Of Silk and Steel

That's the way life is...a holy blend of silk and steel

The artist and the poet understand

The kinship twixt the lover and the land

The fire of the pen or brush to page

Where wars of Want and Must their battles wage

Ah, tug-of-heart, the art of season-sweep

Startles the pioneer of toil and sleep

Today is never second-hand; its skies

Brimming with the imminence of good-byes

The oracle of eventide is swift

To smooth to naught the remnant of dawn’s gift

Midnight is large; the whole world disappears

A barge that sails through stars or is it tears?

Darling, we are all strangers to today

And no one knows what waits to fill dusk's tray

The color-wheel of silk and steel soft-spills

In droplets snared by canvases and quills

© Janet Martin