APRIL POETS

I welcome the night

By

Beth Winter

I welcome the night,

the haunting shadows stark
and breeze illicit,
the unbroken silence
that’s caressed by the distant train,
the accord of time and earth
unforced.

I welcome the solitude,
the comfort unassumed
& unassuming,
the swaddling of terry and cotton
folds over naked limbs
with appearance and thought
unencumbered by assessments.

I welcome the hour unclaimed
by authority or demands,
the soothing and smoothing
in post-dusk pre-dawn’s serenity,
the go ahead and breathe
it’s okay freedom
found in this in-between time.

I welcome the night
for all that it isn’t
and is.

As time passes

By

Beth Winter

It wasn’t much,

a split second recall

– recoil,

as I found I had to do the math

to see how long it had been,

not like when it was fresh,

hours, days, weeks, months

lined up like the wrought iron fence

surrounding the cemetery,

all neatly in place,

straight-line perspective

anchored.

When did counting cease

and memories settle

on a calendar square

to rush round & round,

trapped in an invisible circle,

focus on a passing date

without time’s progression?

Then regrets compound

as realization dawns,

I am comfortable without grief constant

and hope that in the infinite

of breath & death,

you understand.