Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Ethereal Bluebells
aren’t on human time
When wondrous Springtime knells
soundlessly they chime
Most faint winds stir them at will
unruffled, uncaptured
unstintingly poised they thrill
We’re embraced, enraptured
Springtime’s soul
breathes through Bluebells
takes no toll
all anguish quells
Bluebells’ ineffable presence
flows unhurried through senescence
Picked flowers in a vase
through phototropism
still reach for light with grace
in short struggle, schism
A servitude bouquet
its buoyancy endeavored
for just another day
after their roots got severed
Each stalk struggling upright
trying its shoulders pulled back
corolla may look tight
but soon too in grieving slack
Gently drops each petal
knowing not of haste
bounces softly, settles
demise calmly faced
In a few days all die
serene in their goodbye
While out this day crisp & clear
in late Winter sun bleak
while squinting in light austere
fleetingly caught a peak:
of Spring Herself, behold
in season preview
impervious to cold
Hope now springs anew
It is She, Spring Vernal
bubbling brook blithely!
Her return eternal
enlivens sprightly
While smile evanescent
she’s still sheer delight
as well effervescent
heart-heating & bright
Her advent demure
hemline proper
still wondrous allure
a crowd stopper
With wide eyed gaze unblinking
I sneaked another peek
imagined She were winking
then pecked me on the cheek
Elated about this ‘fling’
with the now approaching Spring!
This verse was inspired by grandson Mikey when as a small boy he romped on top of the windlass in the bow of HMS ‘Queen Mary’, moored in Long Beach, CA since 1967. Sic transit gloria mundi ship wise, while Mikey is still in his prime, thank you.
On polished upper decks: splendor & light
a display of power, riches & fame
while in the ship’s belly toiled crew out of sight.
Times past like today, remaining the same.
In her day the flagship of empire
enterprise, industry & might
albeit were it soon to expire
based more on arrogance than right.
Many a storm howled around the crew in the con.
No longer sets her bow in huge waves rushing on:
The windlass a stage for a toddler’s romp
as parents watch by gleaming gunnels.
Without fail shall fade circumstance & pomp.
The ship a play field with three funnels.
Now an amusement park in a disparate age
the ‘Queen Mary’ languishes moored in a zoo’s cage.
+)
-funnel = smokestack, especially on a steamship
-gunnels = the (wooden) upper edge of a ship’s side
-the ‘Queen Mary’ held the Blue Band speed record across the Atlantic after averaging 31 knots in 1938, between New York and Southampton
The bosom left untouched
delights utterly
While the one been retouched
may bulge udderly
Still produces rapture
in the gaping fool
held frozen in capture
with unseemly drool
Much rather than the jounce
of breasts enhanced unsightly
I laud the innate bounce
be it scant, that flows lightly
Sun rays gleaming, bolting through
streaked clouds down to foaming sea blue
Sandy crescents fade below
shimmer in nostalgia’s hue
Our turbulence shook plane is winging West
giving for now Baltic folklore a rest …
+)
sandy crescents = here: white sandy sweeping, curving beaches of the Latvian coast
Sleep’s traces much remain
as she rubs her eyes
Awake, alive again
stretch, time to arise!
Out from rumbled sheets crinkly
vision blurred, tussled hair
Ears red, cheeks & nose wrinkly
her voice muffled, face bare
From ‘looks in bed’ to beauty table
embracing cosmetology
From what’s natural on to fable
hardly ‘in depth’ psychology:
Largely by convention hustled
leads us worshiping in line
by glitzy marketing muscled
to mere Skin Deep Beauty’s Shrine
Sun rays still Summer tinted
amidst boisterous breeze
We peer at, through eyes squinted
cartwheeling grounded leaves
Letting go, sailing from trees
leaves piling up wilted
as cushy carpets cerise
yellow & brown quilted
Leaves losing grip, bailing
Naked branches wailing
Drawn owlish train whistles
in plaintive shrillness
each piercingly chisels
through nightly stillness
Through windows in blurry caprice
darkly flash by power poles
Swaying coach cradling us in peace
lounging bodies, stirred up souls
Thunders through crossings’ clangs
of collapsing crescendo
fading as also-rangs
until mere innuendo
Through mountains, along banks
rolls the Coast Starlight
Each wheel set timely clanks
in silent moonlight
+)
-also-rang = rang: past tense of ring; from ‘also-ran’
-Coast Starlight = the Amtrak train between Seattle and Los Angeles
She’s wrapped in haute couture
a mere distractive detour
as with purloined demure
she’s all exigent allure
So if you can’t withstand seduction
your fallback may be harm reduction
+)
-harm reduction = a public health strategy that was developed initially for adults for whom additction abstinence does not seem feasible