A Poet’s Commitment

I write poetry because:
I want to know the flip side of purple,
wade in a waterless creek,
witness a sunrise at twilight,
listen to hear the silence sing
to me a new melody
uttering verses not yet conceived.

I write poetry:
searching for peace amidst the quake,
to see heaviness turn feathery-light–
thrust by the breeze in uncharted directions,
to find blood in stony hearts,
buried in graveyards filled with hate
and a loveless plight to end all
that’s good and sacred in human life.

I write poetry because:
I long for that yellow rim of sunlight
crowning the charcoal clouds
that reign over tormented lives,
existing behind steel bars
of spiritual imprisonment.

Cause I want to tear down the walls,
and live in a straw-made hut,
and invite the bad, bad wolf
to huff and puff, and blow it down,
and set me free, fences are gone,
so come and get me unworthy one,
and catch this feather in weightless flight!

I write poetry because:
I breathe the scent of spring
in a winter’s moonless night,
cause I see beauty in the thorn,
and tears become smiles,
when the child in me fiddles
with notions unreal and wild.
Cause I can’t stop the search,
cause I know purple, as does the coin,
has a brighter side, and so,
in endless search, I write on.

Carmen Ruggero © 2004