Harbor Forgiveness
His uproar was clear and overt
damage our love in one spurt
wreck Twenty-Ninteen (2019) “Home Port” chert
My soul is deeply deeply burnt
Pure kindhearted intent converts
to mistrust dreadful disconcert
mom, dad overly protection subverts
son’s golden career –- ugly divert
Three against one was no flirt
Cruel heartbreak alone in desert
Heal my ache in bitter dim yurt
I’d rather curse pain than hurt
Why is it, when my heart is hurt
I’d give a sigh of high alert
Will our gentle courtship be revert?
Self-healing must reassert
Again, again forgive to unhurt
Harbor forgiveness free the hurt
The boy I was so many years ago
Loved to visit his grandpa
Who lived in the best of places
This city dweller could imagine so
Those Ozark Mountains were adventure to me
I the boy and trusted BB gun in tow
Did explore the river bottom and climb tall trees
To breath the mountain's cold air made this boy feel free
The explorer I became for rocks snakes and frogs
To romp after a bee just to see where it would go
Or play in grandpa’s barn while watching my step
Go fishing with grubs taken from under dead logs
The swimming hole was by a low water bridge
Just a quarter a mile at the bottom of the hill
The tall weeping willow which offered its branches
Served the hot summer days as the ideal plunging package
As I recall how that red Arkansan chert path flowed
How this boy’s grandest adventures for nature and beauty were made real
For to walk again the paths of ancient Indians
What grandness grandpa gave me when I traveled just down the road
...for my yeoman brothers and sisters
Beneath the ancient ewe, my limbs grow
strong. Ever watchful of the bayn-scurry
crow.These fields I wander know my
footfall well, for thee- I sharpen arrow and
wax my bow. With gifts of chert, and
streams to quench, this land I must
protect.
His Will be mine, my only prayer; swoop
like the hawk when set upon, and tangle
wings in fearsome clench. My lads and I
with feathered hearts, brave winds that
blow; but tumble not.
Darkened skies and chains that rattle;
forge iron limbs like ghosts we battle.
When you pass us on the street, a steady
gait and calm pervades. Calamity our lords
invent, may bend our will, but never
break.
Just as the tide implores the moon; stay
the course! God's Will be true.
03/09/14
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The marriage proposal
like a forced march
through Fort Jackson, a backpack
Full of chert beating on his spine.
He stood his ground with her.
His actions spoke volumes.
Good soldiers die with assurance.
No romance in war.
Refreshingly quiet,
The dutiful tour.
She paced herself sleepy.
She could rest in peace.
Honor the hero.
(He'd saved her once.)
Uniform with purpose.
Fight the good fight.
The battle impressed.
Things escalated.
Orders got shouted.
Ammunition, manufactured.
Grenades for detonating.
Entire minefields laid.
(Dangerous territory:
Don't play the field.)
Tanks roll in now.
She runs for cover.
Still he stands strong.
Warriors don't yield.
Until there is torture.
Torture's illegal.
But you know what gets said
About love, and real war.
They'd die for each other
But living, so different.
They live with surrender:
Embattlement, love.