Poetry

Laurent Bertrais photo

By

Rick Davis

Liberation

Sing from within

From a preverbal source

That laughs at words.

The singing season

Is short as we

Busy ourselves

Through each exhausting day

Made more frantic

By this knowing

That breath is limited

And will end.

But in my inner exploration

It is clear

That all I need

Is to sing alone –

Quietly and in secrecy

Allowing myself to touch

The memory

Of eternal life

That does not need

Words, titles, degrees

Or any such nonsense –

Inside we find

Love that surpasses

All clichés –

And I am restored –

Convinced that it is

Just a game,

So I use what I have

And speak the words

I must and want

But allow myself

To become

The laughing Buddha

Who carelessly throws

Holy Books into flame –

And so, for a few moments

I am renewed

With the knowledge

That it is all madness,

And laugh.

And in so laughing,

Accept the limitations of all –

For we are all

In the same predicament,

But as we are restored

From our fate

And find God

In the soul of another,

We are, for a moment,

Liberated

Rick Davis

Rick Davis is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, and several graduate programs.  He is married, and has over 700 published poems.