Five Superb Poems by John Drudge

 

A Long Walk

 

I’ve walked for miles

To get here

Past the forests

Of forgiveness

And too many mistakes

In the tall grass

Stumbling over rocks

And roots

And missteps

On the footpath

Of history’s forming

Through blistering summers

And frigid winters

To where the bridge

Washed out

In the spring

At the Gate

 

No more

Than dogs on a leash

Led by the necessities

Of life

Strangled by need

Thriving on ritual

And tradition

Seeking to belong

To anything

Free from guilt

And shame

Desperate

For the totality

Of eternity

And the promised kiss

Of paradise

Fearless

 

Darkness

And the closely held

Secrets

Of discontent

The twists and turns

And the curves of life

That defy

Common geometry

Obscuring myth

With complicated truth

Afraid of nothing

In the wilderness

And braced against

The ravaging winds

Of change

Shored

In the lush motherhood

Of love’s forgiveness

With the soothing relief  

Of a soft summer’s rain

On the hot black tar

Of the city’s

Fuming

The Blood of Men

 

A taste of death

In the air

Across the blood

Of men

Lost in battles

Of derision

Through spirals

Of thought

And the sound

Of feeling

Through time

As we walk along

The bones

Of our brothers

To salvation

Wolf Ridge

 

The hills roll

The moon howls

On a starlit night

On the ridge

Where time slows

And the frogs chime in

From the pond

Over the bulrushes

Across the meadow

To the breathless beauty

Of you

John Drudge - is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology.  He is the author of four books of poetry: “March” (2019), “The Seasons of Us” (2019), New Days (2020), and Fragments (2021). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.