What is this span of seasons strewn
On sweep of sand or through rock hewn?
Of lily-laughter lacing dust
Or shadow tracing wander-lust
Daybreak climbs to high noon, then soon
Dusk pins the dark with crescent moon
What spins this sacred swoon of air
Where we press on…to what? To where?
Is this day-night-to-day a hoax
Of hours strung on sun-rise spokes
Before the west burns quietly
With one more page of history?
…and is the awe of nature’s best
Mere wonder-frames of moment-jest
or Miracles without a God?
Is Time but silliness of sod,
And all its battles that we brave
But for the glory of the grave?
Ah, what is this which rends the flesh
And mends the heart with loneliness?
If we are beasts without a soul
Then what is joy or living’s goal?
And is our guerdon Death, cold-grinned
As ashes drift upon the wind
…and then, is Calvary a
tale
Of nothing but fireside regale?
And would Perfection die for naught?
Ah, what is life? Skin, blood and thought?
No, no! Touch earnestly Time’s sod
Life is the road that leads to God
© Janet Martin
Hi Janet,
ReplyDeletehave you submitted to Rattle?
"Issue #45 – Poets of Faith – Deadline: April 15th
Our fall issue will be dedicated to Poets of Faith—and by that we mean poets who are adherents to a specific religious faith tradition. In a slight revision to the guidelines, the poems themselves need not be about faith, so long as the poet qualifies. After reading an early batch of submissions, we realized that your spirituality will be embodied somehow in your poetry, even if that’s not what you’re writing about explicitly, and it’s much more interesting to explore the subtle ways that faith affects the work.
So if you consider yourself a Poet of Faith, see our guidelines page, but the gist is this: Send up to six poems on any subject and a note explaining why you qualify to submissions@rattle.com by April 15th."
We're having snow today,too. Not nearly as much as you've got (!), but still, it's March 25th, shouldn't it be spring already?
Sasha
(Just in case my reply didn't send from my in-box:) I promise I will try to submit something. thank-you for caring:)
ReplyDelete...and yes, we are tired of the cold too! As I was out skiing tonight I couldn't believe the height of some of the drifts. Let's hope for a slow thaw!
Just don't miss the deadline, please :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope it will not become a problem when all that amount of snow starts to melt..yes, let it happen gradually.
Skiing sounds nice, though. I used to ski at the park with my parents when I was growing up. I'd love to do the same with my kids, but we don't get enough snow.
I won't. I'm going to work at it until they're done! I have a draft but would like to finesse it a little. I don't go back very often to actually see how much there is to comb through when looking for a certain poem!. I need to figure out how to organize this place:)The labels help but there are so many...
ReplyDeleteand my tech-knowledge is limited so I'm not sure what the best way would be. For now I'll concentrate on meeting the dead-line!