Keepsake (poem) by Charles B. Neff on AuthorsDen

Keepsake
by Charles B. Neff → (All Poetry by Charles B. Neff)
Tuesday, July 5, 2016 Rated "G" by the Author.

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It was a wonderful, relaxed evening, with pleasures that will last. But that doesn't mean erasing other awareness.
Keepsake Summer evening at an old brick home Potluck laden tables on a slanting driveway Banjos and ukes inside a circle of singers Kids out front, whooping at spraying hoses. My mid slips away to another picnic California, December seventh forty-one Neighbors sharing food along with ignorance Of an event that already changed our lives Nostalgia’s a skilled craftsman with a double blade One edge cuts away daily toil and worry The other cuts deeper, deadening memory I crave the first, yet need beware the other The balm of peacefulness before Pearl Harbor Blotted out Okies begging at our back door And a world already at war, just as Undeniable turmoil ringed tonight’s picnic Music and gatherings grant me hope That with effort I may make real As long as I, entranced by light, remember Not to forget the darkness, just beyond Charles B. Neff July 5, 2016

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on July 5, 2016

While we try not to celebrate while Rome burns, we may sometimes do that in our ignorance of what is happening around us. On the other hand, you may be just writing about death, waiting for us all just beyond the horizon of our last celebration.

Ron

Reviewed by Jerry Bolton

I agree, even with the joy and Fourth of July happiness, there is a hovering dark seemingly within our reach. Beware!