Linda M. Crate- Two Poems

released from the jar

the red berries jeweled with rain
glowing dimly in the
faint light
caught in ethereal night
was a ghost song
that sang to me such beauty
i smiled a rainbow of mirth
that i thought was long forgotten
assumptions get you nowhere
fast, and so i don't
make them anymore just let the
world dance it's knowledge
to me in little beats
of light and darkness
hummingbird's wings lusting over flowers
sunlit pools dancing with murky
secrets, but never once do i
pry because i don't like it when the wind
strips me of propriety
makes me naked before the darkness
of winter wind —
i walked home that night happy for no reason,
but it was a nice surprise instead of
etched in this melancholy swirl
of broken kaleidoscope
eyes that held me in their jar too long
i'm a dragonfly not a fire fly
let me dance my colors,
stop stealing my hues and vibrancy
yet they didn't hear my cry
not until the rain fell
and the berries glowed and all was
calm and well and silent.



forgive me

etched into the indigo of night
was a promise
of you and me it's dragonfly
wings dancing over us
a vibrancy of
starlight
that sang to me a love
i wish i could have caught in a jar
firefly light
dancing it's strange sweet
chorus in my soul,
i'm sure you felt it when we made love
yet you distanced me like
hamlet did his ophelia
did you mean for me to expire with
the flowers, so you could declare me mad?
so you could start over with the girl
you cheated on me with without remorse?
oh, i'm sorry my love,
i've always been the coward i've always
made the wrong turn,
but i'm stronger now
i have to be brave
realize that you're not my romeo
and i'm not your juliet,
neither of us will die for one another -
maybe it was too much of me
to expect a forever love
from you,
but ravens are fond of those they care for
it's only their enemies they tear to
pieces;
forgive me,
i thought you were a friend.