What spurs the seasons of this life
Which bleed upon the sod?
We squander love and hate alike
To serve lust’s lesser god
Freedom is not entitlement
To please our pompous pride
Seasons splayed their glory when
Brave men of honor died
Beneath the red October sky
Beneath the warm spring sun
Beneath the passions of July
Our freedom has begun
Dare we to spill one hallowed breath
In thoughtless chivalry,
Or live as though we own the earth
Bought once through history?
Seasons and mankind mark the soil
Where soldier’s blood-drops fell
If freedom’s cost evades our toil
Then we are bound for hell
What spurs the seasons treading time?
Tis not entitlement
That brings the rain or sun to shine
On meadows that we plant
We gather harvest of the field
Yet, who evokes the sod?
Can we preserve our freedom’s shield
Yet spurn the hand of God?
Winter, spring, summer and fall
Will we be diligent?
Or blindly stumble through them all
Pleading entitlement?
Janet Martin
In another book I'm reading (yeah, I know, I'm reading a lot), Writing to the Bone, Natalie Goldberg says that a poet could and should write about everything. However, there are subjects one really cares about, and anything written on those subjects reflect the passion of that feeling. Those poems are natural, unforced and the best we write. This is one of your subjects.
ReplyDeleteI will reply when the kids are off...my internet seems to be working right now...it is being very cantankerous of late!
ReplyDeleteMike, it seems the older I get the more I value our fragile freedom. We live in 'micro-mentality' age, where self is on the throne...and I have yet to see a selfish courageous person. It is a sobering thought. Thank-you for your comments and encouraging me to keep writing about this thing I feel passionately about. I look at my kids and wonder what the future holds for them or their kids.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to read that book! I'll see if the library can get it.