Four Score
Lydia in a long black gown,
One step, two step fall some more,
Dancing drunk through the town.
Rise again, then three step four.
Waltzing with the moonlight,
Five step, six step, tempting fate,
In its long gown of white.
Fall again, seven step eight.
First Anguish
Ages ago,
I mistook clouds for the sky
Waiting for a school bus
In the chill dark of a country eternity.
That was already my second lifetime,
My third if you had asked my father.
My fourth by a mother's account.
Mother was parked nearby, watching,
Letting me explore the darkness.
Meanwhile, in my seclusion
I burnt words I had written the night before --
But just for the sake of presentation.
The match imploded in a brief Hollywood fury,
Blackness slowly returned.
Looking up to infinity through blurred eyes,
The moon's feral flame illuminated a pool of cloud.
In short order, the surrounding dark
Swallowed the full brilliance moon.
For some time I stared in awe
As the moon was in turn released to the clouds,
And recaptured by the universe.
That was also the year I found
What would become my first anguish,
Though she too shone bright through the haze.
Only later did I learn to distinguish clouds from sky.
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Submission Name: Four Score & First Anguish
