Raymond Soulard, Jr. New Songs (for Kassandra) - The ...

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Doctrine
Romance the hard rhythms & reck the
change, conjure from the brightest of small
fingers, & something lost in wide, bracing nights,
raise it by scalpel & song for what affronts,
when someone says the war is endless,
reply that peace is longer. Love is great & small.
******
Brutal
Dream that man’s death tonight, be a
welcome the world forgets to bestow,
there was kindness, there was water,
there were prayers & kisses, he wondered
about sky & soil, & reck how bullets
stripe fruits & no better. Reck how kings
wish for rows & silence. Reck how preachers
keep God safe in books & under rooves.
Dream that man’s death so that he
does not die alone, be his carpet, be
his flower, will him an after for the
pain of his end & for the child who
roared because every hour was still to come.
******
Nearer
Find God in your dear forgotten hour,
among shadows & scarves, the news
of despair by numbers, there, trembling,
not a shape for music or wish, closer,
less clinging than a feeling, not hardly
a thought, there, that juice, bare, spiced wisp.
******
To be continued in Cenacle | 60 | December 2006
The Cenacle | 59 | October 2006