I saw the devil today
With horns that curved away from his head
I saw him on that hill, gnashing his teeth against the earth to pull mother nature's children from her grasp
He attacked his brother! Using his own crown to charge against the innocent
I saw the devil today, his irises slanted in the wrong direction,
His beard knotted in lies,
Had hooves that trampled and left unwanted marks,
And how he stares at the lamb with malice in those putrid eyes!
A creature of hell doesn't belong here!
Oh God! Save the poor lamb from his mischief
He'll be sure to rope her towards the wolves
And leak her red-hot death over the chips of dirt, infecting her skin with unholiness
But she remains pure, with pure white fleece that can never be dirtied
The lamb! Who cries for her mother
The lamb! Who remains helpless in all her strength
The devil. Who with his darkened fingers I refuse to allow into my sanctuary
You cannot heed the lamb to sin, sly creature!
My woolen eve must be sheltered from the song of the snake
O God!
Today, I'll rid this land of evil
And soon, the devil is to be dead

Black moss and flower pots.
She cometh not, she cometh not.
Lonely and moated,
Rusted nails broken.

Dew with tears,
An hour before sunlight.
Cold winds wake,
A greyish mourn.
Clustered marish-mosses,
Silver green bark.

In a dreamy home.
Among wainscot,
Door hinges creak.
Like a mouse,
She shrieked-
She cometh not, she cometh not.

There's a storm a brewin'
You can feel it in your bones
The wind has changed direction
You can hear just how it moans

Silence, all the birds are gone
The dust is moving hard
There's a storm a brewin'
And the devil deals the cards

Batten down the hatches
Let the horses all run free
They'll survive out in the wild
They ain't like you and me

Keep them in the barn tonight
Sure as shooting, when it's done
There won't be one left standing
The storm won't leave you one

The sky is coloured yellow
There's a smell there in the air
There's a storm a brewin'
Try and beat it if you dare

You know you can't outrun it
Best to get to ground
The worst part is the silence
Before it hits there is no sound

There's a storm a brewin'
I'll take my leave now, just as well
I'm off to find a safe place
There it is....I said...that smell

There's a storm a brewin'

As a child I'd dream of running away,
Nigh unto winter and not too far,
From Dad’s and Mom's, where I used to play
But which was now bitten hard.
A barn in a field was just one dream,
An old one where no one ever came.
Delight by myself, attainable seemed,
Where I could rest and collect my name.
Russet woods and graying woods,
Fueled fantasy and desire,
For simple things must do some good,
In corrupt towns, soul is renewed by fire.

They gathered by Williamson Road at sun-up
      from neighboring spreads across the Tioga valley.
They came with carts laden with lumber stacks -
      with saws, adzes, hammers and sundry tools.

They gathered with the homesteaders bond.
      to co-build their neighbor's' dreams.

Sweet music of community echoed off the hills.
     Chisels clanged into rock, shaping the foundation,
saws sang into boards to frame a timbered skeleton.
     The staccato syncopation of hammers fastened walls
that soon would shelter plowshares, stock and grain.
      A smithy leaned over his fire and forge -
chiming iron into sturdy latches and hinges.

     Children scurried about mixing squeals and laughter
with exuberant fetching and lifting whenever called.
    
In two short passings of the sun the deed was done
      and a handsome new barn, decked out in a wash of red
was silhouetted tall and proud against the fading light.

Homesteaders gathered at a celebration table
      to share a hearty meal adorned by the music
of fiddles, grateful smiles and easy laughter.
  
Then one by one they steered their wagons home
      gazing back at what their labors had wrought -
knowing to the depth of their communal souls
      that we are more together than we are apart

Listen up, America!  This is the music of community.
      We are more together than we are apart.

*© 2016 by Robert Charles Howard