war and peace: poetry by Rhonda

TWO THINGS CANNOT BE IN ONE PLACE

My car and the SUV just behind me shouldn't occupy the same

space-time continuum.  Insurance companies would complain.

Your septic tank and the walnut tree might try to co-exist

but I'd bet that a reputable plumber and his back-hoe

could undo the harm.

An idea of roses--soft, sweet, warmly gracious--

will overcome withered days, lonely nights.

Thoughts of peace can surely disarm a thought of war.

Your bright laughter--unbidden and charming--

echoes down all the long hallways of life

and dark creatures in odd corners

burst into light, and then song.

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THE LESSONS OF WAR

Now there are plums on the table

and a cat padding softly nearby.

Now a chld awakens in a cradle

of linden branches, swaying in the breeze.                                     

Now you touch the delicate hole

burned near your heart

and ponder the river of life

pouring into a parched earth.

Now the origins of the universe make sense.

Now the end of time is clear.

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SOME SHAPE OF BEAUTY

Very soon will there be voices calling us all to come home.

We will loiter in tall summer grass,

fireflies in hand, feet bare and streaked with mud,

waiting for the sound of our true names.

We will run away from long shadows leaping behind us

toward some shape of beauty.

We will find ourselves home again.

Tired.

Happy.