Almost-Christmas Quatrain

No room, they were told, and away

They went as the cold night fell

To find a dark stable, wherein

All—true Light within—was well.

Prompted by WD Seadna poetic form challenge. 

image: The Evening before the birth of Christ, by Michael Rieser (1869)

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

"Old & New" (Poem)

Old & New

When standing at the threshold of

The vastness of another year 

Wishing for happiness and love –

Would we not drop a single tear 

Upon the moments come and gone,

The promise that once brightly shone?

The vastness of another year  –

Chance x 365.

Would we not hold to what was dear—

For worse or better—in our lives

In 2020? Would we fail

At lifting the misfortune's veil?

Wishing for happiness and love,

Would—with a steady hand—we cast

Into the fire the treasure trove

Of love and happiness, the past 

"Cursed" year has brought us? Would we see

Nothing but dread and misery?

Would we not drop a single tear,

Would we not bid a kind farewell

To the unchartered surreal year

Humanity could not foretell?

Would we reject the gift, neglect

To pause and quietly reflect

Upon the moments come and gone,

The value, meaning of it all,

Uncertainty and fear, upon

The revelations, big and small, 

Our brokenness, our strength, the way,

The souvenirs of yesterday?

The promise that once brightly shone  –

Would we not let it shine anew

As we keep calm and carry on—

Rich with the old year, pulling through—

Pick ourselves up and turn the page,

As thankfulness takes center stage?

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

prompted by WD Trenta-Sei Poetic Form Challenge

Marigolds (trimeric poem)

When moving through midsummer’s haze

We search for answers, try in vain

To understand the seasons’ maze

Spring’s budding trees, and winter’s plain

We search for answers, try in vain

And meanwhile trees grow tall, and we

Shed like dry leaves ambitions vain

To understand the seasons’ maze

And find instead the utmost glee

In marigolds stuck in a vase

Spring’s budding trees, and winter’s plain—

From autumn’s top we clearly see— 

Peak of October will explain

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

WD Poetic Form Challenge: Trimeric 

After the Storm

It must have been a perfect slant

Of sunlight, or the twinkling chant

Of droplets – spare change of the rain –

Drip-dripping off the glossy plant,

That made us see we stood to gain

A fortune that we’d been insane

To miss; a treasure-trove of mirth,

As we searched elsewhere, here in plain

Sight lay, for all its precious worth

For us to claim by right of birth,

A pot of gold filled to the brim

Beneath the rainbow welkin – earth.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

Written for WD Rubaiyat challenge

Voyage

I know by heart that stretch of land

Where day and night tall pine trees stand

Guard to the ripening fields of wheat

That shift and roll like desert sand,

Or like the golden waves that meet

The pilgrim’s eye and, hasty, fleet

To join the pastures of the past.

I see the path beneath my feet

That runs uneven, slim, and fast

Toward the pines that shadows cast;

The moss that muffles summer’s breeze,

I see it all, down  to the last

Brown needle fallen off the trees–

The land beyond the seven seas–

If only in my memories,

If only in my memories.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

Written for WD Rubaiyat challenge

Autumn Love

Spring is for lovers, so they say.

But I’ve preferred an autumn day

Ever since I was young like you,

I’ve never cared for cheerful May.

It does not make my heart untrue

To love’s ideals youths pursue,

Nor does it make my soul not keen

On budding life of all things new.

But I delight in seasoned brew,

Followed by bitter residue.

While you admire the break of dawn,

I treasure hours when they are few.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

written for WD Rubaiyat challenge

MADRIGAL

A bolt of lightning brings a cooling rain,
In place of passion settles harmony,
Discord is now a treasured memory

That haunts your perfect world again, again...
A filled with longing subtle melody,
A bolt of lightning brings a cooling rain,
In place of passion settles harmony,

But it does not conceal the same refrain:
Do let me burn, don't spare the agony...
Accord and fire - a mismatched company,
A bolt of lightning brings a cooling rain,
In place of passion settles harmony,
Discord is now a treasured memory. 



Sasha A. Palmer


Written for Poetic Asides