I
  can
        barely
                  hear
                         the
                               soft
                                     muted
                                                 patter
                                                          ­  of
                                                                her
                                                                 delicate
                                                        ­                  footfall
                                      ­                                              upon
                                                                ­                          these
                                 ­                                                                s­teep
                                                            ­                                          steps

But it doesn't make you right any more than belonging to a nation makes you a Veteran!

Hark! the tempest doth devour,
(Hurry, the lair of Hell prepare,)
Raining needles, a sharp shower,
Arrows arc thru the dark air.

Glaring weapons are the loom,
Where the soldiers strain,
Weaving many a fighters doom,
This man's woe, that man's bane.

See the fortress walls to right grow,
"'Tis a corpse tower." maiden said.
And cannon ***** do fire from below,
Each an enemy soldiers'  lobbed head.

Bones for arrows, dipped in gore,
Shot by the spinal cords so long.
Dagger, that once an emblem bore,
Keep that blade so sharp; so strong.

Before the ****** sun is ****** set,
Lances must shiver;
                        And javelins do sing.
Blades with clanging  
                            sound to whet.
Lightning crashes; helmets ring.

Blades of swords to suddenly glare
Send more to the front, let 'em fight,
Where our companions
                        The conflict share.
 Many triumph, yeah: but, O!
                          Yet, they die.

"The paradox of a brilliant theory is that, while the fool in us will wisely find it too challenging, the wise in us will challenge it too foolishly."

My Dying Love ne'er betrayed my faith,
but speak to me in whispers .......quaint
did she; hung her head as if to saith,
I love you so, but by dear love, I faint;
faint for thee, Love, forever, and a day...
could ne'er be complete, but for pains;
A pain we two feel when we together lay.
In the hearts of glee; in the eyes of saints;
giving all that was taken back in spades!
Black as pitch was my heart upon that day,
but ivory white was she -without a ******
in mine eye: but Death took her anyway;
to my surprise, she smiled -I was dismayed
as she rode into the shadows with Hades.
I saw my Persephone, she was saved; saved
for thee -the god of Death -and by six seeds!
six months she spent with me, butthey've
withered mine heart as have my griefs.

I wander aimlessly here, here in this place where I
often go. A refuge where I come to be restored by the midnight air, ere that perfect silence into which I'm
thrown; and in which I can collect my thoughts &
know  -my percipience does ignite somewhere.

Somewhere off the map.      Somewhere off the globe.

Aloft in these Nameless Hallows, I travel lightly -because
my body ne'er goes... goes... goes...  in these, my echoes within -within the far compass of unerring tranquility: but what an ability
-what a beautiful bliss! to cast no shadow where the
dutiful exist.

  Lo!
           Suddenly a downpour hits!



  T'is Woe!
                             T'is Woe!


T'is Woe!  



                                   And, sullenly I resound her hiss.



I look thru squinting eyes as lightning is barely
lightening the glinting skies; the frightening bolts
extending and scarily resembling skyward highways
which have me verily trembling, hammered, amazed.

Tho I feel and see and hear -part of me does part with
what I fear -and the other partly remains enthralled- as
I tuck myself in so near, an attempt in thwarting the
violent squall.

Now I slog helter-skelter thru the deepening pool.
Seek I shelter like a tooling Creep or a creeping Tool.

                          

Thunder rips the sky asunder!



Those pounding noises sound like resounding voices,
                                                       ­                         voices,
                              ­                                                         voices
and then I wonder, wonder, wonder... if the torrent is my only
torment:


or

if I must also face my other self,


that half of me
that ne'er lies completely dormant,

that hemisphere that lives and breathes and moves by stealth.




This is my grimmest fear, when I must ask myself -for my Self

- which part of me I should
shelf.

I think I can abandon both,
                          you see:
but then there
would be
                     nothing left of me...
                                                    or me...
                                                *or me.

To court the chancy chasm, (most reckless child;) you seek to challenge Fate to a dual, as the royals motley fool.
Dost thou so deem such a fashion, to debtless guile seek; and to each so bleak must ye be? Why does thy low heart drum again, as sweet
dreams burn so far from dim, that no  guardian soul
thy death upon a whim shall console?  No hearty compassion given then
shall take a stake in thy very grief to share in your very woe,
when your vain needs by Passion driven proves fatal as promised, and joy turns to sorrow’s debt.

Small was our pretty little hut,
The tallest posy leaned on the
Casement. We heard at faint mid-
Day, the waves quietly whispering.
In the free air, flourished the
Buds; and on the trestles twined
The Carolina jessamine as the
Countryside vivified each eye
With each passing day, in our
Rose fresh thoughts replayed
                            
-Forever.

To
   wither, vanish, fade, and
diminish,
           dissolving in a glass
half
                     empty that forgets,
whilst
                   growing in Time's passage
and
                   e'er shrinking with age
-is to
                    wither, vanish, fade, and diminish.

Darling,
                    I heed thy cries as you feel blemished,
and
                       are becoming nearer to Death than to me,
because
                     I cannot see the petals for the rose ye be,
or
                at times sense what scents linger in your train
-as
                      you wither, vanish, fade, and diminish.

However,
                    in perfumed decay,
                               I watched you sustain your image,
and
                  persevere in a glass that I changed
out
                            and made half full, being so careful
when
                             putting you back in it:
but still
                             you wither, vanish, fade, and diminish.

The
                          day has come and you have gone away;
and
                          those familiar feel an agony
as
                           we display you finally
in
                           a heavenly vase, for
our
                     good intentioned and religious ceremony:
but
                      now I will now longer see you
-to
                       wither, vanish, fade, and diminish.

All alone, thy soul shall this accept, 'mid gloomy concepts of the tombs of the dead -none, of many, to meddle in thy secret hour in depth: be silent in such aloneness which is not quite a loneliness -for then the phantoms of the perished who walked in pilgrimage near to thee are nearer to thee in death; and the will of these, the inheritors of this mass, shall thine own will surpass.

The nighttide-tho cloudless-shall scowl, and the eyne of the sky shalt not look down, from the great heaven's with a beacon like Desire to mortals upon the ground: but their red pyre with ire, to thy fatigue shall seem more than some blazing fire, a delirium, which could adhere to thee hereon and forever -an enigma to confound.

The winter of 1885 was inhospitable and   u
                                                              ­                     n
                                                               ­                  r
                                                               ­                     e
                                          ­                                             f
                                                               ­                             i
                                  ­                                                        n
                                                               ­                           e
                                                               ­                      d
                                                           ­                    e    
                                                           ­                 i      
..and in the blah unihabitated lands I  d

                                                           ­             
  ....with only God The Father by my s
                                                               ­       i
                                                        ­                 d
                                                               ­              e
                                                           ­             m
                                                  ­                    i
......And now I reside in the midst of T
              
                                                                ­            
  ...my poetical device in a brilliant r
                                                               ­     h
                                                          ­             y
                                                               ­            m
                                                               ­                e              
                                             ­                            n
                                                               ­      i    
      ....is soon to be realized line by l

O there was good fortune in the winds that wafted thru her hair that day, a cortege that graced her lovely cheeks and seemed to know the charm it did to we two lend. From the whispering meadows and the lofty heights, its gentle caresses were to no others more welcome; escaping from the torrents of the crowded streets wherefrom we yearned to be free, free as the breeze which comforted us at will. What den, we wondered, shall we take for our homesite? Which valley shall be our very own? Within which clear river stream shall we bathe each fine early morn? O the world was  not the world in those moments, but rather the earth, a garden paradise which did before us lie.With trembling hearts we ventured on without a clue as to our destination, with nothing more than cloudscapes as our lodestar. The heavy burdens of our former lives were no longer ours to carry, but rather ease and joyous delights were promised in prospect, each to each. Thus far, O Lord! did we make flowing forth that experience our souls in measured hymns: to the open vales we sang out our hearts clothed in not a thing, two separate shades, renovated umbrae we were in that time, such Utopia was ours! We came upon a shady place with ardent steps and sat beneath a laughing sycamore, settling into gentler merriment. 'Twas perpetually autumn, never an unclear day did we come to know during our stay; and yet many were our thoughts, until we gazed into each other's eyes for the first time since our arrival, and thus long did we desire one another with growing love until the sun nearly touched the horizon -and we awakened to the busy hum of the city.

My mind is a vessel o'erflowing with many great ideas.

In the castle by the sea, lovely stands
there she, at the gemel window, waiting for the tears to cease trembling down her cheek, for O! how her father didst scorn her for her fears, and for being mild as an child, for being meek and weak. As the streamlets hushédly didst outflow, go by, like the ceaseless and despairing cries, that this poor princess didst as ever know, and know so well, did she, that no other soul didst so bother to come to know, O! come to know her they did naught e'er do so -and her story ended in tragedy sadly in the castle by the sea.

In tenth grade myself and nine other students were sent to the principals office to be dealt with due to too many tardies.

As I waited for it to be my turn to give my excuse, I listened to the other excuses so as to make certain I didn't use the same one someone else used. The excuses were many
and lame.

Finally, I was next in line and the principal
Said in frustration, "No excuses are going to be sufficient unless it has to do with the torrential rains we've been having lately.

I had my excuse! I told him, well I had every intention to get to school early this morning. I woke up early and everything
was going according to plan without a hitch. Then, as Fate would have it, I turned the key in the ignition and the car wouldn't start. And it was due these torrential rains lately.

He asked, "What does your car not starting have to do with the rain?"

I said, "The **** thing must have been flooded!"

He laughed and excused me.

I remember being 5 years into this life of mine, one yet unfinished; and my big sister had a little friend. Her little friend brought into our little house a little keyboard. Our little house for our big family that we lived in for a little while, which had never contained within its walls a musical instrument of any kind or any size, until that day. The day that that little friend of my big sister brought in, her board of keys. I was fascinated with it immediately, but me being the youngest, I had to not so patiently wait my turn as each of my siblings toyed with the instrument of my fancy with horrid cacophonies coming from the holed up speaker beneath holes placed there for sound passage. I was a quiet mouse of a lad back then, but I wanted to scream at my lung tops, " For the love of all that is sacred! can you cease hitting those thingies little friend of big sister calls keys?" I was patient in those days of youth, but I have always been annoyed by clangor and repetition. Finally, after all others, I got my chance to have my hand on those plastic keys which beckoned me from the moment I saw them. Finally, I would discover something about myself,  I did not yet know it, because I hadn't yet cracked my fingers nor stretched them as per the instructions of the little friend of my big sister. So I did so. I was ready. I was excited. I had no idea what a chord was! So, I hit one key that simply called my name with vibes. I hit that key. I recognized it! So I tried to mimic the song I recognized it from. It was a song that had just been playing on the radio earlier. I pressed another key which seemed logically the next progression to match sonically the song which had been playing earlier. When I had finished hitting the keys I had seemingly subconsciously selected, I had played the intro and main section of the popular at that time song "Lean On Me" without one mistake. The big father of the little friend of my big sister said, "You have perfect pitch hearing, that is a rare gift!" My family gave me three cheers... and I walked into a corner like I had done something wrong. I felt filled with Joy and empty inside at the same time. I felt guilty because the little friend of my big sister who had the big father, looked down at the floor with tears in her eyes... she said, "Daddy, I have taken lessons for years and have played much more difficult pieces than he did, and you never showed that kind of pride in me." I never touched another instrument until 13 or 14 years into this life of mine, one yet unfinished -and I pray that little friend with a big clueless father gained the attention she deserved more than I.

I remember being in elementary,(a)
I was constantly bored with the(b)
Drivel. Learn what they teach,(b)
Never mind differences, Jamie;(a)
                  

  Just memorise the drill.

           I remember the Spelling Bee,(c)
          They were impressed by me.(c)

They thought it strange to go(d)
So well, since I slept or wrote(d)
Thru ev'ry class; never to note.(d)

"How in the Hell is it that you won(e)
At Spelling, I was State Champion(e)
At my old school!??! Teach said you(f)
Do your thing; you haven't a clue;(f)
               I came in 2nd to you?!!?"(f)

I said, "It takes a simple mind to learn(g)
Simply, therefore you were not beaten(h)
By me: but rather by Arrogance, Hern."(g)


    What does that  mean,  asked  she.

Ihopeby now Hern has figured how
  A writer obsessed in each class, Recess,
At Lunch, on the Cheese Wagon a bunch,
Won Spelling Bees -Still stuck on studies.

Many of you may remember my Mathematical Poetry from a couple of years ago. Here's one I've never posted.

A series of 8 (1's) × a series of 8 (1's)
= 123456787654321

A series of 7 (2's) × same ÷ (2×2)
= 1234567654321

A series of 6 (3's) × same÷ (3×3)
= 12345654321

A series of 5 (4's) × same÷ (4×4)
= 123454321

A series of 4 (5's) × same ÷ ( 5×5)
= 1234321

A series of 3 (6's) × same ÷ (6×6)
= 12321

A series of 2 (7's) × same ÷ (7×7)
= 121

And finally, 1 (8) × same ÷ ( 8×8)
= 1

softy I SPEAK in sweetest
whispers TO THEE fondly...
truly. AND devoted am I to prove
that I  love THEE by Jove!

the Universe IS HER center stage
above AND below.
for SHE IS THEE my little dove
snowy white AND pure,
her beauty to be admired.
she is the one TO WHOM I REFER with glee.

i ask god, COULD SHE BE with me
for AS MUCH as an eternity?
she has crashed INTO ME so i am a
                               wreck.
it seems AS I AM INTO HER? we shall
.                                 see.

if yes AND IF SO, i want her
to respect THEN THIS PLEA FROM ME
which comes sadly
now WITH WOEFUL but happy
falling TEAR, hopefully my
affections WILL NOT GO TOO LONG
being that
call that goes UNANSWERED HERE, that
would be
regrettable.

i pray FOR HER SILENCE to go away
perhaps because it HURTS to be
forgettable.
yet it BUT IS what it is.
such beauty is RARE i must admit.

SO FAR AWAY!           YET SO NEAR!

we are where we are
BUT I WISH YOU WERE NEARER, DEAR!

BECAUSE it is in
EACH DOMINION
that ON SUCH OCCASION
you MUST UNWIND, your soul
SO AS TO
solely BE a sole
fragrance that is REBORN IN THE
MORNING SHINE, this day and the
next RETURNING AS
GLORIOUS AND AS FRESH AS THE NEW DAY
SKY, that is my wish.

AND you THEREUPON SHOULDST CARRY
ON upon a dream WITHOUT IMPERFECT
MOAN OR a mightier SIGH of loveliness.

I PLEAD WITH THEE TO MANUMIT YOUR
TIGHTENED CLASP THAT BINDS, you
sadly in slavery. now REST YOUR
WEARY HEAD A BIT ON MINE, AND EASE
INTO PLEASANT REVERIES with only me.

After ALL, THE DUSK you trust
HAS COME rightly
TO GIVE REST TO THEE, AND I
AM but what i am. i am
**YOURS AND YOURS AM I
--I AM RESTFUL SLEEP.

It's available on Amazon for $3. Kindle edition only. 79 color pics of my Digital and traditional Art. Lots of Abstract and Nature works.

By avenues vague and secret,
visited by devils and regret,
whither the Wraith of Manes
stands firm and tall and reigns,
thither in the dark acres stead;
and like a vapor inside my head,
lingers there to haunt and spread.

Abysmal troughs and a great deluge,
and rifts, and dens, and silva's huge,
with silhouette's none can recover
for the weeps that pour all over;
ridges plunging into Nevermore,
into waters devoid of any shore;
swells that spasmodically aspire,
upsurging in welkins full of fire.

For in my soul regrets are legion,
but it's an irenic and placid region-
because the wraith which did haunt,
is now seen as wispy, thin, and gaunt.
I wend my way straight through him,
and I refuse to ever again view him.
The Wraith of Manes is now banished,
from terrible dreams, now vanished.

Ripen into my lover, O Dear!
And seek the primrose path,
One placed in a field so near,
Mountains covered with grass.

Do not let go the will you need
To push your petals wide ope,
Break the chains and be freed,
Not rest within the binding coat.

I will tend to you at morning,
I will tend to you at eventide,
Just promise me you're​ turning
Into the love I need deep inside.

Had we but experience, honor, and time; this diffidence Dear is no crime. We could rest and ponder which way to stroll and waste our everlasting day. Thou by the mountains sides old, should gemstones find in fortunes told. I by a tide of slumber did complain. I loved you long before the flood, the falling rain; and you still refuse until the spreading of the news.

My rose heart shouldst grow larger than empires, and you know a millenium should go to praise your fires, and in thine eyes do gaze, and stoke. Three centuries to admire your rising chest, but eternity to the rest; an eon at last to each part, and the final age to cast your heart. For Darling you've earned this state, and I love not spurned at a lower rate.

Thus, Spirit Untamed, my! Have to even scores so once didn't ye? Yet lost love in this season? Ye could naught blamed be such for any kind trespass! Which I forbid this, for it be treason. Ye did naught when allowed it was. Why ye and not me to gift one explanation with reason?

Reason with explanation? One gift to me not, and ye, why was it allowed, when naught did ye? Treason? Be it for this? Forbid I, which trespass kind any for such. Be blamed naught could ye! Season this in love lost, yet, ye didn't once. So scores even, to have my untamed spirit thus.

As in the verses of Isaiah 6,
to me came a fiery serpent bearing bliss.
One to us known to be
in the highest order of the holy angels;


and she possesses many an eye,
and wilt one day have humankind
beholding her pent wingtips;


and she shall cleanse thy unclean lips
and purge thy sinful souls
with live burning coals
   -hereby as in the days of old.


God to Isaiah once told,
"I will take from man all but a tenth of their cities,
and the lands will be burned again and again
until the trees shall cast their leaves,
and thereof the substance shall be the holy seed."


Thereafter, her seraph wings did thence open
up-unfold-to be thereby a cause, a love, a flame to need.


Faith is not a thing made up, and hardly is newfangled,
but I saith she therewith displayed it all; and it was
nothing short of supreme blessedness!

Then I beheld her e'en brighter, with showy spangle, and her
attire, a pristine impressive dress that was beaming, lit, bright
with color,  and with shapeliness of contour.


Her shining light like refractory gold, or peerless bits of silver:
and something unknown did glint from within her,
to wholly then bewilder.


Her fire sword was sheathed, and I did most forward enter.


Now with a shy wing shield so still, she can still our meanest ire,
for all must therein endure
what we feel for each and one another;

and none therefore can trust mental anguish to be dull in this,
our loneliest and darkest hour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~­~
Therewithal, loyal followers, actions shall follow words.
So ignite if you will the glowing candles, and play upon your lyre,
but not upon His word  -and forevermore you will have your needs fulfilled, with hearts afire; rest assured.

We shall hear ye but not understand, the great forsaking
in the midst of the land, we see but do not perceive!

Now hear her pure emotions entire thereat swear to inveigle yet,
our lives so chaotic, so disordered, but we can be rekindled
by a moving fire of an unstained non-object that is hypnotic and of
a fervor I foretell, to be higher than all other seraphim in
the ultimate choristers choir.

And she does as e'er sing so well, the fairest hymn to Him
   -being gentle and the most melodic.

She is a being disentangled, henceforth being the nearest
being of any angel by far to the safety of God's hands.

She's an angel that much more the nigher to His protection
and His guidance; and free will I suspect was denied her
in all but her affections.
And for that reason I suspect it will be she that to me He will send again.

And to Him I heard it said, "H o l y,  h o l y,  h o l y,   is the Lord of all hosts:
the whole earth is full of His  g l o r y!"

And with that, the Lord by Word shook again the doorway posts, and the house that filled with smoke, now is before me, such as is our Savior surely upon His throne.

More than fair and filled with extant fire

aflame above unto God so near;

joyous in which all virtues conspire,

that to the earth no other be so dear;

argent rays which ne'er blind the guest

blast out such darts & low hearts wounded;

as angels alight to put burdens to rest

in virtuous desires, in heavens tunic.

You forge my logic & design me within;

you check words and teach hearts to speak;

you quiet the storm
which love did begin,

strength your creed, but thy temper weak.

Dim is the world where light ne'er shone,

bright is the world thru you I have known.

√123456789=11111.1111

11111.1111÷9=1234.56789

1234.56789×8=9876­.5432

9876.5432
+1234.56789=11111.1111

11111.1111-1234.56789=
9­876.54321
9876.54321÷8=1234.56789

1234.56789×9=11111.1111
11111.­1111^2=1234567890
1234567890÷10=123456789

All mine musings are but shepherds
Of my romantic Love, for this esprit
Given me with glee thereof, yet words
I speak thus to thee, My Love, blesséd be.

Blesséd be, My Love, to thee I speak thus!
Yet words, with glee thereof, given me for this esprit
Of my romantic Love are but shepherds of all mine
                             Musings.

A maker of verses is the refined poet, he does find
Emotional thoughts sublime, inserting some formulae,
Or enigmas that are behind each sustained line, each I

Tell wilt unwind, then that rhyme to be mimed,
The lowest crime in our kingdom mounted up on high.

So if in thy cheerless failure ye seek intense success,
Because ye  subjectsto listlessness of the bodiless
Mind's distress, I request ye give no such inference

It's egress or reappearance from the darkest eclipse
In this; but rather by keenest innovations do impress

-And that protects a poets wisdom from the nuisance.

I move along the threshold of your delicate softly curved lips,
and my tall dancing shadow descends freely to nestle upon your *******; my silhouette, your silhouette-two silhouettes likened to one vessel-and I place my hands upon your hips, pulling, pulling, pulling you closer to me in this bold and vain attempt to merge like the shades of azure that shall this old scene impress, as this whole earth is blessed to tremble by your warm sweet caress.

Day emerges
      And unburdened urges
The hour vessel sand,
Grain by grain,
To gain by gradual increase,
      That he may enter into
A life that none can ascertain;
And he usurps the authority
                                           Of
Death's powerful hand,
Alight with a spirit courageous
              Yet stained
With Guilt...
For that hand many lives
Has claimed...

Encouraging specific grief and pain!
Devices do definitely die -weather worn and withered; whether worn and wilted -or otherwise.

Once born into his fortress forthright
-The right sustained thru
                  The law of casualties-
Thou gorgeous light steals e'en
The purest night,
      Like a thief unashamed,
(Most naturally and casually.)

But soon Day too will pay this penalty,
And give up the ghost to Night,

      Again one life ends with the sickle of Death,
                   So that a new life might reign
-Afresh in Time's cycle of Eternity forthright.

When the plainsong did ring, heavenly darling, and was in its infancy, while yet in young Tuscany the angels did sing, sing of mortal passions round the immortal ring, ring of the Muse's mind so magical... Celebrating, quivering, wondering, raging; and then possessed by slow degrees, they felt the world's undoing -and then its rebirth in so doing. These minds of which I speak, feel the glow now of all lesser beings, beings aroused, refined, intoxicated: till once, when all were filled to brimming with fury and inspiration, from each supporting pillar these angels drew mortal breath, so bated, wherewithal Chaos ruled the night. Yes, Chaos ruled the night -it cannot be overstated!

Check out my book Poems Of Expression: Revision Of A Bit Of My Poetry. It's available on Amazon for free until May 15th. Go to Amazon and type in Jamie Cantore then select the title I mentioned (Kindle edition.) Word Wise enabled, so if you don't know a word or phrase just highlight it and it will define or explain it. *Update: available in paperback also.

There I was, there was I, sojourning... so journeying to seek absoluteness with absolute certainty like a true voyager; a sojourner of Truth, when immediately upon my arrival, I realized, Aye, there was I, and my, oh my! I made ingress to a cloud floating upon a whisper in the eye of Nature, in Nature's eye; and she said to me with interest, in all her splendour, in that whisper that kills me so, "I was there." but where was I? Was I there when there I was, wandering in Wonderment by the by?  For where e'er I go, it seems, there am I.

And what of you, do any here heed listen to my sharp keening?

Do fair justice true, bring import to fixed balanced meaning.

To what place could I argue, herald of my past's part and parcel,

My heart with ado; haste not I tho to renew, it's most integral!

I awakened early, dark of morn.
I aten my Kellogg flakes of corn.

I was thinking of how it rained
Literally last night on my parade.

But hey, upon us all
A lil rain
                  Must fall.

                          Today is another day.

Deny thyself any such loving touch I giv'st,
Upon thy neck, upon thy bust, thy lips-
For if thy ever doubting trust has soared
Into the obscure, Oh! a most just reward
For my actions, then I must account
For this and more, for, I am thus bound
To these backlashes which I must endure
In these days of no fair love, this shut door;
Which I admit aquit me not of Lust before;  
And days know thereof, evil once did line
Within me then, now exposed; once within,
Always with. Fair enough, I admit my sin!

"To err is human; to forgive, divine."

Oh, does thou ****** hatred thru her candor truly shrill?
Know just how much a dread you were & are to me still.

By the aging stately oaks, with their crowns of hirsute branches, we stand. We stand beside these towering canopies, raking and burning the dry leaves which have fallen to the ground, covering the landscape like a bister afghan. The charred debris being borne away into the smoky air, aloof until the sprightly embers pursue. Searing **** swirling round and round before cooling rapidly, then dying without a sound.

In the distance, I see the local church bells swinging from their axles -the clappers striking the sound rims-then tolling in full tones for the listeners within a one-mile range. The ripe fruits in our garden tree weigh down the boughs like diadems, and  within inches of our outstretched arms, they hang.

And the children play tag, romping in the yard yelling, "You're it!" and, "Not it!", all thru the evening hours. A smile across your lovely face lets me know you are enjoying the remaining day, and I take more pleasure in that than I can aptly say. Then we take a break from our toil and sit in the hale shade of the gallant trees, you drinking sweet tea with me, as we agree, we should avail days to these rare autumn liberties.

While the hosts of Heaven,
above the arching skies,
thus did celebrate in verse,
to me in solitude had been
                              born            the      infan­t           Sorrow
that I allowed in by reason of
indifference.

It was a time-adapted
expression that gave to me also despair
and frustration as I stood in the doorway
of my                              troubles                      wit­h         my       arms         akimbo.

But the attendant spirits saw              the cataract burst forth from my eyes....
                        They smiled gracefully     

                            -and I gave myself up to laughter!