Helen Avigliano's Writings and Poetry II
He Cares
Night comes quietly,
while the trees move gently
with the cool hush of an evening breeze.
The sky is a sparkling glissando of light,
obscured here and there
by swiftly moving storm clouds,
militantly charging across the sky
like dark warriors,
intent on ravaging the peace
of this sweet summer's eve.
The lights from my window flicker
and cast yellow patterns of warmth
on the yard below.
I must leave the seclusion
of my room
to run down the stairs
and out the door
to kiss the fresh beauty of the wind
and leap and dance like a child.
How sweet to taste
the first cool drops of rain
on my tongue,
and touch the soft loveliness
of the grass with my bare feet!
What joy to feel the wind
tearing reckless fingers
through my wildly flowing hair!
How beautiful to race breathless
through the dark shadows!
Honeysuckle vines on an old picket fence
wound my heart like an arrow.
Oh, to be a child once more,
walking in a land of peace,
with a motherıs lullaby
to soothe away the weary cares of life,
and a gentle smile
to carry within my heart.
Gone the sometimes weariness of age.
Gone the wasted years,
the cruel words, the unkind deeds,
the memories that time finds hard to dim.
Oh, to be a child once more!
It is summer.
I taste once more
the sweet, tart, icy lemonade
drunk in the shade of an ancient oak!
A swing that swings
higher than the tallest house!
Games in the twilight,
and friends who laugh and play
and never go away.
Oh memory tonight, sweet memory!
Let my weary soul
sink deep into the unfathomable mystery
of yesterday,
tasting forgotten feasts,
and delicious fragments
of what used to be.
Oh, to be a child once more!
Too soon it vanishes
like the mist on a summer morn,
and we stand in our maturity
acutely aware
that we are mere children
in Godıs forever classroom.
Raison d'Être
Something to live for!
Something to die for!
Iım not content
to live in small moments
and narrow years.
Wide horizons and limitless vistas,
beckon from beyond tomorrow,
and restless, on tiptoe,
I whisper in the darkness
before the dawn
"Take us out far beyond the reef,
Oh Father!"
My heart sings
in communion with stellar symphonies
and galactic concertos,
constructed in the inner chambers
of eternity.
"Loose our fearful grasp
Oh Father,
from all that dies
and fades to ashes.
Unlock the castle
where fear and hate have reigned,
co-regnant and supreme."
"Turn us free
upon Your bold eternal seas of conquest.
Unshackle the chains
that bind our weary feet
and trembling hands,
so used to the fires
of human endeavor.
Kiss us with the kisses
of Your Calvary,
that we may suffer, in You,
for that unlovely, unholy world below."
"Make us free
Oh Father,
this I ask!"
Live Now!
Live now!
Live now, old friend of mine!
Arise from the shrouds
of your apathy,
and drop the shackles of your sin.
Live now!
While your living heart beats
and the blood flows hot.
Feel deeply, feel keenly!
Hear swiftly when He speaks.
Let your feet be instant
to run or leap at his command.
Love fiercely,
Beyond ignorance or indifference
or blind, clumsy ineptitude.
Love kindly, passionately
and with tears.
But live, live, live!
For tomorrow
it will be one day
too late!