And so my mind turns again to poetry, a passion, which I periodically manage to quash, since no one reads it anymore. But yesterday, I spent some time reading a high school lit book, and fed my soul on Dickinson, Tennyson, and other beloved authors. I think the world would be a different place, if people were so articulate still. Or passed the time thinking rather than absorbing digital images. Of course that “people” includes me, since I manage to waste enough time that way myself.
But don’t you think our psyches would be healthier for steeping ourselves in a bit of poetry now and then. I’d almost forgotten how much I love it, until by chance I visited that enchanted place yesterday.
Today, I found myself thinking higher thoughts and words assembling themselves in crowded rhyme in my cluttered head. And I wrote two poems today, the first in a very long time. I think I will put them on here too, just for fun.
The first is a reflection of conversations with military families.
The second, a rude awakening late in life to the fact that poverty, prejudice and injustice do too often walk had in hand.
The Warrior Wife’s Lament
He’s home,
But he’s not really here.
He loves,
But can no longer trust.
His pain will still be living on
when all the weapons turn to rust.
I’m here,
But he can’t let me close.
I look, but I will never see
The visons that now haunt his mind.
and build thick walls ‘tween him and me.
We’re here,
But will our love survive
the loss of innocence to death?
Or is the war so great a cost
that it will steal our love’s last breath.
D. Zahn 1/27/11
Justice?
In my white world world, where justice reigned supreme
I swallowed lies and savored them for truth.
And never knew of my mistake,
Until injustice buried youth.
For justice now has its own price,
The poor can never hope to pay.
And truth, is so bound up with lies
That wisdom cannot find its way.
God grant your color many be light,
Your smile sweet, your mind unfettered still.
Or what awaits, you cannot fight
And take your chance for good or ill.
dzahn 1/27/11
