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Best Poems Written by Linda Milgate

Below are the all-time best Linda Milgate poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

A Little Bit Free

Just a Little Bit Free

 I feel that I need to get out
 to walk by the oak and pine trees
 breathe fresh air and. see young creatures
 climb pines and fences — roam all about

 I feel the need to have the sun
 warm my bones, my tendons my veins
 I want to hear people laugh and
 walk with their dogs out to the park 
 throw balls have picnics have fun  

 I want to say hello and talk
 For I know they have been polite
 watching me now for 2 years
 trips to doctors, to surgery with a cap
 and thin hair, with a  cane taking walks

 They ask me how I am 
 and I smile and say good
 now a year later they appear
 to believe me, a large breath escapes
 now its only every 4 months I go for an exam

 Still the doctors tell me to be careful
 to stay away from children with
 their sneezes and coughs
 A lonely prescription, but 
 I do have my dogs

 Another MRI and dyes injected
 another Congressman gone from
 the same disease, so sad but his was a 4 
 and I am a stage 3. still every
 blood lab is collected, every cell inspected

 This weekend we hope to see 
 a play under the pine trees
 I will get tired and my bones and spine
 will ache, my brain will need a quiet rest
 Cancer of the brain is not
 an easy thing to fight off, its tough, unkind
 though now it could be a year or possibly more
 the chemo/radiation is cruel, but for this month 
  I feel good  enough to allow me to be
 just a little bit alive —a little bit free

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

A Morning Blessing

The sun is alive and all creatures are awake
Even the green leaves seem to be breathing
And the air is crisp and cool and pure 
Little black and gray birds sit on the bushes chirping
The squirrels are on the fence demanding nuts
The earth here and now is alive and trembles
And out of respect for this day
I will not turn on the tv or listen
To the horrors that man crowded
Overrun extended and exceeded
Beyond what has been brought into being
I need what the earth this day has given
A golden yellow morning, with small leaves quivering 
As fresh air wafts through the house
Though the doctor calls early to ask 
With a kind heart to make another appointment
I promise next month I will be there but not now
For the sun is alive and all creatures are awake
And I wish to honor what the day has given

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

The Winds' Warnings

Winds blow leaves rustle the branches strike the windows
 the dogs are restless and move from the sofa to their crates
 I watch the leaves and branches as they dance a war 
 dance the dance of ancient tribes twirling around rocks and winds  
 preparations begin as the evening darkness spins 
 a warning dance and a blacken night
 clouds cover the sparkle of the stars the only light,
 electricity flashes from the sky, electrical wires are shut down
 man’s mechanical load, light bulbs go out  candles flicker
 and fine grained crystal satellites are fighting to remain
 the universe stretches and sings to a sun 
 stronger than anything mankind has known,
 each second a billion nuclear bombs explodes
 with earth, and planets’ moons red, white and blue 
 abandoned now oxygen free, nitrogen night atmospheric 
 emptiness  there are electrodes in the air
 magnetic fields solar flares 
 We damage the earth and the universe prepares.

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

Leave Me Now

Leave Me Now
Always leaning against the sycamore
Where leaves and shadows play upon your face
Standing solitary in evenings's softened light
You touched me once
In the midst of siren sounds and steel
You summoned and I refused your darkness
Yet your breath brushed my face gently
And your presence promised a quiet peace
Since then I have seen you
Near a friend's thinning frame
Heard you gently tap on hospice windows
Whispering do not stay to bear the pain
Yes, a time will come when I long for you
But you must me leave now--go away
I am too young to feel your heavy certainty
I wish to walk free and feel light again
To watch the newly born leaves open and dance
In summer's sun and jasmine's sweet perfume

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

Autumn

squirrels on the fence
young blue jays and crows cry out
last precious nuts fall

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

Dancing In the Temple

Dancing at a Temple

 I am dancing
 Twirling and whirling
 Hands and face open to the sun
 Lost in the infinite 
 Draped in gauze and silks
 Whirling and twirling
 To the sounds of chants and drums
 As the deep tones of the monks
 Melt into the tender tones of nuns
   
 I am dancing, dancing
 Yes, yes I sit here stiff and graying 
 But bathed in this golden light
 In my heart I am limber and strong
 For my spirit dances round and round
 As I fold into this universal song

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

San Francisco Aids Year English Couplet

There was a sense a feeling a consciousness
Ill and loosing friends long ago in San Francisco
Visiting when I was sharing vanilla shakes
All that he could eat and enough for me
We both tired so quickly, sitting together
Watching a tv show, washing his dishes 
There was so much fear and ignorance
People did not want to learn or read
I miss him even now after so many years
Remembering those young days gone by
Blue skies, gray fog, white clouds
Tall Eucalyptus trees aromatic leaves waving
High up in the hill, a white cross waiting for Easter
Moments soft and quiet, caring contemplation
The worries, the pain, the uncertainty, still there
That sense of awareness, even a presence 
A kindness, a Force seemed near 
As we struggled to be alive as much
As we were allowed as the fog rolled in
And the nights grew dark and cold
The city lights, and the soft winds,
Gave us a kind of ease and even acceptance ensued
A sense of a Force that was close by
Ready to receive us and bring peace
Something — a presence without judgement
Was there -- that ended the burden of life when it was too much to bear
A Force universal, a Force that was waiting a Force that was aware

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

Best of Days-- Short Poems

Santa Cruz, the early morning’s
cold air damp and gray
than sunshine emerges gold and
folds into the maple and piney leaves
as curelium takes over high on the hills above
while over the ocean to the west still lies
the misty skies of blue haze


He sat and told me not to read
not NIH or Tumor Insight
or any such journal, he told me
to stop wondering what would be
when that happened he
and Stanford would tell me what I
could do.  the disease was very rare,
at 2 years I was well beyond the norm.
he told me to enjoy the bright purple
sun laced flowers, the white intensity of
the moon,  to walk my dogs 
to watch them play 
to be alive to the bird songs 
before the winds and waves come crashing
through the darkness of the storm


ocean waves roll in foam
winds howl clouds darken streets roll
mother earth takes hold

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

Reflection

an emptiness and coolness just 
 in the midst of the chest, unease
 my corgi terrier, black and white
 watches me and stares with her dark black eyes
 she paces back and forth to my bedroom and
 to the sofa, back and forth looking at me
 trying to herd me to my bedroom down the hall nothing                   new from this disease that I feel of 
 just a stiffened neck, vertebrates that ache
 sharp electrical wires stinging - nothing new 
 but the emptiness and icy aching heart
 with the feeling of dread and fatigue

 no time to create something wondrous
 a legacy — no famous name to be left behind 
 no children, no good works
 my quiet husband my quiet emptiness
 I am weary of this futile fight 
 my dreams gone into the clouds

Details | Linda Milgate Poem

To Hope Again

Once again mankind hopes and gathers  
Looking towards sunlight after the worse of days
But now released mankind laughs and sings
The young dance
The old with crinkling wrinkles smile
Yet sleep does not come easily
 For the old have seen during the years 
 Uncertainty created  by unstable minds
 They have seen the craving of evil men
 How they stay quiet and wait ready
 To ponce during the dancing days
 Living for the bitter coldness of gold
 The people who care, hope and love
 Those with joy, and hear the future calling 
 Exalt children, the earth, the expansion of life
 They are watching resting quietly 
 Their funds kept safe as they sit on the sidelines
 Check their computers and the news
 Watching while the young celebrate
 Learn, dream, love, and grow
 For they know that evil always survives
 And hides in the alleys during the quiet dark
 Jealous of joy, resentful of our reveling
 Ready to cause pain and deception
 And though we may rest, we are ready to 
 Open our eyes cry out beware and battle again