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Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Scroll / George J. Dance

       
A Scroll

By the river I saw geese fly
Like black angels, far and high —
Trees were cracks in a scarlet sky —
A scent of smoke — A dolorous cry:

            "Fallen is Babylon the Great,"
            Cries the wild goose to his mate.
            "All for fires to consume;
            "Ashes, ashes for their doom."

            "Still, we learned to love their land,"
            Softer now she answers, "and
            "Safely in the southland, we
            "Will miss their insecurity."

On the bank red sumac lay,
Fires banked at close of day.
Will I watch those fires burn?
Will I see the geese return?

---
George J. Dance, 1972
from Logos, and other logoi, 2021
 
[All rights reserved by the author - Used with permission]


Martin, 'Geese flying in an orange sky,' 2005. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.

3 comments:

  1. Good morning, George, really liked this one.

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  2. Lovely alliteration George. Once again excuse my rudimentary comments. dolorous: feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress. New word for me, thank you, love words. #poetslovewords Rhyme scheme: AAAA BBCC DDEE FFGG. Concluding stanza: 7 syllables per line, heptasyllabic. Lovely conclusion. Great poetry! Unique! 🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

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