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
