Tag: nature

“It’s Much Too Late”

On By Mike U.In Poetry3 Comments

“It’s Much Too Late”
(c) 2017 by Michael L. Utley

Autumn rain
Cannot slake
Summer’s thirst

It’s much too late
For yellowed grass
And barren field

Leaves which fall unseen
Litter ground in mounds
Scarlet memories

It’s much too late
For mountain leas
Devoid of hue

Flowers fade
Petals drift
On chill wind

It’s much too late
For drought-cracked earth
And bitter weeds

Which cling to parched dirt
Brittle claws succumb
Snap like frail bones

It’s much too late
This autumn rain
Which rills the ground

Sweeps away
All that’s left
Of summer

It’s much too late
To heal the wounds
Of all that’s lost

All that’s left behind
All that’s left of life
All that’s left of me

It’s much too late

“The Flower”

On By Mike U.In PoetryLeave a comment

“The Flower”
© 2014 by Michael L. Utley

A flower grows in distant land
Whose sweet perfume anoints the soul
Whose silken petals soothe the hand
Of he who seeks to understand
And reaches outward to console

This flower fair whose beauty hides
Such painful mem’ries of the past
Whose leaflets tremble in the tides
Of raindrop tears that course the sides
Of crying blossoms overcast

By fearsome thunderclouds above
And zephyrs cold that beat and rend
All things this flower’s come to love
With nothing but a mourning dove
To lament flower’s bitter end

Yet…

A gentle hand, a warm caress
On melancholy flower’s face
A touch of simple tenderness
By miracle can convalesce
A heavy heart and can replace

A broken soul with life anew
And joy that was there once before
May dapple petals in the dew
Of mornings bright with strength renewed
With blossoms glowing evermore

A flower grows in distant land
Whose sweet perfume anoints the soul
And any rainstorm shall withstand
And live in peace in meadowland
No longer lost; in hope made whole

(for Lizzy)

“The Apple Tree”

On By Mike U.In Poetry7 Comments

“The Apple Tree”
© 2013 by Michael L. Utley

The apple tree
Behind the house
Has long ago
Stopped bearing fruit

It stands alone
In sickness bold
Half its branches
Dead or dying

Leaves the hue
Of summers past
Defy the sun
The pouring rain

Bound there in
White-knuckled grip
On mournful twigs
On listless boughs

As autumn fades
The leaves succumb
Each one a
Small gold suicide

Each gilded drop
A dying spark
A universe now
Mute in death

No one knows
This apple tree
Behind the house
A secret world

Where eons pass
And ages fade
Unknown to all
Except to me

And chilly sun
And hurried cloud
And thoughtless bird
And bitter breeze

The pristine snow
Has covered all
A silent shroud
Has fallen here

An icy dirge
A funeral pall
As winter metes
A healing balm

In sanguine hope
That springtime sun
Will summon forth
The apple tree

But even so
It saddens me
This futile thing
This apple tree

That cannot see
It matters not
If life abounds
When living hurts

To live alone
Infirm and weak
While bony fingers
Seek the sky

And wretched leaves
In breezes weep
And shattered dreams
Litter the ground

In autumn piles
Of yellow dross
That go unseen
And fade away

“I Stood at the End of the Earth”

On By Mike U.In Poetry2 Comments

“I Stood at the End of the Earth”
© 2013 by Michael L. Utley

I stood at the end of the earth
As it trembled and moaned
Beneath me
The great dark monstrous Pacific
Infinite and unseen
Before me
Mindless
Inexorable
The cliffs below me besieged
By the stentorian onslaught of
Night-cloaked sea

A lifetime of fear has deafened me
I cannot hear it
It does not exist

I stood at the end of the earth
As it shuddered and groaned
Beneath me
The obsidian veil of the void
Stretched taut above me
A canopy of moonless ubiquity
A spray of crystals muted by
An eternity of
Distance and time

A lifetime of sorrow has blinded me
I cannot see it
It does not exist

I stood at the end of the earth
As it writhed and spun
Beneath me
The virginal rays of an
Ancient sun gilding all
The soaring albatross
The breaching whale
The crying gull
The gamboling dolphin

A lifetime of hubris has dulled my mind
I do not know these things
They do not exist

I stood at the end of the earth
As I sought to uncover
The great mystery
The answer is all around me
Everywhere
And forever out of reach

“A Few Haiku (1)”

On By Mike U.In Poetry3 Comments

(c) 2017 by Michael L. Utley

…..

(#1)

Raindrop on elm leaf
Slipping toward oblivion
I am falling too

…..

(#2)

Misty river bank
I can hear the water cry
Through its mournful veil

…..

(#3)

Stream among the reeds
Peeks at me through cattails
Laughs and runs away

…..

(#4)

Autumn rain has come
Orb weaver’s sorrowful web
Latticework of tears

…..

(#5)

New-born winter calves
Gambol in fresh morning snow
Like little drunk men

…..

(#6)

Chilly winter sun
Heaven dines on balmy feast
Earth begs for a crumb