The Voyageurs

 

Wet with cold autumn rain

they paddle on immune to pain

their large bark canoe glides silently

like an enormous leaf floating steadily

Men dressed in grizzly furs paddling

their frosted breaths slowly rising

above their coonskin hats

they approach the rapids fast

as the forest sports a thick blanket of leaves

'Tis time to quickly depart the mountain scene

the bearded men guide their way

in canoe through rocks that day

Low hanging naked branches

reach out to their frozen faces

shell ice all ready coats the shores

of this dark river of infamous lore

Pulling for their lives in river swirls

ripping rapids as foamy waves unfurl

they are condemned to the waters will

valiantly stroking with voices still

A years' work piled between them

A ton of beaver pelts, a fortune then

They are the Voyageurs heading to Montreal

Seeking a years wages in the Fall

 

Vietman Memorial

 

Sweet are the memories for certain

of Thu Do street Saigon virgins

that drift into dreams never calm

their perfume smelling of Napalm

 

Soldiers whose helmets did hang

in Da Nang and Na Trang

are now marks on black granite

testament to past politics unfit

 

Those lessons learned from wars

are infected like open sores

stinging with pain of mind in review

price paid by the brave few

 

Those political actions without moral device

backed by young blood flowing never sufficed

in illuminating the National climate

as shaded minds consistently denied it

 

So, run your fingers along the Wall

remember those who answered the call

and in their eternity of death

praise them in your Memorial breath

House of Cards

 

I kiss the night softly

and welcome darkness warmly

as I won't stop loving you

and reach blindly for you

 

The days and times of my life

pass like the songs I like

and I hold on loving you

in all that you do

 

Having no regrets

in fatigued sleep oppressed

I tremble in your soft nest

my hand covering your breast

 

the Queen of hearts blinded by rain

will come again and again

then rise in joyful tenderness

and will fill my life with times blessed

 

No more cards of spade in repose

only flashes of vibrant rose

with wide eyes that love owns

chasing away spades and clubs with love moans

 

and if love be made of light

let it take away the night

and the darkness that hides

in life's House of Cards