Poems grouped by content
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of Poems
List of classifications
NATURE POEMS
9. Half Dome (September, 1955)
15. Dreaming (June, 1956)
21. Life (June, 1957)
22. I'm a Spider (June, 1957)
23. Breakers (June, 1957)
24. Soulstorm (July 12, 1957)
26. Eclipse January 27th, 1958)
73. Hai-Ku (Jan 31, 1964)
76. More Hai-Ku (Oct 11, 1972)
List of Poems
9. HALF DOME (September, 1955)
(for Saralyn P Taylor)
Guardian of a wondrous vale,
Keeping watch o'er every trail
Stands a Rock of Ages high,
Reaching upward to the sky.
A massive dome, with wind-blown wall,
That oversees the valley's sprawl;
That says to each that in his shade
Goes trembling past, Be not afraid;
I am the master here below
I am your father as you go
Along the cliffs, along the streams,
Within the grandeur here which seems
Menacing, tyrannical,
Unfriendly as an icicle,
But I stand firm; I give to you
Security and strength to do
Whatever here you want to dare.
Fear not, I grant your every prayer.
I guard and guide through night and day
All who walk within my sway.
My hand and eyes are always here.
His shoulders also ever near
Make shadows playthings in the trees,
Make piper's trills of every breeze.
The mighty giant never sleeps
Nor daydreams, up among the steeps;
The waters roar and plunge the walls
But, I'm still here, he always calls,
Across the silent, starlit night--
Through day across to every height.
And no one ever needs to fear
For this mighty rock is always here.
(written after my experience in Yosemite, Labor Day, 1955)
15. DREAMING (June, 1956)
(to Sue Koeberle)
I wandered through the hills and valleys,
Climbing over rocks, and gullies,
Lupines and red poppies waving,
In the south wind, warm and laving.
I lingered by the river's edges,
Throwing berries to the fishes,
Ran and played with scant direction,
Laughed aloud at my reflection.
The sunlight danced and boldly flirted,
Robins peeped, their heads averted,
Cocked on side, staring askance,
Giving me a questioning glance,
As if to say, "How dare you share
Our freedom here without a care,
Our joy that we send forth in song,
cheerily, sweetly, all day long?"
I could not answer though I wanted
To express their spirit vaunted,
Tell them how my heart was loving,
How my life was so worth living.
I searched among the reeds and flowers,
Peeked at grouse in grassy bowers,
Insects in their hurry crawling,
Here and there a brown leaf falling.
The red and gold flared up and faded;
Silently the night invaded;
A thousand candles started peeping;
I returned where all were sleeping.
The nighthawk soaring high and squawking
Lit the night while I was walking;
Shadows, chirps and peace abounded;
Deep in me their echoes sounded.
21. LIFE (June, 1957)
(to no one)
Life is like an evanescent cloud:
either our steps drop lightly
and we say we are in the seventh heaven;
or the cloud is black and threatening
and we look for the silver lining.
It obscures,
with beautiful shapes;
It decorates,
and mars;
It brings devastating torrents
and quenches desiccated growth;
It is far beyond our reach,
and surrounds us inescapably.
The sun goes behind a cloud, and we chill;
W the light leaves our lives for a moment,
W and we are destitute, devoid of meaning.
But the clouds pass, ever drifting
(for surely they are not moving,
they are aimless, lost, fey)
In and out of the face of the jewel of the skies;
And always we find more to attach ourselves to,
to give and to receive from;
Another real will-o'-the-wisp staining our panorama,
and lasting as long as we watch and enjoy,
but do not try to capture.
22. I'M A SPIDER (June, 1957)
(probably to a friend of Archy's)
I'm a spider
trusting in the palm of the wind
to a gossamer cable
Seeking a safe landing,
swaying, swaying as I hazard
my precarious balance suspended
above a plunge
One web spun, another broken,
the remains of dead flies I leave
behind as I invade pioneer ground
Another, another,
It goes on endlessly, dull repetition
of the urge for life and the
fulfillment of that urge.
23. BREAKERS (June, 1957)
(to the mighty pursing and unpursing lips of the ocean, its breakers)
Rolling, swelling banks of jelly
Arching, ditching on the beach;
Instilling feeling in my belly
Crouching, watching breakers reach
Foaming, roaming sandy kingdom,
Chasing, placing lathered face
Drumming, booming, awesome, gruesome,
Rising, racing space to space
Splashing, crashing tidal pushers
Curving, swerving salt conclaves;
Rushing, mushing hydra ushers
Caving, laving shellfish graves
24. SOULSTORM (July 12, 1957)
Pain, longing
A void, a night, a chill;
Gray, dull, bleak fog
Engulfing voraciously,
Swallowing remorselessly,
\Dissolving hopelessly
Hear the rain-clock
empty tick-tock
Mindless swish-zoom
of the wind-broom
The thunder-drums
make groaning strums
Cruel whistling flip
the lightning-whip
The desolate darkness spreads
And eats away all peace
The torrent drenches heads
And wrinkles nature's fleece
The grasses bow their tops in pain
Birds hide their eyes beneath their wing
Some can escape the stabbing rain
While others stand the murdering.
The moistened fingers of the deluge search through every crevice;
The clotting broth of shadows stunts and stifles breath and seeing;
Relentlessly imprisoning all reaching, all endeavors
To break the shell, escape the mud, reclothe in nascent being
The savage spinning whirlpool
Immerses every straying fool
Each liquid gust a sharpened tool,
Each movement a heart-freezing ghoul;
The dusk falls thick like lead,
The light will not come back;
The paths are gone ahead,
Washed out, the water's sack;
From cloudy paws
come lightning-claws
Thunder-cascade
demon tirade
Endless whistle
the wind-bristle
Drops unstanching
avalanching
Absorbing ceaselessly
Surrounding pitilessly
Digesting viciously
Black, drawn curtain of night
Cold, death, zero
Lost, staring
26. ECLIPSE (January 27th, 1958)
(to no one)
Ho! a dragon's in the sky!
The giant eye that warms the night
is swallowed
Whole.
See! his mouth distended wide,
A greedy python that constricts
and bolts
his prey.
No! the ruler of the night
Eternal metamorphic,
escapes
again!
She, returning into bloom
Slowly extricates herself
one more time,
free!
Oh! nocturnal victory!
The princess of all the midnight sky
shines forth
her song.
73. HAI-KU (Jan 31, 1964)
(from my Hai-Ku period)
I asked the brook,
The brook asked the almond tree,
The almond tree just bloomed.
* * *
The earth was purple,
Jewels of dew hung from green grass blades,
What priceless treasure!
* * *
I danced with the sea,
Back and forth, and back and forth,
And back and forth again.
i danced with the sea,
I leapt and bounded to its rhythms,
And it kissed my feet.
I danced with the sea,
As we rolled and splashed together,
We were eternal laughter.
I danced with the sea,
Its arms were full of rough caresses,
And our bodies with passion.
I danced with the sea,
For a little while I held its hand,
But then, I went away.
* * *
Within the sky-blue
And the rampant twilight-red,
I moved in awe.
The sun retiring
Turned the earth to red and gold,
A chorus of thundering colors.
* * *
The pink sky sky at dawn
Turns golden and white like a bell,
Red sunset tolls the night.
My life has been long;
The closest to heaven I've found
Is dancing with Carolyn Brown.
* * *
76. MORE HAI-KU (Oct 11, 1972)
(to Abby, i think)
Upon a still dark pool
A lily opened to smile and sing
Then turned brown and died.
From the sky came a flower
With perfume and dazzling beauty
It vanished in the night.
Where was I last night?
The roses bloomed and the crickets sang
When I awoke they were gone.
Could there have been magic
That made me see heaven on earth?
But was it not real?
For I longed to fly
And it seemed that I might learn
But my feet drug.
Perhaps in another season
When light and heat unfold again
I will be a flower.
Who can caress the sky?
The soaring hawks and silent redwoods;
I am but a man.