Tag: refuge

a dying world – bombers returning from a Blitz on London 1940

Poetry by Sarah Das Gupta

Blue September skies suddenly slit open;
bombers streaming, screaming overhead.
Even the rooks stopping their raucous gossip,
seek refuge in the avenue of already coppery beech.

The Junkers are returning from the Blitz on London,
casually dropping remaining bombs to lighten the load.
They fly over the downs and Kentish hop fields,
heading for the Channel ports and then the open sea.

Unharnessing his team of chestnut horses,
the ploughman takes refuge in a stand of oaks.
Patiently they wait, swishing the flies off wearily,
familiar sight to generations in the cemetery nearby

In the fading light, they turn the ancient furrow.
Their hooves spark as they plod up the flinty lane.
They fade to ghosts in the lengthening shadows.
New sources of power have begun their reign.


Sarah Das Gupta is a writer from near Cambridge, who is interested in history and often uses historical background for fiction or poetry. She is also interested in the folklore of Eastern UK. She has been nominated for Best of the Net, the Pushcart, and a Dwarf Star.

Despair

Poetry by Michael S. Glaser

I take refuge among the trees
the Maple, Cedar and Chestnut Oak

where the wind dances with the leaves
and the birds invite my spirit to sing their songs.

The soft blue of the endless sky
knows that everything on earth is small

– even despair –

and reminds me that I am a part of something
wonderous – this sanctuary of mystery,

of sunlight, shadows and this breeze
that ruffles my hair

like my father did each time
he felt proud of his only son.


Michael S. Glaser has published eight collections of his own work and served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 2004–2009. He now co-leads workshops which embrace poetry as a means of self-reflection. He co-edited The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton (BOA 2012). Read more at http://www.michaelsglaser.com.

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