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RSWells
Member Elite

since 2001-06-17

Posts 2533

0 posted 2002-07-14 12:50 PM

"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
-Alexander Pope 1688-1744

I recall the neighbor's cheesy grins
at my mother's late night phone
call to the police.

Convinced she had heard a child's cry
through the summer screens in a
place not needing air conditioning,
in a time not knowing shelter.

I didn't share her embarrassment
at the discovery of a cat in heat
and proudly inherit her concern
for the wails around us

and so that muddled middle class
who'd ignored her own cries through
long nights in longer years of abuse
clutched robes, shared smirks
and retired to comforted beds,
where darkness cloaked their concern
and her defeat fell on ears
deafened quite on purpose.

My own hearing imagines
the bleats of helpless sheep
though muffled by wolve's clothing.

And like a crow whose need to feed
returns him again and again
to his flattened feast
despite the dangers of
the heartless traffic,

I'll return though the boy cries "wolf".

I'm reminded too of the goofy puppy Jack.

My children had permitted his escape
from the back yard and
attempting to capture him,
chased him into the path of an old man's
Cadillac. He never stopped.

My sweet daughter, Elizabeth
sought to comfort the dying friend
and received some nasty bites for her concerns.

I've endangered myself many times
by not ignoring those
perceived needs around me.

The police came for Jacqueline
that winter morning, still dark.

I saw them first and she hid in a closet
as I answered the door as calm
and casual as I could.

I lied through the teeth
of a face which has always
been misconstrued as a smirk.

When the one with the flashlight found her
I, zenlike, shrank down in a rocking chair
behind an emotionless facade.

I was on probation and had
broken it at least twice
those dark minutes.

But these were men who must have
held some honor for one
who'd risk his own freedom
to protect a woman.
And so they left me quite alone.

Last night I heard a cry from here
and it seemed to come from a cherubic face.
My response was taken for a smirk
and the language spoken across a chasm
was either babbeled by echoes
or lost on lines of a generation
which bites the hands that heed them.

So I return this egg to it's carton
and quietly and slowly back away from that
cri de pauvres la nuit.

"Happy people have no history" - French Proverb

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

1 posted 2002-07-14 12:57 PM

I do wish you would quit
leaving me speechless....

the_loner_23
Member Ascendant

since 2002-06-08

Posts 5479
Jacksonville, Florida, USA

2 posted 2002-07-14 12:58 PM

Very speechless

Cold hands means a warm heart

Sunnyone
Member Ascendant

since 2000-07-06

Posts 5334
Staffordshire, England

3 posted 2002-07-14 01:45 PM

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
Hey, I thought Ricky Nelson said that!!! LOL!! Only kidding...I really enjoyed this one, and am headed back to search for more!!

Open the door and let your adventure begin!!!

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

4 posted 2002-07-14 02:05 PM

Richard

I don't have words either...please except this heart hug instead.

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

5 posted 2002-07-14 02:50 PM

Enjoyed...James

Enchantress
Member Empyrean

since 2001-08-14

Posts 35113
Canada eh.

6 posted 2002-07-14 03:27 PM

You poet sir have amazing talent...
More...please?
~Hugs~

~Somewhere in my heart I'm always
dancing with you in the summer rain~

Janet Marie
Member Laureate

since 2000-01-22

Posts 18554

7 posted 2002-07-14 03:35 PM

compassion and self sacrifice are often mistaken for foolishness...and the rewards often lacking...but we are who we are usually because we've lived where the angels fear to tread...and some "fool" offered us a hand along the way...or simply...we know how it feels and we feel the need to reach out.

As always your words evoke things from deep inside.
Well done gifted Poet Fool

jm

Now for me some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much ...
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch.

J.Browne

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

8 posted 2002-07-14 06:02 PM

Ah, but you are so inspired that it makes me smile from ear to ear to see the "old" Richard back. I too am an angel who has gone where others fear to tread many times to be trod upon, and for that reason alone I keep going until someone realizes that an outstretched hand is not always to be bitten but held. (sometimes you simply amaze me), now it is Sunday, amaze us some more please. A nature one with the sun going down tonight would be nice, thank you

Nothing means more to me than faith,
family and my friends.

Sharon, the Canuk

[This message has been edited by Mysteria (07-14-2002 06:05 PM).]

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