TWO POEMS FOR AUTUMN

TWO POEMS FOR AUTUMN

 

 

MARIE AMONG THE LEAVES

 

Toddling among the leaves,

she lets out a shriek only

diving seagulls can make

as they taunt the raucous

fishermen to let some catch

off their bursting nets, share

the joie d’vivre only drunken

sailors home from the seas

are full of. Aieeeeeeeekkkk! 

The darkening sky lets out

a funnel of fall wind, roils

the crackling leaves raked

by these carousing innocents,

and she stumbles on a heap,

swims through the mound

of sienna and fallen foliage,

but her laughter makes him

tremble now, her pensive

grandpere:  

Mon dieu, let her laugh, let

the pall of transience pass,

that she may be defiant

with full laughter. Forever.

 

---ALBERT B. CASUGA

 

THE PRAYER AFTER

 

I’m moved to get down on my knees./ I’m not even sure what is there.---Luisa Igloria, “Rezar”, Via Negativa,

 

Dark days will always be with us,

but they, too, will pass, like wind

blowing through gloomy rooms: 

look at her fleetingly smile at you

when you hold her to your chest,

the dove-like cooing telling you  

how warm it is to curl into arms

that will always be there to hold

and enfold however cruel days  

become, however bereft of grace

struggling to live becomes. Look

at her gaze at you long enough  

to manage another smile before

she looks away and closes her eyes

to sleep feeling you will be there  

when she opens them again still

singing her a lullaby, her smile

never once leaving her tender face.  

It is when you are moved to get

down on your knees and pray

that, if this were your final day, 

you would still have her cuddled

in your arms smiling at what you

have begun to doubt is still there  

holding us all in his steady palms.

 

---ALBERT B. CASUGA