After the Winter Snow

For Larry and Donna

 

Bliss surrounds a black boy after the snow has fallen

A sign of the human heart has survived

An understanding of life and suffering

Hunger and thirst and desire

No longer does regret linger within his soul

It was a winter of solitude setting on the pew

Praying for salvation

While the flakes of snow surrounded the outside

Harsh was the winds and still was the life he had

There’s no need to be afraid he thought:

In time there would be a flower that would bloom inside of him

Today was that day.

 

Crystal’s Eyes

For Crystal Johnson

 

Those eyes tell the story of my soul,

You see the story come to life,

Through the brightness of your glance.

Brings peace to my mind,

Your eyes reflects all that is good within me,

All that I wanted to be and all that I have become,

The beam in your eyes refreshes my soul.

Quiet Reflections

 

She always slept in the chair,

Between the boxes full of clothes:

Children’s clothes passed down.

Her silver hair and arthritic fingers,

Her nose had been broken,

“I was a Hellen!” she declared.

Hard to imagine this old half negro and Cherokee woman,

Was a gentle and sensitive redeemer,

Of abandoned children in the inner city.

 

 

Never Mind

 

Why should we forget the bodies lying in

The streets, in the class rooms, in the halls.

Blood dripping into the cement.

We should not mind those body-bags in the corner

Collecting dust year after year.

Why should we mind it after all?

This is our Vietnam.

Those flags placed over the bodies,

Will eventually be forgot.

 

 

Remember Me

 

Long after my body turns to dust,

After the last spring flower blooms over my grave,

And the peacock returns to the mountains.

Words, my words will still live on someone’s bookshelf.

Words long gone in the world.

 

Sweet Love

 

The moon is fading my love,

Ending our moments of joy,

The daisy awaking,

We remember our bodies engulfed in ecstasy,

When the moon had faded.

In the eastern skies,

Stars reflecting over the pond.

Shall our love fade as well?

 

 

Forget Me Not

 

Do not forget my love for you,

Those roses made of cardboard,

The sun turning into dust.

The moon falling into the ocean,

Don’t overlook my empty heart.

Glasses of wine spilling onto the sheets,

Our lips touching as if they were silk.

Don’t forget my tender soul.

 

Curse

 

My black skin with my Cherokee mother’s eyes,

Reflects a sadness of generations of war,

Living alone in the mountains,

Still our souls were not lost.

 

 

3.20.2018