when held in that other side of night's beam
the breathing crest
over our eyes, the same sea
the pressure leaving breath
I scrape along your eyes' shores
for a goodbye; boat though pulling, stays, moors
when held in that other side of night's beam
over our eyes, the same sea
veins in my touch tell like knelling buoys
against feeling this drowning tide
I am frustrated and annoyed by his ticking,
or perhaps it should be labeled the 'tocking'
By the never-ending tongue wagging clicking
in the language better known as 'clocking'
Must Grandfather Time command my life?
He so rudely continues without a thought
that his hammer yammering rhythm of strife
mocks the beating pulse of my human heart
What a wonderful fantasy my life would be
if for one day I'd not hear his unrelenting beat
I'd be stress free if time would stand still for me
for without his gonging life would be so sweet
In solace of night, I seek sleep and close my eyes
in need of escape and retreat from earthly chore
but I cannot find a moment of tranquil paradise
for his insistent knelling peals out once more
Each quarter hour his mallet chimes out to me
but his clappers sing off key in monotonous song
Not a lyrical lullaby, but a torturous rhapsody
whose tireless verses antagonize me far too long
I'm tenacious to put an end to his wagging tongue
and shackle the swinging motion of his pendulum
Each hour of the day and night would go by unsung
Being silenced is the price paid by the meddlesome
** Current Events Knelling **
Ignorance and evil remain — it’s easy to tell —
Around the world, still alive and well
No matter how much we pray, scream and yell,
“Please! Learn something from history, not pell-mell,
Before those ego’s ideas devour us all cell by cell.
————————————————————————————————————————
(c) sally young eslinger 12/18/2022
with Thanks for the promises of God
A banjo is playing in the bodega.
A door proclaims its ding and dong
voltaic birds bounce to its tintinnabulum,
flickers of auricular featherings
wipe shelves of a million years of dust.
The banjo is at prayer and you are there
as you peal with its cadence and quiver.
The bodhisattva
they that dynamo the sonic tides,
the waves,
air waves, sounding and soundless,
who sparkle
in the high deep heavens
and in the low wallows
where ankles are the muddy roots
of wind chimes and cow bells.
Sounds unleashing
the knelling thunder of peace.
Alabaster hands poised in mid-air
signaling an elemental perfection.
The kinetics of gesture and stillness,
as doors open their choiring mouths,
as banjos mimic the sounds
of all practicing avatars,
and we hearing
only the ding yet missing the dong
unthinking un-ring Gods temple gong.
The people’s choice
ain’t always the right footstool fit
Crown a throne sitter
with electric glam fanfare
Light the bright Roman candles
for a cancer stick spitter ...
See the fireworks in the air:
Inter
Continental
Ballistic
Missives
got voter arm drone sent
Cheek chicanery
is puffing pride hellbent
The home plate people say,
they know how to get around third base
The silent majority
whistle kicked a ballot bray:
Said they know how to rule and regulate
Mute mules got a gut promise packet
burst in their purse belly
White powder vows telly
is a politrician mix: Rublecon racket
Dressed to deceive,
they wear the gorgeous mink sable
Eyes often believe
spit paid broadcast signal on cable
Raw mink voltage
is copper wire insular selectable
Red carpet dotage
give Venus fly idol cries
to the froggy princes they chose
If the cold iron velvet glove
fits tight rightly on the bow hand
Send the poison arrow love
into bent hearts prone to knelling
TETON GOODNIGHT
From the hollows in stone the departing sun
Pours the twilight round the mountains’ curtains,
Drawing together their shades’
Gold end. Aye, the golden day
Is spent, worn against
Raw rock thrown upright two miles high:
Bouldered shoulders close over -
Michael’s knelling golden clarion.
…………………………………………………………………………
NOTE
The Tetons in Wyoming - one of my favorite places.
They are seen to excellent advantage in the movie “Shane”.
TETON TITANS
Tetons’ bouldered shoulders close over Michael’s knelling golden clarion.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Written for ^Rick Parise's Contest "Nature Monoku ~ Single Line"
NOTE
Just couldn't resist this contest because the Snake River and
the Tetons in the photo are one of my favorite spots.
Toll the iron bells!
Let the knelling peals linger
in our hearts. Again! for the
many fallen loved ones. Hear
the tintinnabulation!
The Bells of my memory knell
With rhymes to sing and stories to tell
Although from afar I hear them come
My heart shall sense,
My thoughts shall dwell
For it is in forever's time that I will remember
A wonder, a friend,
Tom Bell
Horizon of knelling bells
Adequate feeling bestowed
Hue, odor, sound, sensation
Harmoniously dwell
Tangible gnosticism
Catharsis
Potency yells
Largess
Ample satisfaction
Darkness, Thy power quells
Allah, family, thought
Camelot...Freedom
Allah: Arabic word for God
Dark it was when my eyes fell upon you
For how can I love such temptress like you?
Shadows of you I bear in my heart
And voices of you echoing inside
Get away! Get away!
Oh! How I ran from the gaze of you
Only to find myself knelling to you
To touch, to feel you, the curve, the shape
But I can’t I won’t for sorrows you bring
Get away! Get away!
Break this chain of thorns and let me go
So memories of you be gone in past
For this quite little child is crying
Ensnared in a little trap you called love
Get away! Get away! Shadows of you.
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