Monday Morning Poetry

I Miss the Flag

to Stephen and Walter

On a summer morning I notice the empty balcony

above. I wonder at the forlorn bushes

Standing green against the grain of the sunny

day.

Over in the window a wilted flower stands

bereft in its brownish deadness,

Reminder of the care once given by hands

that filled the room with life,

and flowers, but now are

gone away.

But most of all I miss the flag

That flew unfurled most every day,

A reminder of the loving couple inside

and their interesting care for each other

and the world.

The Uncut Page

"the packed regrets and stifled memories of an inarticulate lifetime."

-   Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

Looking past the scene in the mirror,

I long for the past – my life of regret,

so filled with unreflected acts.   Yet sorrow seems

to have arisen from deep, unfulfilled dreams.

Where did my days go, deeds undone

falling with the leaves?   A life

stolen from the unconscious mist

of another world.

Now I try to lift the knife and discover

what remains within - uncut, undone deeds.

Not dreams of the future, but pale  

hints of the past.

As I recline in my study the page

slips through my open hand.

Lacking the deeds I cannot summon  

the will to face reality.

from  'Portraits'  by James Henderson, 2004, 2010