Monday Morning Poetry*

Two from "The Kingdom of Music"

Dear Gustave, Dear Adrian

"In the end naivete lies at the bottom of being, all being, even the most conscious and complicated."  -Thomas Mann,  Doctor Faustus

Spun in the seams of light

Parting the clouds of sight,

We see the vision of man

Decayed by his own destiny.

Just as we want to look

Past our own self to the book

We create, history stands astride

Our vision of all humanity.

Marking time in the closeness

Of all this academic business,

You live the passion of words,

I, the music of eternity.

Each of us frames our genius

In the light of those around us,

Spinning our artful inspirations

Outward with eternal creativity.

Grasping the slender threads

Of light that become mere beads,

We part from our original vision

As we reach for infinity.

Crushed by the weight of eons

We join the good Europeans,

Falling evermore downward while

Creating our world's modernity.

James Henderson, 1991 

Champagne

A crowded room with friends, warmly

Filled with chatting, buzzing. While sharing

Current memories of friendly

Yesterdays.

Within the buzz sensations of new

offerings, perchance of future memories.

Each a  portent  or promise of friendlier

Tomorrows. 

James Henderson, January, 2007

* Published on a Friday that seems like Monday.