Late Summer
PoetrySoup Weekly Challenge
Theme: Memory
Emotion: Hope
Color: Gold
Season: Late Summer
Form: Free Verse
Object: Lantern
Verb: Remember
As the snow melts on the mountain
And a trickle began to fill the fountain
Filling the drained spring below
Then the river begins to flow
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I remember when our love was young
Sometimes the lights would go out
We'd light the lantern to see how to walk
But never has it snowed this early before
That snow covered the gold poplar
All the leaves turned brown and fell
This shouldn't happen in late summer
But on this we couldn't dwell
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
Your hair was thin and white
Your hearing had disappeared
But you kept going and going
Until your health disappeared
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I know we'll meet again my love
Jesus is waiting for me to come home
That will be a great reunion
Happiness we'll all share
PoetrySoup Weekly Challenge
Theme: Memory
Emotion: Hope
Color: Gold
Season: Late Summer
Form: Free Verse
Object: Lantern
Verb: Remember
As the snow melts on the mountain
And a trickle began to fill the fountain
Filling the drained spring below
Then the river begins to flow
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I remember when our love was young
Sometimes the lights would go out
We'd light the lantern to see how to walk
But never has it snowed this early before
That snow covered the gold poplar
All the leaves turned brown and fell
This shouldn't happen in late summer
But on this we couldn't dwell
Snow on the moutain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
Your hair was thin and white
Your hearing had disappeared
But you kept going and going
Until your health disappeared
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I know we'll meet again my love
Jesus is waiting for me to come home
That will be a great reunion
Happiness we'll all share
The sky is cloudless on this winter day
and as warm as a mellow springtime wish,
the snow on the mountain is melting they say,
and summer may be dry as skin itch.
Nature’s benediction is feast or foe,
if it’s not gentle misting its torrents
raging in flash flooding show,
without any quiescent sonorants.
Drought when it comes will kill all the flowers,
grain will lie down in the fields and die,
babies will cry and parents lose powers
to feed their young as we beseech the ally…
and implore the fair goddess of weather;
please let it rain on us now altogether.
The snow on the mountain whispered, “Follow me”
when it melted and turned into a stream.
It trickled first and then gained speed to flee
downward to the valley, carrying a dream.
“Follow me,” the stream called. “I have a wish.
My wish is that a river I shall meet.”
It met a river filled with many fish.
But still the river’s dream was not complete.
“Follow me,” it said. “Go with my flow.”
Sometimes it would roll; sometimes it would get
too low or wide, but it made sure to go
where it was destined and had not been yet.
At last an estuary came in sight.
“We’re now with sea!” it shouted with delight.
snow on the mountain
dark lines and grooves visible....
love continues still
spring swiftly erupts
the mountain hidden by snow....
love breaks through the chill
unthawed snow remains
through seasons even summer....
everlasting love
soon another fall
decorated with color....
love deepens with time
winter reaches deep
roots still untouched by hard freeze....
love binds two made one
vows made, together for life
the warm hearth fire blazes high
The long walk (Serra de Estrella)
Crossing from France to Portugal, my car got stuck
in the snow, on the mountain of Sierra de Estrella
It was the year when much snow fell, but I walked on
coming down, I felt like Moses and his tablets.
It was getting warmer; the first to go was my coat
and tie, later my trousers jacket
Over Alentejo, it was hot; I traded my trousers with
a tramp who gave me his shorts and sandals.
When I arrived in Vilamoura, I was stopped by the police
and asked who I was. “English, I Said.” “No, you are not.”
“Yes, I’m” “No, you are not a proper English man
who will always wear socks with his sandals.”
The axis of time foments rage,
And eats freely of cloth.
Even better days will wilt,
Crying, What else comes hither?
The snow on the mountain
Is frozen now, but soon will melt.
The days lengthen like shadows
in the evening.
Time moves on eating as leprosy,
Fomenting trouble upon the unwary.
Post haste, my friend,
And I will trouble you no more.
Beyond some early horizon
The sail of a ship is visible.
It portends a morning:
Shaking to and fro as drunken.
The axis of time foments rage,
The snow on the mountain is frozen now.
Time moves on eating as leprosy,
Beyond some early horizon.
I have loved you long
With a love that is strong
Like a river flows deep and wide
Or the rise and fall of the tide
Now that I am old
Has your love grown cold
You were once in love
A gift to me from above
Will love's desire rekindle
In the latter years that dwindle
Will the snow on the mountain
Fizzle in warm hearth's fountain
Rhythm of Once In Every Life by Ronnie Milsap
Snow on the mountain
A magnificent vista
Peaceful till it falls
In between work and college
it seems.
I struggle for air
In between the two lions
of hate and love
standing there.
Hates there
you can't deny its
unmoving stare
Love seems lost
routine
over-rides friendship
over-rides any love you once knew.
If ever you knew
a soft touch, gentle pull, small kiss
Feeling. Maybe you did,
Now things just seem black
Not white just black coffee fills your cup.
An endless night.
A parched orchard
apples hollowed out
by lack of nourishment.
I peer out the window
and see the white bloom
of snow-on-the-mountain.
Broken, like me.
DEMETER AT THE CHINESE OPERA
So, I invited you to the Chinese Opera impulsively
Thinking of masks and dragons and triumphant mystery
I though it was time we threw off our coats
Of mourning, you for your daughter
Stopping one night, on the way home from a party,
So randomly, cruelly, killed by the monster
Who has slain more than all the century’s wars
And my private sorrow for which there is no funeral.
I remember your straying husband also
Loved the Chinese Opera. What will happen
If we all meet between the acts?
Surely forgiveness will come like snow on the mountain
And we will live in a harmony that can never be suppressed
In a slow majestic music that takes account of grief.
(C) Rosemarie Rowley
From IN MEMORY OF HER (2008)
The snow on the mountain -
The ice inside my head -
The water by the fountain -
The flow of voices which screams -
Flames into dreams -
Cast the fires of the dead -
Death does not have a choice -
She declared -
I am the prize -
I am mere a noise -
As blind i am to the bat -
I act to see -
I do not want you -
To be me -
Sacrifices i have to make -
For my heart -
Lost -
For my sake -
Price the cost of lost -
I am pale to be -
The one before -
Forsake -
I walk -
I am but last -
Lost to the trial -
Can i surrender -
Just -
Before i fail -
My boat trapped in a storm -
The gale without a sail
snowy blue mountain
double beauty double good...
icy frozen heart
snow on the mountain
fire in hearth a certainty...
slow ignited fire
Thanks for the challenge
P.D..
Contest Entry by:
Sara Kendrick
Zu früh gefallen
Der Schnee auf den Bergspitzen
Verhüllt schon das Grün
Der Rauhreif in den Tälern
Bote des frühen Winters
--------------------------------------
Too early fallen
The snow on the mountain peaks
Already covers the green
The hoar-frost in the valleys
Messenger of early winter
-------------------------------------
Demasiado temprano caído
Nieve en picos de montañas
Ya cubre el verde
La escarcha en los valles
Mensajero de temprano invierno
The wind is howling
There is snow on the mountain
The bullfrog sings praises
And the crickets and birds join song
Listen! Hear...Howling icy wind
Old man with white hair and beard
Bullfrogs sing God's praises
Joined by crickets, birds, hear their song
(Same scene that I saw on tv for I don't live there. Presented two different ways. Which do
you like best?)
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