WIND CHAFES THROUGH THE RIVER PINE,

I MOVE CLOSER TO THE WATER

NOW I FEEL THE HEAT —

FIRE AND WATER ARE MINGLING, THEY CONSORT,

(I DO NOT COMPETE)

FIRE BURNS BRIGHT

AND MOVES ACROSS THE WATER INTO ME —

WE ARE ONE !

I BASK IN THE MOMENT

© Gerry Sackett, 2019

Sunset over the River Cam
Photo by Andrew Dunn
from Wikimedia Commons
(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)

Sanctuary

Stomping divots in this ocean of mud

Is like trying to make the earth flat again

And you laugh and I say some people

Are actually trying and not only that but

They would have us unwind the journeys

Of our ancestors across isthmus bridges

Across oceans on ships so tender that

They could not sail even a broad reach

Across rivers and through tunnels at night

Holding hope that some will not be deported

My barn is big enough for six families

At least, enough feet to stomp all the divots

Enough to carry on the farm when I die

Enough for a complete circle around the fire

So let us go out now into the muddy pasture

And ask the horses for those greater hearts

© Bill Prindle, 2019

Horses in the field
by Peter, from Bern, Switzerland
from Wikimedia Commons

Won’t You Stay

If you please won’t you stay dear lady,

And for you, I will sing this song

Cannot say the words will come easy

They’ve been hiding deep inside for far too long

I was once young and full of promise

But I’m not what I used to be

Too many tears have washed away my footprints

And I cannot find the way back home you see

Look at all the stars beyond my dusty windows wheeling

How beautiful they are as they go drifting on their way

To heaven or to hell, to sunlight or to dark unfeeling

Wish I knew….   Lady, won’t you stay?

© George Phillips, 2019

Van Gogh's Starry Night on the Rhone, 1888
from the Musée d'Orsay