I Saw The Sun

I saw the sun one early morn
While going on my way.
Like light the instant one is born,
The sun is to each day.
The pains of birth are to the mother,
And so the child alike.
The one gives lifeblood to the other
And makes it's heart to strike.

As I continued on my path,
And as the sun rose higher
The world was given a shining bath;
A cleansing, as with fire.
The early childhood of the day
Was warm, and bright, and pleasant.
The morn that kept the heat at bay
Was soon to turn adolescent.

At noon the sun beat on my back
And scorched the desert sand.
I realized now I'd lost my track
In this wasted barren land.
The anger of the sun I felt.
It brought despair, then fear.
I stopped, I bowed, and then I knelt
And hoped that God would hear.


By evening time the sun had dropped;
Was sinking in the west.
I slowed my pace, and then I stopped
And sat to take a rest.
I fell asleep. I had a dream.
I walked beside a clear blue stream.
The grass was green. The flowers bloomed.
The clouds were drifting by.
But deep inside I felt so doomed;
Like I was going to die.

Then I awoke and looked around,
And there beside me on the ground;
A body lying in the dust.
The sun had turned the skin to crust.
The face I saw I knew so well.
I hung my head and cried.
For long ago within this hell...
It burned me till I died.

Progeny

A young boy will look at the girl by his side.
He'll give her a handful of posies.
A young man will gaze at his beautiful bride
And give her a bouquet of Roses.
Two forget-me-nots, I've given to you;
The yield of our labor and sowing.
And when we are gone, as all must soon do,
Our flowers will still keep on growing.

Written in Stone

Back when it was written,
No future was known.
A prophecy, true, made the call.
The chisel was smitten
To write in the stone,
"A Good Man Remembered By All".

Traces

A tuft by the trail,
A broken egg shell,
An empty nest up in a tree.
A wing in a web,
Driftwood in the ebb
That widens the shore by the sea.
A track in the mud,
A spot of dried blood,
A tire mark that once was a toad.
A pile of old bones,
Some moss covered stones
Once laid in a square by the road.

As life melts away,
Surroundings decay,
I can't stop the crumbling alone.
But time will erase what once was a trace;
A piece of my memory, soon gone.

Seed of Revenge

Late one night while I lay sleeping,
Came a caller slowly creeping.
Deep within the cerebral cleft
An evil seed, by Death, was left.

The pressure grew as days went by.
The Reaper knew that I must die,
And yet he filled me with false hope.
To cling to life, I'd grab and grope.

Then came the day for me to die.
I saw the reaper standing by.
He started to laugh, but then grew dumb.
I too had seed... and a dark green thumb!

Homecoming

I went back home the other day
To see what did remain.
Could sense the place from far away
As I got off the train.
A mile away, but as a child
I still could hear that sound.
That wailing whistle, long and wild;
The trembling in the ground.

So off I walked down dusty road.
So long since I had been.
Returning to that old abode
To see my folks again.

The road went past the Simpson place.
I loved that girl of his!
I won't forget her smiling face.
I wonder where she is.
Beneath that tree in their front yard,
Her hand, I used to hold.
It seemed I held the winning card.
Somehow... I had to fold.
There's not much left; a stony wall
Right where the house once stood.
How did it look? I can't recall.
Right now... I wish I could.

When soon the house came into view
I almost turned and ran!
So scared of being overdue.
So scared to be a man.

Could almost see the neighbor's boys,
Who gave me my first pup.
I thought I heard my mother's voice,
"Come on child, hurry up"!
I listened long, but heard no sound,
Except the gentle breeze.
The old swing lay there on the ground
To rot beneath the trees.
The doors were locked, and windows too.
I'd seen enough today.
But one more thing I had to do
Before I went away.

I walked on out into the field,
Under a lone shade tree,
And saw the graves that death had sealed,
Yet time had set me free.
Then I recalled what Daddy said
The day he breathed his last.
"Son, carry on when I am dead,
And put me in the past".
I said a useless last goodbye
And left them both in peace.
My mind had let them finally die;
A bittersweet release.

My past was left around the bend
To die in rot and rust.
Then gently blew the summer wind
To fill my tracks with dust.

I, Driftwood

Driftwood, Driftwood, where have you been?
I've circled the world, and I've started again.
Driftwood, Driftwood, where will you go?
I drift with the tide. Please don't ask. I don't know.

"Something's in the water dad.
Out there beyond the bar"!
"You might as well forget it lad.
Tis passing by too far.
It's just a piece of drifting wood
That's washed away from shore.
It soon will sink, and that for good,
To never rise no more".

While floating in a moonless sea
With darkness for my sight,
So suddenly, it came to be,
I saw a distant light!
A growing flicker on a beach.
There's laughter, then a shout.
The waves once kept me out of reach,
But now, they'd turned about.

I'd been adrift for many days,
But that was in the past.
The shilhouettes around the blaze
Would be my hope at last!
I finally washed upon the sand
And caught two watchful eyes.
And even in the stranger's hand
My heart began to rise.

To have a space all for myself,
Was all I could desire.
To just be placed upon a shelf,
...Not cast into the fire!


Dawn creeps from the East.
The drifting has ceased.
And no one remembers
The smouldering embers.