Transparent Words - Poetry

5 poems by Claire Seaman

 

 

First Thing

 

In the still of early morning

In the quiet of breaking dawn

In the torpor of a still-sleeping house

The words, the thoughts for poems

Seem to play within my mind

Relishing the quiet before the day

 

But the day rolls forth relentless

The dawn of bustling life

Briniing details, generations, work and play

Has someone talked to Granny?

Has someone fed the fish?

Are the hens ok? Has anybody checked?

 

The busy spells of life

With their laughter, love and fun

Sweep along and take us in their wake

The stillness of the morning

Cherished most, perhaps

For never setting hard to lonlieness

 

 

 

He

 

He stands before me,

almost as tall as I.

He stands on tiptoe,

hopes that I will see,

Will  notice, jump in shock

and awe, that he

Is taller now than me.

I stand and look and love

and mimic shock and awe

and see he stands before me,

now, a teenage boy.

 

 

 

Battlefields 

 

If canons fire in no-mans-land

Does no-man feel the pain?

Surrounded, blasted forward,

Together through the rain?

The pain rolls on forever

The ownership unknown

The anger overwhelming

Propensity unknown

 

 

 

Love

 

To know another's body

To hug, to hold, to touch

To seek, create pleasure

An important part of love

But love to last a lifetime?

A prize beyond compare

Blending sexual and domestic

With thoughts and hopes and dreams

The plans, the big adventures

The day-to-day routine

 

 

 

 

Cherries

 

If life's a bowl of cherries

The stones may break your teeth

Essential fruit potential

In a solid, hidden sheath

I think I know we need them

The little lumps of pain

Just wish I could forsee them

And what we stand to gain