Obligations

[Jim Wilson]

I keep thinking of things that I should do
After work is done and the day is through,
But my mind works better in the morning.
My mind seems to shut down with the sunset.
I used to stay up all night with the owls.
Now I greet the dawn along with the larks.

The stark winterscape, the absence of larks,
Thinking about debt and bills that are due,
From the oak outside, the hoot of an owl,
Which lasted for hours, is finally through,
Like the darkness at the edge of sunset
When the world pauses, a kind of mourning.

The stars turn pale, a warning of morning.
In summer the dawn is welcomed by larks,
A new day forgets yesterday's sunset.
I check my phone for the things I should do,
I'll stop for some gas as I'm passing through --
Overhead, in flight to a barn, an owl.

Athena is often seen with an owl,
Because dream wisdom flees in the morning
Unless with the dawn we have a breakthrough;
A new insight or song like the light-greeting lark,
Dispeller of dark, welcomer of dew
Whose hours are few, long gone by sunset.

Watching Dad build a campfire, his son's set
On growing up fast. The sound of an owl
Sounds like music. There is nothing to do
On a bridge of dreams until the morning
When they wake up to the sound of a lark
As the stark rays of the sun cut the fog through.

I had a thought -- it was a through and through,
It disappeared like the light of sunset.
There was a mountain -- it's gone like a lark
That is replaced during night by the owl
Who in turn is gone at dawn, at morning
When starlight can still be seen in the dew.

Life has obligations, things we must do,
Starting with morning on through to sunset,
From the song of the lark to the call of the owl.

[Karl Frederick]

Jim,
Thank you for this charming introduction to the sestina!

I keep thinking of things that I should do
After work is done and the day is through,
But my mind works better in the morning.
My mind seems to shut down with the sunset.
I used to stay up all night with the owls.
Now I greet the dawn along with the larks..

[Jim Wilson]

Jim,
Thank you for this charming introduction to the sestina!

You're welcome Karl. I'm glad you enjoyed the sestina.

And thanks to all those votes of appreciation.

Jim

[Lilith Rogers]

You're welcome Karl. I'm glad you enjoyed the sestina.

And thanks to all those votes of appreciation.

Jim

Lovely--thank you. And here's a Valentine for all us word lovers. Enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

WORDS

I just love words.
Especially words on paper, words in songs.
Poems are made of words—
what’s a poem without words?
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,”
the bard said
but when I read or speak that word “rose”
sweetness, beauty, softness, love
all come to mind.

Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day
and the little cottage I lived in
with my first true love and my first daughter
all come to mind, too
that little cottage with the row of roses out front
that I learned to care for
and because of which I became a gardener
and still am a gardener caring for roses
and living now in another little cottage
with roses in the front yard.
Oh, and in the spring,
summer and fall they smell so sweet.

What other name would suit them?


Lilith Rogers
January 1^st, 2014

[Jim Wilson]

Thanks, Lilith, for the Valentine. And thanks for enjoying the sestina.

Best wishes,

Jim