Wednesday, April 30, 2014

2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 30


When I began my haiku story on April 1st, I didn't know where it would take me. Several days into the challenge I read something Zelda Fitzgerald wrote in the late summer of 1930. Her words and the words of her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald gave direction to my writing.



"Calling it a day" is the final prompt.

Thirty days, thirty prompts, thirty haiku.  



beyond the welkin
a sleepy angel awakes
off to work wings brushed

the commute is quick
one giant leap for mankind
for angel one step 

the task is simple
persuade men to be happy
that's what angels do

since the creation
happiness has been men's foe
men prefer ruin 

men long for passion
harmony unsettles them
men would rather burn

men inhale cities
drink beneath the rural moon
on the airplane wings 

ever amateur
created in God's image
hopelessly human 

torment their lovers
dance themselves to destruction
ever lonely men 

finding no refuge
men cry when they see the Pope
vagabond pilgrims 

empires rise and fall
look back foresee the future
humans do not change 

men bend their beliefs
divide sex and sentiment
still believe in love 

strolls through central park
wild quarrels starting over 
beautiful and damned

men battle their beasts
walk along the precipice
all the sad young men

if i were God i
dancers and storytellers
always reasoning 

love is all there is
still men crave bitter in sweet
never satisfied

men beat on borne back
ceaselessly into the past
silent tombstones speak 

lost generation
paradigmatic writings
jazz age any age 

winter dreams wear off
the prickly dust of late spring
freshness of lilacs 

pink floating dresses
pink babies in pink bonnets
it all starts anew 

a tight fellowship
flappers and philosophers
a curious case 

men tamper with faith
yet at the end of the day
all want to come home 

men want to repent
quit the Godless dirty games
men want to be loved 

life crackles like ice
on this side of paradise
faith is difficult 

tell it to the One
He advocates for all men
He knows about faith 

when everything fails
when Babylon walls crumple
He will raise you up 

when your soul is dry
when you walk in wilderness
He will quench your thirst 

when the evil strikes
amidst your Armageddon
He will stand by you 

put your trust in Him
you have found peace search no more
He will not fail you 

still men dance alone
spin words till the story's end
tread on the stardust 

the day's work is done
wings torn the angel ascends
tender is the night





Sasha A. Palmer

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