The Angelus

The Angelus

after the rain,
I returned home
to this valley,
where the rivers race
with the wildfowl flying south
and  words in the sateen night
cry of home and haven…

after the rain,
I remained in peace
as silence from the heart
overwhelmed me.
Fallow are the fields
where tall corn flourished.

Death stroked like a clock
rousing light from the long night:

My Brother, my brother,
where have you gone?

Hesse is rewritten.
Narcissus falls to AIDS
and Goldmund lives on.

after the rain
this blue shimmer raises
chills,
within the patchwork
of this quilt,
I cuddle your warm memory
named in the block
sewn on my heart.

after the rain,
an infant sun breaks rays
with the noon angelus,
a huckstered rooster crows
and corn greens
summer’s fields again.

Needs – Love Poem

The calico needs a sunny sill,
Roses need their water,
And marl needs the skilfull hands
Of an artistic potter.

Children need a guiding hand,
Prophets hunt what’s true,
The faery needs an Irish glen
And darling, I need you.

The violet loves the morning dew,
Red clover loves the bees,
The Chinook loves a running stream
And darling, I love you!

For Renee – All the Nights Unborn

A day without you casts shadows on my heart

The lack of you is loss of light

Drear spirits magnify when we’re apart

I ache to hold you through the night.

I ache to hold you through all the nights unborn

And laugh with you throughout the days

From the sunsets in the eves

To the sunrise in the morn.

©Charles Elledge2008

After the Storm

I mercurochrome my heart with words,

Taking perverse pleasure in the sting

That truth inflicts.

I turn my back to the door

Her back saw last and ignore the urge

To walk to the telephone,

Some words are swords edgewise

To walk upon.

I watch winter whiteout my window

And stroke my cat, Capsaicin.

He purrs, stretching under my fingers,

Alone knowing the right words.

©Charles Elledge1997

A Piece of the Rose

A Piece of the Rose

A petal fluttered to the ground,

Sere and curled, faded brown:

A bit of rose, once brilliant red,

is lost – now found among the nettles.

.

Two hearts were sleeping,

dream-searching for a sign.

Two hearts were weeping

over love they couldn’t find.

If retrieved this hope, this pain,

another chance for heart to sing,

.

for mind to reel and ache to feel,

would I chance this agony again?

My beating heart cannot be stilled

in search for truth and love to share.

Bewildered? Yes, but also thrilled

at the audacious love I want to dare!

.

Forsaken once, and yet once more,

I bent and gathered up the petal:

more precious now than it was before

This faded bit of rose among the nettles.

©Grandpockets2008

The Swan and the Drake

There is always time for a love poem, and for me, that means my wife Renee.

the bridge to my heart...

The Swan and the Drake

You sustain me,

You sustain me through tribulations,

through trouble and trials

when no other can.

Thus vast yet empty

I walk naked

And alone in the night.

I step into ether

And am two-as-one,

The joy of the crowning find,

The chalice.

Rises the white bird of my soul and hers

From hopes and smoke

And words flung into electrons,

I am phoenix’d.

Flys she with me,

South –

From the stark white life,

Warm –

She learns to swim,

The swan and the drake.

Renee

: I love you

I love you

I am.. .amazed by you

In so many ways.. .