Fan

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.

.

.

.

.

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Love can be

a thousand swifting years

spread out

like water colors

through the pastel pleating

of a weathered paper fan.

.

Or love can be

that brief intense

lightning fanned

to consummation

by the hungry edges

of a thousand swifting dreams.

.

When someday

they fold her up

and tuck her fast away

it’s that flash of light

she won’t forget.

.

©  2013, 2017  Betty Hayes Albright

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(a re-post, rewritten)

 

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One Stormy Night

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(Just for fun 🙂 )

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Said Lightning to the thunder:

I am in charge of you!

You haven’t any color

but I’m electric blue.

 .

Said Thunder to the lightning:

I’m the one you hear.

You’re just a random fork of light

but I inspire fear.

 .

Said Lightning to the thunder:

I turn night into day,

I’ll wave my whip and sheet the sky

while you just roll away.

 .

Said Thunder to the lightning,

‘tis I that moves the air.

You’re just a ziggy-zaggy flash

but I give earth a scare.

 .

Said Lightning to the thunder:

watch me, I’ll make a flame

by striking every target

while your rumble has no aim.

 .

And from the ground rose Fire

writhing towards the sky:

I am master here now,

both of you can say goodbye.

 .

Then just in time came Rain, who cried:

this land is all my own.         

I’m putting out your careless fire

now go – leave Earth alone.

 .

And still they argued back and forth

till Wind came out to play.

He laughed and roared with wild delight

and blew the storm away.

 .

© 2013, 2017  Betty Hayes Albright

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(re-posted from 2013 – a children’s poem, for grown-ups too.)

 

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One Stormy Night – 2013 posting

(Just a silly little verse, written during one of our recent thunder storms.)

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Said Lightning to the thunder,

I am in charge of you!

You haven’t any color

but I’m electric blue.

 .

Said Thunder to the lightning,

I’m the one they hear.

You’re just a random fork of light

but I inspire fear.

 .

Said Lightning to the thunder,

I turn night time into day,

I’ll crack my whip and sheet the sky

while you just roll away.

 .

Said Thunder to the lightning,

‘t is I that moves the air.

You’re just a ziggy-zaggy flash

but I give earth a scare.

 .

Said Lightning to the thunder,

watch me – I’ll make a flame

by striking every target,

but thunder has no aim.

 .

Then from the ground rose Fire

writhing towards the sky,

I am master here now,

both of you can say goodbye.

 .

But just in time came Rain, who cried:

this land is all my own.         

I’m putting out your careless fire

now go – leave Earth alone.

 .

And still they argued back and forth

till Wind came out to play.

He laughed and roared with wild delight

and blew the storm away.

 .

© 2013, 2016  Betty Hayes Albright

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Fan

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These days are sharp

but gentle-hued,

a water color painting

spread between

the folds and pleats

of a paper fan

.

its little breezes whispering

that love can be this

ever long and fitting loose

stretching

through the creases

of a million swifting years

.

or love can be

a brief intense

a strike of lightning

from beyond

the pleated edges

of a dream

.

that final flash

that lights up

all the answers

when someday

they fold me up

and put me fast away.

 .

(c) 2013, 2017  Betty Hayes Albright

.

 

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Breaking Blocks

(An old one from 1978.  Writer’s block plagued me then – and now.)

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Sipping tea and vacant,

I nod and doze

but waken in a hot-charged light

that shatters night

and sizzles down

the window panes.

Ions glow,

ignite the sleeping coals

beyond the hearth.

 .

What’s that?  my children ask.

 It’s just a storm,  I whisper.

Hush!

 .

Moments rumble

up my spine,

sparkle through my eyelids.

Heat crackles,

marrow bursts,

the floor shakes,

and then –

 .

My kingdom for a pen!

I roar,

stumbling, leaping

for the door

as virgin words

begin to pour –

now all I need is time.

.

© 1978, 2012 Betty Hayes Albright

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Toast – 2012 posting, old version

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It changes fast,

that marbled sky

from sheets of paste

to curds of gray,

from belts of blue

to heads of steel

connected by chain lightning.

 .

Clouds turn to glass,

our shadows break

as we hasten through

the cracking storm

but we pause to lift

our empty cups

to catch the rain

and toast

the unleafing of fall.

 .

© 1993, 2012 Betty Hayes Albright 

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Complete

He threw his clock

into the sea,

tossed the years

into the fire,

trod the foothills

higher still than yesterday.

Beyond the summits

of tomorrow

rising past the craters

of his grief

he danced and fell

and danced some more –

he  laughed and wept

and laughed again.

And that’s when lightning struck.

With open eyes

and flashing needles

all his poems

were loving-sewn

into the walls

of evermore

and Cosmos was complete.

.

(c) 2011 Betty Hayes Albright

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Pieces

(re-post)

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When you raise your hands

they’re filled with wind –

     I fly!

Lightning unchains your feet,

you beat thunder

from your chest –

     I dance!

There are no clouds

in your eyes

but they are not rainless –

     I bow.

Birds plant seeds

in your footprints,

I watch them grow

into trees

that walk away

and back again.

They weave a sky

 of bark and green

and sun,

and in the puzzle of light

I see your face.

.

(c) 1995, 2012  Betty Hayes Albright

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