[stylist] here's a poem

[Barbara Hammel]

Here’s a poem I wrote last year.  An abstract artist and free verse writer friend of mine heard it today and loved it for the mental pictures.

What do you think?



  EVENING OF SEASON'S FIRST SWIM

 By Barbara Hammel



The twins and I went out to play

In world all wet and sparkling gold,

The icy water bit our skin

With diamond pricks of brilliant cold,



The freezing, sun-flecked swimming pool

Made one small child begin to quake,

His teeth began to chatter so

And all of him began to shake.



And so out to the swing we went

To find the warmth left in the day,

How diff’Rent was the breeze we felt

As that bench swing began to sway.



The dappled, yellow, sun-warmed air

Brushed satin-smooth against my skin,

The spicy green of wet, cut grass

Filled every breath I drew within.



The velvet blue of twilight draped

Its cooling curtain over all,

And through that beauty gently swayed

The swing and I and one boy small.



Through dappled, yellow, sun-warmed air

With just a hint of cooling breeze,

He shivered though it wasn't cold,

Beneath the shade of maple trees.



How different air can feel to each

When after swimming in the pool,

I feel the yellow, sun-warmed air,

He feels the chill, blue twilight cool.



While riding through the atmosphere,

The dappled, yellow, sun-warmed air

Brushed satin-smooth against his skin,

As breezes dried him toe to hair.



Then velvet blue of twilight draped

Its curtain cool across the land.

The rhythm of the swing slowed down,

I reached and took his little hand.



And through the beauty walked we two,

This once more warmed up boy and I,

Into the house and put behind

Such fun till sun comes back to sky.







Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.--John F. Kennedy