climbing the daily mountain

we have it only
for a short time the hoping
achievement or death

the starkest choices
confront us daily and we
understand nothing

only the magic
remains after victory
but long it lingers

open window late november

the season declines but here and there a spray
of coloured leaves clings weakly to the past
there's no resentment that in a short day
they'll lose the fight and fall to ground at last
the softness of the breeze is a too thin disguise
for what's to come the clarity of the light
reminds us that already the earliest spies
of winter have given news of the long fight
that we'll have with the cold and dark and bleak
when sunshine though relieving will not heat
we'll grit our teeth and when we open them to speak
we'll be brief lest they chatter when they meet
but now it's warm and given that the choice
is that or cold provisionally we rejoice

on 27 november

today's my father's birthday another time to weep
remembering the years when i was child and youth
i think of him now in the eternal dreamless sleep

today's a day for memory the promises that i keep
and those i do and will not for the sake of truth
today's my father's birthday another time to weep

time with its usual craft has come to smile and creep
at all the memories what it leaves alas is ruth
i think of him now in the eternal dreamless sleep

but all i rue is the long unsaid silence's price is steep
now it will not be paid as to what was said forsooth
today's my father's birthday another time to weep

the passage of time creates an abyss that's truly deep
to find its bottom its true end would take a sleuth
i think of him now in the eternal dreamless sleep

my thought now is a great mansion into each room i peep
recalling scenes attending to a voice that was ever couth
today's my father's birthday another time to weep
i think of him now in the eternal dreamless sleep

nothing has exploded

nothing beyond this matters except pain
the tears mean nothing in and of themselves
it's not the signs or symbols but the strain
the effort as each of us deeply delves
that truly signifies or means a defined thing
the rituals around it all that symbolic load
is worthless as a cheap painted plastic ring
the acts that matter put feet on the road
i'm tired of sciolist scholars seeking to justify
their overweighted salaries by lighting up the sun
i want to say direct to each a plain you lie
and what's it mean if i shoot you when you run
in the dark corners may be hopeful growth
but it won't be seen if the seekers are loth