-- A Gift for Posterity --

John Herlihy

The poem lies mute within the silence of the page,

Crafted from imagination in the mind of the sage.

The rhythms and rhymes make up a textured flow,

The meter and melody born from what poets know.

And what poets don’t know, some elements emerge,

From some deep ocean of sorrow, mumbling a dirge.

Some express happiness and joy, nearing toward bliss;

Others strike at the heart of all the loss that we miss.

In deepest archives of the mind, the poet himself sees,

In a place of reality and truth where nothing deceives.

Not the individual person, but some mythical persona,

Truths and beauty revealed at night in nocturnal aurora.

Soft moon glow at midnight, the eyes in a tiger’s face,

Images of touching beauty that nothing can replace.

Willingness of the poet all faults and foibles to expose,

Surrender and peace drawn from the soul’s repose.

Readers may see themselves in the lines of the poem.

The reader thinks: “Mine! This is my personal totem.”

Then the affinity between reader and poet complete;

Two hearts merge into one, the poem misses no beat.

When the poet finishes the poem, he is already there;

When the reader reads the poem, she finds herself there.

A poem captures an expression, feeling, insight in time,

A poet’s gift for posterity, crafted from the soul’s mine.

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(c) John Herlihy 1 May 2020