The One Thing There Is

There is only the path –

A breath, and a step forward.

There is only the road,

Spooled out beneath high sky –

The smoke of the fire in the camp at night,

Dawn rising, a shouldering of packs,

And on.

The Leap

When a deer jumps, it jumps in slow motion,

Hung up in the air too long for gravity –

Who, as we know, is jealous of his claims –

Not to resent this flouting of his rules.

For a heartbeat, it’s a mere deer ornament,

Adorning whatever unfelled Christmas tree

You’re seeing in the background; there are more

To choose from than your house could ever need.

Then front legs fall, and rear legs follow,

The landing just a heavy afterthought,

And once again the deer is prey to all

The shocks and predators a meek soul fears;

But in your memory she’ll always be

Extended, leaping, among frozen boughs –

The one thing that will never need to fall,

To die, to change, or even touch the ground.

Flag-Waving Poem

Of all nations maybe the most human,

A sprawling, shambling, striving, failing mess,

Lit up with inspiration, with ambition,

With high ideals and barefaced hungers both,

She stands atop Olympus, lofty, lonely,

With her Olympian lust, Olympian pride,

Her all-too-mortal faults, immortal story –

A shining light to others, to herself.

In letting power fall to common men,

She blazed a trail that often blazed again;

In business, innovation, art, she curled

A sturdy arm about the willing world;

And if her finest hour was in war,

Her greatest strength is what she fought it for:

The love of freedom, enterprise, and blind,

Unlooked-for progress following behind.

Let those who like debating things debate

If she is, was, or ever will be great.

She knows they never ask that question of

A country they don’t envy, fear, or love.