Poem: Light and Dark

Light and Dark.

The light changes,
moment to moment,
depending on where your eyes
linger.

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I seem to be on a short poem jag just now. I can't say why.

The picture was taken at the quarry across from my house. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom 

Poem: The Fence

The Fence

The fence has no paint, worn
from time and weather, broken
from accumulated weakness, grey
with age, a reminder

that change is slow, yet constant
and that we have a choice
of whether to let it in through the gate,
or let it slowly break us

into dust.

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Lots of change going on in my life these days, and thinking about it spawned this poem. The picture was taken in Wells, VT. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Poem: Up and Down

Up and Down

Gravity is easy.
It pulls you down
a predictable path,
no effort required
to direct the fall,
spiraling downward,
a direct result
of events, of a simple trip
that sends you down the stairs,
bouncing, breaking
to the dark bottom.

Rising is not so easy,
more deliberate,
fighting beyond the weight
of your past, of pain,
of events, rising with effort,
defying gravity,
and spiraling upward
towards the light.

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The picture was taken in Munich, Germany. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Poem: Standing in the Wind

Standing in the Wind

The wind sweeps across the mountaintop
and one tree, bent and enduring
a lone survivor silhouettes the sky

and you are not sure
whether it is the last gasp of life,
or a reason to hope
that this hilltop can bec0me a garden.

You climb, marveling that what once seemed
a soft, green mountain is so steep, so rocky,
so tiring to conquer, and you wonder

if it is truly so brutal,
or if it is age and the storms of your own life
that tire you so, until

reaching the summit, you stand
and feel the weather pull at your shirt,
knowing you must now make a decision,

to stay, and plant a garden,
or to succumb to wind and fear of wind.
You hesitate, then facing the sun,

and feeling it's warmth, and the promise of spring,
you dig.

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The picture was taken in Belize. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Poem: A Different Road

A Different Road

You have always had an eye for byways,
a wondering, almost a lust,
for side roads and less traveled paths,
a desire suppressed

as if somehow, staying the course
on the road more traveled was some kind of virtue,
as if there was value in following

people you did not know, but now,
wrenched from your perfect highway,
you find yourself here,

once again at the starting point
and you stand at the intersection
of highway and byway,

and this time,
chose the unmarked path,
unsure of the destination,
but joyful in the journey.

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The picture was taken last week in Mount Jackson, Va. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom