May 2022 – Page 2 – Image & Verse

Time’s Portal

~ tomorrow at 5:30 AM fate deals my hand ~

At tomorrow’s sunrise, I submit to the knife. My faith in the wielding hand has before been tested, and found reward, and the hand capable. But time’s a stream. With it the essence of everything flows in flux. I’m not who I was when last I acquiesced to the skill and demeanor of this healer. And this healer’s endured the impacts of time, to be here now, in this new place.

How’s this all to be held? Only fate ultimately determines what situation will bear presence in this new light of day. Am I wise casting my lot with this evolved reality? Has fate moved favorably through the portal of time? For how can I be sure I shall see again the world on the first of May, year next? I cannot, yet again I’ll close my eyes, to ride the great wheel.

*
rob kistner © 2022

Poetry at: dVerse

Goin’ Down

~ existentially speaking ~

Abandoned from the beginning
turned loose alone
down the slide of life

no preparation
no explanation
no true identification

just — baby go…
!!wheeeeee!!

off you sailed
mini mr tieke

enduring and surviving
each unexpected turn
each unseen bump
each unsettling drop

faster and faster
as time flashed by
in a hurry
kinda blurry

as you picked up speed
you picked up vague images
collecting them
clinging to them

embracing them desperately
turning them to realities
at least
to the best of your abilities

lil’man alone
you made them your own
you made them your life

you smiled
you shed tears
mostly
you just held on
battling fears

until
a real dad stepped in
got better then

you made time
you lost time
you made love
you lost love
you made no excuses

and now
here you are lil’ lawrence
very near the bottom

squeeze those dreams
if ‘ya still got’m

soon it will end

how will it end

only the verse of poets
or the dogmas of priests
dare venture a posit

and they got no clue
no more than you
little freefall lad

but soon you will know
if you end up glad
or if you been had

you might just find
nuthin’

as perhaps
it is meant to be

we’ll see
won’t we

well now
hope the hell now
you enjoyed the ride

the terror
the thrills
the speed

because
in the end
my friend

the ride
is all that’s
guaranteed

*
rob kistner © 2022

Poetry at: The Sunday Muse

Poetry at: earthweal

bottom picture by: Robert Doisneau “The Ghost Train,” 1953

is it this,

or this,

who really knows?

Together

This day
despite my fear
calm settles over me
the warm embrace that is my love
for you

the fog
of foolish thoughts
that would disrupt my peace
cannot enshroud me — for you are
with me

I see
with clarity
how real our love to be
our true bond of fidelity
gives strength

it’s now
when life seems dark
and fear seeks to consume
I have the love and comfort of
your heart

I know
when this has passed
you will be waiting here
knowing this — I face fate fearless
this day

*
rob kistner © 2022

Poetry at: dVerse

Hands of Grief

Having it been confirmed I’m entering stage 4 CHF, with preparation for yet another heart operation underway this week for me, my thoughts fall to my father, whom we lost to a heart condition. He was my hero, and to this day, I miss him so very very much.

~ For all fathers/husbands long passed, recently deceased, or about to die ~

Deep in nightfall
the darkness now descends
the hands of grief extend
terror is knocking at the door

it’s nightfall
words of sorrow stain my lips
slip through my fingertips
and scatter ‘cross the floor

it’s nightfall
the shadows hide my tears
but I am haunted by my fears
I am broken evermore

here in this nightfall
dark waves of misery
are rising like the sea
I am stranded on the shore

it’s nightfall
I am lost — I am alone
confusion grips me to the bone
grief chills me to my core

it’s nightfall
the darkness still descends
the hands of grief again extend
terror is knocking — knocking at the door

as this knocking echoes in my night
I hear you call my name
“be brave my son — for sure
you have been here before”
I whisper through tears and pain
”father — help me again endure”