Two Poems

3-7-16

Moment

Wet day, rainy day
Last fire of the season day
Mountains on the right
Hide behind the cloud walls
Mountains on the left
Bright and shady
Beneath their clouded crochet day
Bored dogs sleeping
Timeout keeping
Sun slipping under
Not breaking out day
Day to cherish those so near
Day to miss those self exiled
Those who held the pots together
Those who broke them to ostraka
Those who held the whole together
Those who wrote themselves away
I love you all day

Emancipation

Slaves enslaved
Caught and held and forced
True enough so far as it can go
Enslaved enforced by others
Enslaved enforced by God
Enslaved enforced by self
Cast out all the snakes
And leave the island open
For all the rats and shrews
To gnaw your heart and brain
I've always hated slavery
No matter who the slaver
It hurts the slave
It hurts the slaver
It does no one any good
No amount of gain
Is worth the loss of soul and self
When the slave enslaves himself
It's the saddest kind of all
All I have to buy your freedom
Is the love you will not take
That which has no value in your world
Is all I have to spend