samuel comes home

 

 

with thelonius pulling the wagon

amos returns with samuel

 

the arduous journey from the mountain

to denver   and back   near two hundred miles

 

over   samuel is withdrawn   the church

his church   neglected for two years   incomplete

 

unroofed   open framework weathered   

boards warping   grayed by two colorado winters

 

~

 

prison   there is little to say   two words

should suffice   negro   injustice

 

~

 

he begins where he left it   mostly alone

when he needs help he asks

 

there are others   each with a task   

it is a community   a growing community

 

~

 

zoey   will two words suffice   two years

without her man   two years

 

in her caravan alone   two years without

samuel's love   

 

~

 

amos is exhausted   hattie nurses him

as best she can   age has played its relentlessness

 

upon the both of them   it tells

the cold hurts more   works its way into their bones

 

no number of quilts   no proximity of body

can match the insidiousness of age


~

which means nothing   amos and thelonius

make their way up the mountain

 

as they have done since the war ended   since

they and the others   samuel and zoey

 

and the little ones   moved west   amos relying 

upon thelonius' steady gait  

 

make their way up the mountain to tend the flock

while samuel builds the church

 

in which he will pastor   tending the flock

if the spirit is still within

 

~

 

as zoey tends to samuel   as hattie tends to amos

that is way of love

 

 

 

 





Poetry by one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 156 times
Written on 2023-11-15 at 14:41

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D G Moody The PoetBay support member heart!
I felt I could taste the dust off the wagon on the journey. This is such an atmospheric poem, with brief brush strokes creating a living story
2023-11-16


Sameen The PoetBay support member heart!
One thing I like about your long poems are how prosaic, or novelistic they are. If not for the versifying, I couldn't tell they're verse. But, there in lies their power. They ARE verse, you've just made them as prosaic as they can be without losing the POETRY of it all.
2023-11-16


Alan J Ripley The PoetBay support member heart!
Tom I really enjoyed the journey,
You took me on with Thelonius.
It was as though I was in his wagon,
It's nice to transported within
a work of art. Regards Alan
2023-11-15


Sona The PoetBay support member heart!
This one is so so layered. i am still at it. But real nice structure to the abstract journey.
2023-11-15