…on holding fast to hope…
We exist
in a fragile sphere
of suppressed possibility
gripped in the freeze
of a dark time
this slag-shattered
glass of the future
moves frail and slowly
through the arc of the ages
midst those who’ve waited
and watched
at the waning of truth
‘neath the uncertain moon
of deliberated ancients
this fractured orb
revolves in the void
of lightless null
not hearing
what we knew to be
the plaintive cries
of the lost
our echoed cries
blind to the light
of the dawning
that heralds a new word
for a possible world
a new word
for this time that’s upon us
this brittle critical time
I am the bud and the blossom
I am the late-falling leaf
I am the arc fulfilled
I am the time come
come to the here
and the now
where we’re held
firm in the fire
of visions and longing
for what we were
and for all
that we are to be
here in our heart
at this moment eternal
even as
we gaze forlornly
across pooled hatred
through a divided curtain’s fall
at a fractured mirror’s reflection
a reflection of a waking nightmare
a glaring hallucination
of a polarized reality
dual worlds
close enough to touch
but too far apart to engage
dual worlds
through which truth
stumbles blind
beyond reach
or reason
no connection ’tween either
we walk as wraiths
through fevered empty streets
moving in these dual worlds
captive
to the bone-white lies
of both
mumbled
in the low voice
of dark deceit
implied in their toxic grins
of inflexible conformity
lethal tradition
revered in mindless trance
change
shackled to the instrument of fear
with grip rough as rope
change
bound at the shadowed edge
of dark and light
of plague and cure
of repression and justice
the edge of lethal ignorance
and profound knowledge
change
bruised
disillusioned
yet possible
but still seeking to flee
like a squandered teardrop
forever away from
our failing grasp
but hold fast
beckon the unfolding dawn
summon the emerging morn
herald the yellow-gold sunrise
there is far to go
and much to learn
rising from this dark night
but someone needs first
release the light
hold fast
perhaps torchbearers emerge
*
original publication: rob kistner © 02/18/21
revised publication © 04/07/23
Poetry at: dVerse
