Winter Solstice on Pleasant Street
The veil lifted from our eyes
And we stared in anguish
At naked evil.
Riveted, in agony,
We stared and stared.
Time stood still.
And in that frozen moment,
That eternity of horror,
Came an awareness of the faintest murmur.
I saw what you saw.
I see what you see.
I too believe the unbelievable.
The murmur swelled to a rush
Of kleenex and cookies and phone calls
And books and poetry and wisecracks —
An abundance of daily things
Cluttering an eternity of evil.
Frozen, without even knowing it,
Our gasps of terror
Transform us into an army of warriors
Defiant in our spite of evil.
Now know, sweet frozen warrior,
The coldest day of the year
Is also the shortest.
Happy, hopeful Solstice to all!
There’s Something Beautiful About Death
For a while the dead still clutch;
Their needs, their clammy fingers,
Slowly relax.
In time, their passion turns elsewhere.
They look upon the living
With a benediction
Because their void is filled at last.
The flesh falls off their bones,
Their mouths release the children’s parts.
The generations might yet live in harmony.