"At the Side of the Years"
and Other Poems
by Daniel Hargrove
Copyright 2015 Daniel Hargrove
Cover art copyright 2015 Daniel Hargrove
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Table of Contents
1) At the Side of the Years
2) One Morning
3) Mollusk
4) Always gone
5) Gold Mine
6) The Day That Made the Rain
7) The Day the Rain Made
8) Under Sky
9) Departure
10) Fly Paper
11) Moments
12) Crybaby
13) Tell Me Why
14) No One There
15) On My Lap
16) Everybody Sleeps
17) Ode to a Lemon
18) Though I Believe
19) Falling Page
20) The Passage
21) A Tough Nut to Crack
22) In Shine and Shadow
23) No.
24) Never
25) People
26) Dirt's Genie
27) Nobody, You Know
28) Outing
29) Pride
30) Shower
31) The Offer
32) To Joshua
33) Parcel
34) (untitled love poem)
At the Side of the Years
Don't stand in judgment of the young
for they learn faster than a bird flies South;
they, unlike the fossil stem,
vine, spring and twining, into breach...
and what, unknown to hatchling chick
is known to crusty hen and hay,
but crowing rooster's strut and comb
who pecks so surely at the toss of feed?
What fire is this, that catches, but
at the splash of wave, and the bite of gold?
And what heaven, cold, has swallowed me up,
as my body has warmed to the winter snows?
Lay the years 'neath a loamy bed,
and wet, to sing, to the sun's warm touch,
in the early months of the wild green bloom
fed by the glacier's trickling rush.
What of the ice after harvest moon?
And what of the reaper's hollow swath?
Know we all, that always has every wrought?
And all, that never has fetched to the loom?
One Morning
Elegant lace birds
drawing sun-up's sweetness
from the morning air...
the moon is down, you see,
they joke.
The dawn is studying
a passage from their melody
and grows glad
as their words grow lighter
and float upward,
you know.
A blue more buoyant
with each passing moment
I see
fills the deep sky,
or so we should presume.
Dark green leafy dew
joining tips of grass
spills the secrets of the equinox
into the quiet drink
of sparrows
Always Gone
Eternally hidden, always in shadow
Never heard, never felt, never seen
She is so far, far away
that she disappears in the distance
A tear for what has been lost
What is always kept in darkness
will wither and die
She never comes home to me
will never have a home
Home is where the heart is
and hearts are just empty sky
When she left, she left herself
hanging on a hatrack
and now I can't find her
to give her herself back
Who hunts for red roses?
Who shines at the approach of tears?
Who counts treasure still buried?
Who has found what is already lost?
Mollusk
I sit on a rock
in the sun
waves crashing
I wonder
What is the hand of man
is it shallow or deep
are his eyes like a harp
in the hands of a mermaid?
Gold Mine
After I had my tracheotomy
I had to have my tonsils out.
That was just before my appendectomy.
Then I had a major heart attack
and had to have a quadruple bypass.
They found twenty-three gallstones
when I had my gall bladder removed,
and I passed a kidney stone
on the twentieth of July.
I have to watch my diet
because of my diabetes
and test my sugar level daily
along with the insulin shots.
I take five different psyche meds
for my manic-depression,
my schizo-affective disorder,
and for my obsessive-compulsive disorder.
My doctor ordered me to quit smoking
because of my emphysema,
but I don't know if it's worth it
because I just got the tests back from the lab
and the lung cancer is getting more advanced.
To top it all off,
the Dr. said I'm pregnant,
and I guess I'll have the child
since I don't believe in abortion.
It's all covered by medicaid, fortunately.
The Day That Made the Rain
The world had whispered
thick dark clouds
into winds, walking
through the forest of my sorrows...
all my maybes had slipped softly
away, floating fast on the breeze.
I think the air is wet
for the wrong reasons;
all my anger small and captured,
now infused with dark, dark blue...
I taste the sweetness of a high crackle,
but still the world waits for drowning.
Where is the high moon
in this dark dilemma of blankets?
She is fooled, and yet to up and silver
over and off the world's edge.
Still and yet, she is here,
under my feet, and
dusty, and dry.
No hawks will dare to wheel
in this dynamite sky,
and that is why I can sleep.
Jan. 15, 2002
The Day the Rain Made
...and all the drowning world
had escaped into a beginning dusk,
orange and wet,
reflecting the sky's touch of shadow
in a soaking bath inches deep.
Good day, and no,
I have not met my shadow
yet, the clouds I embraced
in the folds of my satisfaction
now lay like smoke in front of sinking sun.
Will you know me, damp snake
of storm, that had slithered away?
You have wrapped me in your arms,
and now leave, gone and off, and where?
Now the thick mud fills
my downcast eyes;
I remember you, though vaguely,
which matters some
though sinking deep in someone's
footprint,
I have lost a shoe,
which I'd rather leave than dig for.
Now, and still, I am walking
past and over and through
the spaces that water left.
Jan. 15th, 2002
Under Sky
Far-fetched consequence
of astral collisions
Spanning the void,
the starry heavens
I take my life
a sky at a time
Limitless space
empty like a gourd
In a hundred-million years
the sky has changed
but for the moment
the pattern is constant
Over the aeons
under the stars
around the sun
who knows where
As luck would have it
I've found my home
this watery world
where fire walks
Departure
Where the moon is pushed aside
and the ins become the outs
a corner squares that easy curve
and the light hardens like wet cement
You poses are admired by the angels
as your what and wherefore gently vanish
The light has found its shining
I am perched on a branch
Shrill sweetness of singing
brings over to wide
and the too far to further
Oh, and is it falling down?
Rain falls down
and if it is like rain
then it may be falling down
I rain, I rain!
and the wind around and through
I freeze on your doorstep
and weaken your coffee
In this prism is a fool's paradise
more outside than the fleeciest of cloudy
Outside inwardly and out again from there
In a bamboo slip we slide between the reeds
Fly Paper
I stuck around
for a long time...
not by choice
I often wonder
what it is
that makes me stay
I guess it could be
this sticky stuff
Sure as hell
If I leave
will they miss me?
Oh, I forgot
I guess I'll stay
After all,
what's the difference?
Bear with me
for a minute
while I figure this out
If I stay
I'm stucker
than if I go
Moments
And love for them turned stale
after a few months of quarrels
and that special something
began to be outweighed by something else
Mostly they were just bored
What had been so high and fine
now seemed overly dramatic
for their small apartment
Were they not true enough?
Didn't they share everything?
Were their hearts on fire?
Did they swear to love's dominion?
Her kisses were the sweet taste of nearness
The touch of his hand was the gentle touch of the dove
They had found, for a while, the secret place of whispers
and their warm embraces enjoined the closest love
What they had, had seemed so real
They both had really believed in each other
He was into her body, she was into his
Now they were wondering why they had bothered
Nothing else had really mattered
Those moments had been truly golden
Now they lay rusting and forgotten
Now their adoring had become as tin
Crybaby
Cold sleet, a thin blanket
victims dying one by one
Wet dream, a small reward
Why are the children so quiet?
Red is just a color
One is just a number
Tears are just a wetting
A story just the telling
No sharing with the sharks
No fondness for the fondle
No kindness for the kindred
No willing for the willows
Don't ask me shattered questions
if you don't want pieces of answers
It's that all those broken lies
are seen through eyes of glass
No supper for you, young man
and none of your useless crying
Your pride will make you hungry
and your hunger will break you
Tell Me Why
Try logic
or shouting
Study
or entertain them
preach
woo them
be polite
sing it to them
inform them
get angry
pray
cry about it
you can try
and try
but they just won't be persuaded
consider
how obvious
no question
do you wonder?
what the hell
is wrong with people
where they won't
clean up the environment?
No One There
there was no honest glow within her heart...
she wore no dresses, nor a flowered lace...
we did not whisper vows to never part.
I will not promise all the stars in space...
I did not feel the point of Cupid's dart...
my beating heart did not so wildly race...
I did not love her long; I did not start.
No one could here upset the apple cart...
I did not woo her, did not long give chase...
I will not stay forever in this place.
I did not, with her, from the winter, brace...
her fondest touch was neither sweet nor tart...
her parting words will neither sting nor smart.
On My Lap
I'd go fight your war
shed my blood for my country
defend the honor of the flag
but for this cat on my lap
I'd invest in the market
make a million dollars
fine cars and fancy women
but my cat is sleeping
I'd ask for your hand in marriage
beg on my hands and knees
slip a ring on your finger
but I don't want to disturb my cat
I'd go to church
pray for forgiveness and redemption
study the words of Christ
but my cat is comfortable
I'd stand and salute the flag
say the pledge of allegiance
sing the national anthem
but my cat is dreaming
Everybody Sleeps
Talking softly to my pillow
I found the words to explain
what I had seen while sleeping...
I can't hold on to the world
You are part of my nodding
Your will like a prowling cat
and the quiet shine of the moon
I'll follow you to the mouse's burrow
Sun and sweat and hard labor
Hook and crook of questions
At the bottom of a high staircase
lies a man dressed in black
I've only a few crayons
that are not broken
but I'll share them with you
and dogs can be blue
The sky is so deep
and the night so long
The stars are so bright
and the creeping so cold
Oh, you soft, sad pris
oner
Linked with paper dolls
You've more locks than keys
More red than roses
Ode to a Lemon
Yes, I have seen their lemon frowns
besmirch your sour taste,
their not-so-friendly, friendly smiles
that cross their squeaky face...
but I do know your glory bright
and though they judge in haste,
I know they really, truly love
the lemons they have chased.
A lemon dress, a lemon car
I heed the lemon rules...
I recall the lemon lessons
taught in the lemon schools.
A lemon kiss, a lemon smirk,
for the lemon we are fools
and though you know it sounds absurd
for the lemon, ladies drool.
She will find to wed one day
a fine and lemon gent...
and she will tell her lemon friends
how the lemon is heaven sent.
A lemon job, a lemon boss
to pay the lemon rent...
when I get older, I will be
the lemon president!
I have heard their lemon laughs
and felt their lemon stares...
and on high mount, far up above
the place the lemon shares...
the lemon thunder, lemon god
and all his lemon dares...
lemons, lemons everywhere!
forget your lemon cares!
Now let up put diff'rence aside
and toast the lemon gay.
The say the lemon won't prevail
but that the lemon may.
Now you have heard my lemon words,
the lemon has a lot to say.
Thank you for your lemon patience
and have a lemon day!
Though I Believe
I had played the game all wrong,
broken rules right and left,
and now, I'm afraid
that I will pay dearly for it.
It seems such a small chance
that she will follow through,