Poem: To the Gods

 

To the Gods

 

i send you trinkets of my life

in a basket of disloyal tears.

 

my armor of wounds,

more feeling than blood

that goes in first.

 

next i fold with care

and tuck in place

a brutalized truth:

 

those cities of cursed children,

whom i sobbed to invoke,

and yet never dared to see.

 

next comes dawn’s ocean,

and rain-voices of songful spring.

add sage aromas of chaparral,

and prism-garlanded forests.

 

i place, as well an enduring kiss,

one i received long ago,

and yet still heals across decades.

 

finally a dandelion,

joyous in sunlight,

quivered by breeze.

 

i know the gods will not respond,

or even understand my gift.

 

but i have some hope, by this offering,

faint as an angel's feather,

to forgive the gods.

===================

6/24/24 ... 

10/30  "disloyal" replaces "unloyal"

8/24 "garlanded" replaces "sprinkled"

8/17  "add" replaces "place"

On first glance, this is one of the best poems I have ever written.  Of course, as is usual with such things, I am probably wrong.