COSMIC INTERLUDE
by
Stephen W Sumner
Cover Art By Stephen W Sumner
Copyright © 2013 Stephen W Sumner
2NIGHT
2night, I was supposed to write a poem,
Well, I did,
But it was delayed, and dismayed,
2night, the battery died,
And I get the call,
I have got to pick up my wife,
2night, she went to see a movie,
I could have gone,
And then I would have had to walk,
2night, I stayed home,
Like it was a premonition,
But it wasn't even close,
2night, I just didn't want to see it,
Oh no, not that dumb movie,
What a relief...
OUT BY THE LAKE
Out by the lake,
Surrounded by trees,
Sliding and climbing the hills,
Now resting on a rock,
On a cliff near the shore.
Watch the boats,
Bumping over the jumping, choppy water,
On their way to the ramps,
To be carried away,
Like beached fish from the shore.
Flies in the air,
Rising currents of warm air,
Chased away by a cool blowing breeze,
The beads of sweat,
Dry into a crusty film.
Walking along trails;
Crunching and smashing the leaves,
Sneaking up on very fast and alert birds,
Squishing through the mud on the shore,
Out by the lake.
ALIEN
I find these emotions alien,
That sympathy does provide,
I know not what I am feeling,
Imagination makes them all collide,
I search for the experience,
To understand the other's needs,
Then my heart holds forth its secret,
And reveals my brother's suicide.
STEPHEN'S LULLABY
Oh, baby, baby, what a sight,
Wrapped up in your bunting tight,
With pink little hands, and pink little feet,
What a joy for others to meet!
Oh, darling, darling, little child,
You make my emotions wild,
We'll run, and jump, and we will play,
I'll stay beside you every day.
Oh, gifted, gifted, child of mine,
Of eyes so bright, and hair so fine,
The world will laugh with you some day,
And listen close to what you say.
Oh, happy, happy, is your smile,
And rosy cheeks, all the while,
Those eyes will shine for evermore,
As many people will adore.
Oh, sleepy, sleepy, little one,
We've said good even' to the Sun,
Hush now, hush now, not a peep,
For now it's time to go to sleep.
WATER TUMBLES
Water,
Flowing hastily,
Bubbling at the edges,
Rushing at the rocky chasm,
Tumbles.
BANZAI BABY
This is the story of Banzai Baby,
Small hands,
Stretch the rubber band,
Look for something,
Little fingers,
A small beetle on the wall,
Watchful eyes,
Taunting the make believe dangers,
Crouch in a corner,
The time is coming,
Favorite hiding place,
Aim little baby!
Something's coming,
Watch it skimming through the air,
Duck little Banzai,
As it hits big brother Tommie,
Waiting,
Pick up another,
Wait for retaliation.
OH DEEP AND DARK
Despair
Oh deep and dark
Where are the words
That I know I here?
Has it been so long
Since they last saw light?
Has the flame stuttered,
The candle gone out?
I hope...
I wait...
A flicker comes...
A glimmer...
The words I speak
Echo off the walls of my mind,
The meanings change
With each rebound.
Is my heart so empty?
Or was it meant to be?
CHOICES
I stand upon the brink,
Looking over all my destinies,
Wondering what to think,
With an overabundance of choices.
What will be if I wait,
What will not evolve,
Should I but step upon the untrodden path.
I look to the past for help,
And confront a wall of stone,
Discovering naught but one path and many decisions.
Where have all the histories gone?
FLUTTER BY BUTTERFLY
Flutter by, butterfly,
For beauty is thy name.
Flutter by, butterfly,
Survival is thy game.
Flutter by, butterfly,
For life is very free.
Flutter by, butterfly,
Freedom is known by thee.
COYOTE
Coyote tries to swallow the moon tonight,
Hoping to steal my sense of sight,
And watches me from beyond my vision,
And fashion my world of indecision.
Coyote grins when I try to speak,
Using my voice and words to sneak,
Behind my back to make me a clown,
One day I will catch and throw him down.
DOE IN SNOW
Nimble was the doe,
When cavorting to and fro,
Through the patchy snow.
DREAM OF A PLACE
Dream of a place,
For you and me,
A place to go,
A place to be.
A beautiful place,
For you and me,
A place to know,
A place to see.
We must go now,
Just you and me,
As friend or love,
This place to see.
And if we falter,
On our journey,
To see this place,
Just you and me,
I will help you,
And you'll help me,
Toward this place,
The place to be.
When we arrive,
Just you and me,
There is a man,
A man to see.
Dream of a place,
For you and me,
A place to go,
A place to be.
A beautiful place,
For you and me,
A place to know,
A place to see.
GREY SKY
I throw confusion against a blanket grey sky,
It gives a muffled response of long rainy sigh.
And hears not my impassioned, frustrated screams,
Sees not shattered, fractured fragments of dreams.
ECHOES
Many are the nights,
I wake in confusion,
Feeling as if,
I were left for dead.
And then I find,
The only thing that's left,
Was the sanity,
From inside my head.
By day I work,
'til the Sun is low,
Many are the words,
I wish I'd never said,
It's a long way back,
To an empty place.
And I feel as if,
It's a stranger's bed.
I really do miss you,
And it echoes...
Against the walls,
The walls inside my head.
And there they are,
The words you wanted,
'cause without them,
I'm a stranger in your bed.
ELEMENT
Silent sits the rock,
Basking in the stillness.
Here comes the water,
Turning rock to sand.
There goes the wind,
Wandering the land.
And fire energetically,
Transforms them all.
Does the moon hear,
The turning of the Earth?
Does the earth taste,
The saltiness of the sea?
Do the planets sound,
Like whistles in the solar wind?
Does the Sun feel,
The cold emptiness of space?
EXPRESSIONS
Summer
High School Senior
Second car
Starting college
Birthday, number 18
Chasing parked cars
Scaring butterflies
Keeping promises never made
Skipping rocks on pavement
Bombing water bugs
Midnight romping
Changing street signs
Making faces at the midnight moon
Drawing dot-to-dots on the stars
Making wishes on a morning sun
Staring eye to eye with dreamtime monsters
Summer
Second car
Birthday, number 18
Memories
Fun-wacky year.
GRAVEDIGGER'S FOLLY
The morning was as clear as a fragmented mirror,
The trees, grass, and sky were as one,
The Sun hid in fear behind clouds,
The gray fog danced in delight.
Meanwhile, I tried to obscure my beckoning terror,
My tools gleamed in the half-dark morn.
But time is gold,
And I commenced the dig,
Glancing from side to side,
Watching for nothing yet feeling something.
And all the while, conscious of the leaden sound,
Of shovel biting ground.
GNOME
I met a little gnome,
Who whispered in my ear,
He told me of a treasure,
Hidden in a tree,
Thereupon I asked him,
To show me where it was,
We traveled quite a distance,
Through the thorny brush,
And if I’m not mistaken,
Several figure eights,
Where then he did crouch,
Afore a jump across a rock,
And then it got confusing,
The gyrations he did take,
Which I followed every one,
The best that I could,
It must have been a sight,
The squirrels were watching me,
At last we did arrive,
Where he had me gather,
Seven dragon hatchlings,
From a branch up high,
So now I'm very popular,
When someone needs a fire.
WHEN HEROES CRY
Sinew and bone and will make a strong man,
Heart beating strongly, see his determination.
Do you wonder how he defies the jaws of death?
Where does the strength come from?
When he's covered in grit and grime,
Dug through miles of muddy earth,
Or breathed through smoke and fire?
His driven soul is wound up tight,
Bound with pain and hope to fight,
And he won't give up, can't give up,
'til he's pulled the last life from the rubble.
And when his strength won't reach,
And when his grip won't hold,
And when his eyes can't see,
The soul which has just been freed,
That's when heroes cry.
THE FORTRESS
It stands as though,
it were built by,
a thousand kings,
up in the hills,
so far away,
a distant ring,
so majestic,
very noble,
stands this castle.
Mighty drawbridge,
of sturdy oak,
opens for those,
who have the will,
have the courage,
to summon those,
the castle heirs.
Amid the haze,
amid the age,
timeless the ghosts,
that walk this place,
throughout the days,
of yesterday’s time.
Man can relive,
that castle's day,
magician's life,
the warrior's tales,
the memories of,
that fortress there.
LIGHTNING
super-luminary lines
momentary fragmentary
white-hot crazy string
stitching up the clouds
tightening up the sky
until the edges overflow
and splatter on the ground
I AM...
I am child,
I am adult,
I have the wisdom of a thousand and more years,
I have the innocence of the children's tears,
I have trod the face of the Earth,
In the darkest caves,
In the deepest forests,
I have gone where no one before has explored,
I have seen every miracle,
A part of me has died in every war,
I have been starved,
I have been beaten,
I have been shamed,
And cast into prisons,
I have followed the paths of wickedness,
As well as the paths of righteousness,
I have helped the starving,
Lifted up the downtrodden,
I have sown the seeds of ignorance,
And fueled the flame of knowledge,
I have worn the face of love,
And looked into the face of chaos,
I am young,
I am old,
I am man,
I am woman,
I am child,
I am adult,
I am the church,
And I am growing,
And I am learning.
MOMENTS
Where have all the moments gone?
Washed gently along a babbling brook,
Rippling reflections in a pool of memory.
Had I but time and youth to spend again,
Would I have spent it wandering amid the flowers of the field?
Or as I did, entranced by the one perfect rose?
FOUND SOMEONE TO HEAR
Too times two many.
Is there, is there an iceberg in the water,
who knows what he's talking to?
Jack & Jill ain't got nothing on tommee tippee.
but the little old man,
at the lemonade stand,
keeps selling popcorn,
'cause he ran out of tea and golf balls,
in the middle of the forest,
a giant picks up a stick,
and throws it at a butterfly,
that threatened to smash him,
too late to see the munchkin,
towering over him.
Sky above me, Earth below,
I slowly drift down,
and land on a cloud,
cotton candy in the sky.
Soon it starts raining pumpkin seeds,
and the mickey mouse,
on the see sawing away,
up and down on the roller coaster,
three tickets for a nickel,
four tickets for a ride,
limit seven tickets per hour.
By the seashore,
Jack climbs up a giant seaweed stalk,
and steals the goose,
that lays the Easter eggs,
while Wee Willy Winkee,
is stuck in the chimney,
pretending to be the Thanksgiving turkey.
Mercedes bends over to tie his shoe,
rickety old hut hasn't any one,
since Big Ben was small,
waves crashing,
'cause they don't know how to drive,
leaves swishing,
almost wishing,
no one had left them there.
It's a rotten squirrel,
who grabs someone else's acorns,
but you know he's not nuts, far from it!
A big gigantic horrible dragon,
with one great big eye,
chases the same butterfly,
as what smashed the giant,
of course the butterfly knows,
he knows what he's doing,
and where he's at,
even though the dragon hasn't noticed,
he's getting deeper in the sand,
as it flows through the hourglass,
somebody turned it upside-down,
only it leaked out,
after he pulled the plug.
The hamster knew where home was,
his master knew where home was,
but neither was willing to give up and go there.
It is such a fine sight,
without any glasses,
there wouldn't be anything,
made to drink from then!
Honeysuckles and hummingbirds, get along fine,
even though one can't fly,
in the sky, it looks like rain,
but I guess that's 'cause,
it's falling in my eye.
Mother Goose went to Dr. Seuss,
and found out,
there was nothing to worry about,
when Chicken Little,
bumped his head on the sky,
it was hanging kind of low,
but the Man-in-the-Moon,
did the best he could,
considering the circumstances,
living on cheese,
and all that went on besides,
the iceberg finally decided,
what he wanted to say,
now he's got to find someone to hear.
The flame of the campfire,
complains about the heat,
and somebody throws a stick at him,
to make him be quiet,
it doesn't work,
until you plug the radio in,
but then, no one has the courage,
to talk back to a butterfly,
and the dragon turned into a fly.
A tree doesn't have a face,
but occasionally it will weep,
maybe that's the reason,
for the change of seasons,