Continuum:
Poems for Autumn, 2011
Steven Federle
Contents
Continuum
My
breath rises
to the edge of space
and pauses
at the nexus of perfection,
then falls,
driven by waves of fire,
by strong hands guided
through dust and rain,
through ice, through
the shining
vortex
to my upturned face
where a single drop dies
and fills me with
the storm’s desire.
Failure
The
leaves are falling too early!
Strewn, green and pliant,
they drift to summer lawns
to wither and die.
Oh, heavily falls failure when,
not yet the season of death,
impatient winds tear and shred,
suck dry life's tender
breath.
Down a Bright Way
Close to the center,
near to where silence
fills my straining ears,
where long years
of searching end,
I find you waiting
my old friend.
You take my hand
and in a glance
know
all.
Without a word
down a bright way
we walk.
Psalm
You say
"be not afraid"
yet this darkness is
complete.
A well of silence lies
beneath my feet
as I try to feel
my way back to you.
How can I be brave
when all around me I hear
rivers of anguish, tears
over-flow life’s banks?
Terror fills the sky
in dark flashes
as my sight declines,
and endless night
encroaches on the edge
of vision.
Will you lift me
if I stumble
and fall?
Oh, call softly
and with seeing
fingers I'll find
your healing
hands again.
blows the wind
blows the wind
by winter
enthralled, trees
shed at end
of day, end
of summer
world fall filled,
newly chilled,
crescent moon
disappears
all too soon.
In the End
In the end
will I rise
like cranes flying
through obdurate fog,