I’m a servant of the universe
My rank is junior minder.
I care for the solar system
As its oiler and winder.
Everything is done
To a very strict rota,
Checking every cog
And cleaning every motor.
The star has its thermostat
Rigidly checked and set
Its fuel delivery schedule
Very rigorously met.
Each planet has its key
Kept on its own ring
So I can check and fix
Each internal spring:
Wind it too tight,
The planet runs fast.
Not tight enough
The wind won’t last.
I once got it wrong
In my apprentice stage,
Wiped out the dinosaurs
And caused an ice age.
You can imagine all the ribbing
At the staff centennial dinner
Apprentice of the moment?
Never was the winner.
I have my own staff now
The systems work just fine.
Guess it should last right
‘Til the end of time.
cow bells ring
through verdant hills
rolling up to cuddle
towering gray cliffs
spraying white foam
intoxicating Alps
where Frankenstein
concocted Elixir Vitae
and birthed a monster
rich red wine
and a pot of fondue
on a cafe terrace
jagged tip
of the top of Europe peeking
through the fluff hugging
its head and shoulders
stunning monster
the Alps
Elixer Vitae for an
old soul
A labor of love
Frequent contractions
Bloody show appears
Belly and back pain
Her water breaks now
The baby drops
Loosened-up joints
Cervix dilates
Cramps are intense
Nauseous mom
Start the drugs
Feeling great
Bear down
Push out
Birth
May 18, 2022
**Side note: John Gondolf read my first Diminished Hexaverse poem about the end of life (Finis Vitae) and suggested that I write one about the beginning of life. Thank you for the wonderful tip John. I'm always up for an intriguing challenge.
The end has now come
Once lucid eyes dulled
Shallow breaths begin
Food and drink have ceased
Sleep is now constant
Bowels shut down
Pulse becomes faint
Bluish-hued skin
Grimace of pain
Eyes roll back
Body cools
Moans softly
With love
Speaks name
Gone
May 15, 2022
**Side note: This was my first experience with writing a Diminished Hexaverse poem. I thought it was a fun challenge. I chose to write it about the very last moment before death because I watched my maternal grandma take her final breath while in hospice care.
What is the value
of faith without doubt
Love without hatred,
peace without routs
What is the meaning
of joy without pain
Words without silence,
sun without rain
Into the middle
both sides fall within
Dimension redundant,
all endings begin
The yin and the yang
the long and the short
When hands clasp together
—right left to import
(The New Room: December, 2021)
"LUX VITAE LUX"
Here you stamp
your mark of
approval or not
We meet at the point
where a Father
is the judge of what is good
and what is not.
And we try so hard
to avoid heart contact
over all the plundering words said
light and dark
yet we open minds
that chance by our trials
to believe in something bigger -
Ours
in hours
kangaroo courts
turn triggers
forgiveness
bleeds kindness
that empowers
never forgotten
never left behind
key burns the open backhand
for Heart’s gate
the golden thread
gifted you
through eye of needle
labyrinthine
smyth sewn into
the fabric of you
You,
of all people
I will bring through
with me
to the other side
Evensong -
though you don't believe,
I did all along
(ladyLabyrinth / 2021)
gvlm-scm
"Agnus Dei"/Samuel Barber
https://youtu.be/AiuC_CaObbI
lux vitae lux / latin. translation.
Whatever you are given, appreciate...
Do not pass through the field
without planting and without reaping ...
Don't pass through the sky
without kneeling
and pray ...
Don't pass through love,
without realizing it and love it ...
Do not pass by the oasis,
without stopping to drink ...
Don't pass through life,
without pleasure and used to advantage
and without living well ...!
Short in stature,
long in fight,
the zealot stood his ground
The odds unfavored,
no end in sight,
victory still unfound
The daylight haunting,
the body count,
the field a sea of blood
A bugle blowing
for one last charge,
advancing through the mud
With force depleted
but spirit whole,
his voice heard far and wide…
“Into the jaws
of certain death
—for glory now we ride”
(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2020)
The only defense against fate
is words
The only answer to death
—is life
(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2018)
Curriculum Vitae
I was born [so they say] in the usual way.
my mum was of the female persuasion,
[My father was not] but I can't say a lot,
for I've totally forgot the occasion.
We all lived in a box, which once held Dior frocks,
by the side of the furious M6.
Although poor, I'm no fool, and I went to a school,
so fine 'twas Approved, to learn tricks.
In class I was ace - with an angelic face
and A grades in mole-strangling and cheek.
And since starting to work, I’ve proved I’m no jerk:
why, I stuck with one job for a week!
But I’m now in my prime, and ambition’s no crime,
so I'm offering you all of my skills.
If you're female and lusty. [shan’t complain if you’re busty]
we could have multi-positional thrills.
Captin ever-optimistic Cat
I think I should have
Been born a tree -
- Maybe a silvered birch
With feather veined
Leaves -
- I could greet
My tall reflections
That swim saintly inside
The nearby streams -
- Or a lofty, leafy oak,
Crying slow orange tears in autumn
And being a shoulder
For solemn lonely birds
To cry on -
- It has been said
That I always had my head in the clouds.
Amore est vitae et vitae est
Imperati de tu mea sensus
Fide, et tu fide est obrizus
AMORE, MORTE, INCALESCO
Ignibi de inferos, immergo foras tu ego!
Non Ego, et tu?
Amore vitae mea, abseni...
In purple majesty now
The lignum vitae bloom
Across the arid plains
Moths and birds swim
Upon its rare perfume
And tourists stare
Upon the short and stocky tree
With rugged heart and strong roots
That suckle water from a droughted land
They look but do not understand
It is the symbol of the man.
My people up through rough times
Come laughing each new dawn
The wind blows them ragged
But never a sigh, they just go on
Without care for the world's rich things
Each little blessing is enough
To make the rugged heart sing
And as this tree, the national flower
Bloom beauty out of arid dust
My people bring productivity
From barren times
With only God to trust.
We are a model of the lignum vitae
A sustained strength
A permanent sanctuary of beauty
A happiness that never relents
Yet delicate in human caring
As each purple pannicle of flower
A Lignum vitae love
Drawing each separate goal into one:
O Jamaica, bloom forever.
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