Ballad Of Autumn Dusk

 OctPoWriMo day 20; topic Overwhelmed. Form; Ballad

Oft upon dusk’s daily dying

Thought is like a troubadour

Strumming the harp-strings of summer

Where sweet summer is no more

Like a vagabond he pauses

Face turned west on wind-tossed heath

Where Time dons dusk’s deep blue shadow

Thought attends its daily death

Refrain;

Tell me; tell me, cries the drifter

Where the ash of summer lies

But Thought cannot hear the answer

In the wind-waif’s weeping sighs

Stark against autumnal darkling

Still-life skylines slip from view

Earth is like an empty cradle

That a little lad outgrew

Soft, the balladeer of twilight

Runs his fingers, star-to-star

Somewhere between dusk and midnight

Life and death like warriors spar

Refrain;

Tell me, tell me, cries the wand’rer

Where the dust of summer sleeps

But thought cannot touch the answer

Where the wind-waif sighs and weeps

Thought is overcome with sorrow

Sorrow overrun with joy

Somewhere in some far tomorrow

Summer is a little boy

Somewhere the Artist of Autumn

Smooths Thought's tear with frost-sparked glaze

Overwhelming earth with splendor

Overwhelming Thought with praise

Refrain:

Tell me, tell me, cries the poet

Where the silk of summer fell

From a well of fond-felled flowers

Thought finds words wind-waifs can't spell   

© Janet Martin