28 Poems - 13

The Winter's Tale


Mankind in its infancy
Felt the gods in every breeze --
Powers they could never see ,
Beings they would never please,

Shining like a searing light
As they chant their dreaded song:
Every well-intentioned right
Fathers an offending wrong.

Like a pebble, each offense
Rolls until, when all is done,
Unintended consequence
Avalanches everyone.

Yet within this world of dread,
Faith can change a stubborn fact.
Stages littered with the dead
Might some curious god attract

And from loss She could a life
Kiss with her believing breath --
Husband hand in hand with wife,
Veiled and rescued up from death.

Now the years do what the gods
Used to do in Ancient Greece --
Stepping in against the odds
To midwife a mortal peace.

Time will act it all alone,
Making jealousy the law
Till a soul becomes a stone
Like a jewel becomes its flaw.

Time will see a rival's face
In the profile of his son,
And will trumpet this disgrace
Till his faith has been undone.

Time the Victim stands in court,
Innocent and statuesque,
Watching Time the Judge purport
Fairness from a slanted desk.

Loyal Time put to the test
Will be trusted with a child
And a duty to detest:
Leave her naked in the wild.

But because of this command,
Born of jealousy and rage,
Time the God will raise his hand --
Time the Bear will clear the stage --

Time the Wheel will start to roll
Over king and clown and thief,
Raising every hardened soul
To an Everest of belief --

Changing Prosperos for Lears,
Reuniting the alone
While the hands of sixteen years
Sculpt a life from faith and stone.

When the winter's biting shawl
Melts into the risky spring,
Who shall be forgiven? All.
What can happen? Anything.

Ships embarking from a shore
Never found on any map;
Statues stepping to the floor
Like a living thunderclap.

Common children will be crowned.
Love will swim in sorrow's lake.
What was lost will yet be found.
Look. We do but sleep. Awake.


copyright 2009 Matthew J Wells