Poem of the Day – March 22

Where shall we go today?

To the beach to watch the waves

Break one after another, sloshing

Onto the sand like spilled foam

From a glass of beer, a moment

Of seething drama, then the

Quick furtive withdrawl, as if

The sea knows that it has

Exposed too much.

 

Or shall we trudge into the mountains

On a broken trail, wishing for silence

Instead of the drone of an airplane

And the thrash of a helicopter

Looking for a fool who has stumbled

Who has lost his bearings and will die

Without realizing his fantastical dreams.

 

Somewhere in the sanctum of chaparral

The mountain lion creeps upon the

Unsuspecting hare, and the simpleminded

Lizard allows its tail to go missing,

Certain that a new one will grow,

And the gopher snake peers out of its hole

At humans oblivious to all but the

Sound that runs through wires to their ears.

 

Where are we? The melting sky drips

Onto the ruined earth, which pushes

Forth weeds like children, the ones whose

Parents seek admiration and esteem

For an act so common that no license is required,

No training, nothing but a desire to emulate

The endless repetition of the sea,

The jagged rise of the mountains,

That sink, slowly, ponderously,

Into the darkness of the light.

 

 © Dennis Hathaway

 

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