Two Poems by Jeremy Gosnell
Deep December
I imagine at home
The forest is wrapped in deep
December
A swelling blanket of ice that holds its fibers close
The soft
sheet of snow that insulates and destroys
A combination only Mother Nature
herself could perfect
To protect and destroy
A gift of honor and yet
of evil
What a gift it must be
To keep the safety of one in hand
And destroy the self of another with a gesture
Deep December keeps the forest cold and uncertain
Afraid and unwilling it must march to winters gates
Knowing the defeat
is inevitable
It must bare a certain cost for a brighter season
When the cast of ice is shed beneath
To bring
about life anew
Will natures protective bow
Bear another season of
peace
I fear for us as I fear for the forest
For we
are now lost in deep December
Uncertain and unwilling we have marched
To winters gates a growing lost
Will those gates open again
So we can leave this cold embrace
And live again in the warmth of summer
Or drown
in the chilling waters
Of another long deep December
_________________________________________
Become Forever
Through the looking glass I peered
Like peering
into the window of another world
One cold, wrapped in the embrace of a
sudden winter
An in-escapable cold that held all in its grip
Tightened
by the chilling air, and spreading frost
The world had put us in perfect symmetry
You
and I Visible to anyone,
to the stars, to the moon
And the sky
I peered at you, watching each movement, keen and
calculated
My finger resting on the trigger
Trying to focus myself away
from the moment
Imagine it as though I was not me
Making the entire
moment faded and created
a blurred and distorted reality
Though no thought or distortion
No calculation
or dream could take me away from myself today
The cold of winter, the growl
of hunger,
and the growing content of disbelief had manifested too well
within me
Fear not my brother in arms, for I am as afraid as you
Circumstance abound I released myself from duty
For it was not my duty to take you from this world
The bullet to be
your chariot, carrying you into the realm beyond
Their duty is theirs, not
mine
So walk away my brother in arms,
leave this place and pray for
white shore,
open fields and the forgiving rays of a gentle sun
For I will lay down my rifle forever
I will
become forever
I will be the wind in the meadow
The song of the sea
The hum of a sleeping child
I will be immortal and everlasting
I
will be today and tomorrow
I will be free of duty, free of war,
and
riding the soft waves of peace
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