L Milton Hankins Poet Quatrain

Notes About The Poem

[This poem, "Frontier Tragedy," was written when I was in my late teens...the late 1950s. I recited it on a number of occasions for literature classes, and included it in "The Lady in the Pink Hat," Candor Press, 1969, my first poetry chapbook. I am putting it to rest here at Poetry Soup!]

Frontier Tragedy

The skulls were nearly hidden
By the thickets in the glen
Scattered in ancient cinders
Where a house and barn had been.

Remains of years and years ago
An Indian raid perhaps
On a distant frontier settlement
Not shown on any maps.

Once an humble household
A man, his wife, their child
Who had left an eastern fortress
To live out in the wild.

No mercy for these seekers
Of peace and solitude?
Not even an inquiry
In the years of interlude?

What creatures are we who linger
In the limbo of levity
Unable to grasp some meaning
In the wake of tragedy.

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Caren Krutsinger June 2, 2021 at 3:21 AM This is intriguing. "The skulls were nearly hidden By the thickets in the glen Scattered in ancient cinders Where a house and barn had been." Wow! L Milton Hankins June 2, 2021 at 8:34 AM Sometimes my creative juices run amuck, Caren, just like yours. I don't know what I was thinking, since I was quite young when I wrote this.

Gershon Wolf May 30, 2021 at 3:04 PM Piercing question there, Milt. I like the sharp point of your '60's pen! Best always, Gershon L Milton Hankins May 30, 2021 at 5:47 PM Thanks, Gershon. Gosh, just realized that poem is sixty-plus years old. But, of course, I've been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. When I received my first typewriter from my parents, I was in seventh heaven!

Rico Leffanta May 30, 2021 at 11:46 AM "Give us this day our daily dread" ...... L Milton Hankins May 30, 2021 at 12:42 PM Thanks, Rico. I think I just did!

Sotto Poet May 30, 2021 at 11:39 AM The last stanza says it all Milton, the humanity still incapable of getting a handle on any importance from a past misfortune, our circumstance is in any event, deteriorating, our resolve is at its most minimal level, incredible quatrain it doesn't have the right to pass on here, it needs to have a pleasant spot in the best historical center on the off chance that we think one day to assemble a verse gallery L Milton Hankins May 30, 2021 at 12:42 PM Aw, thanks, Lasaad.