Six Poems by John Drudge

 

Beginnings

 

Finding connections

To that old self

To that time

Beyond words

When passion played

In each moment

When imagination

Ran through gardens

Of dreams unfolding

The future open

And limitless

The night

An opportunity

To begin

Anew

Dawn

 

Four and a half

Billion years

Rising and falling

Into ruins

Along old roads

And the reconstruction

Of persistent myths

Enigmas of contention

Toppled down

And gobbled up

Cobbled

Into a tangle

Of truth and derision

Of a pagan gospel

And the sky’s

Ancient whisper

Over forests

Of our forebearers

And the mountains

Of our making

Feeding the wolf

At the campfire

As the morning stirs

Beyond the ridge

Fences

 

The length of days

Grows longer

In the summer sun

Beyond the fables

And the stories

As the rain on the horizon

Threatens

And crowds huddle

Together

Along the fences

Moors in the Mountains

 

The castle walls

A shadowed grey

The sound of a guitar

A prelude to dance

In a summer square

In Madrid

With Flamencos

Keeping time

And tapping out love

Fingers strumming

To the rhythm

Of tomorrow

As the sun sets

Over the fortress

Of Alcazar

With a faint

African sorrow

Off the Bone

 

Sensing creation

In the knowable

Forces

Of our awakening

Within

The secret toil

Of blood and dirt

The battle cries

Of wasted change

And the foggy eyes

Of faded hope

Altered

As we pass

Through seeds of rage

Beneath the shallow

Surface

Of a forced smile

And a subtle slice

Of happiness

From the bone

Through the Glass

 

Smash the window glass

Head-first

Like William Blake

And the angels

Savage creatures

Restrained by chains

But breaking free

And lurking

Around the cortex

And in between the fissures

In the old grey snow

Smash the window glass

And walk the meadow green

In the thin crisp air

Toward open sky

With repentant hands

And an unworthy sense

Of the sunrise

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 five books of poetry: “March” (2019), “The Seasons of Us” (2019), New Days (2020), Fragments (2021), and A Long Walk (2023). 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.