greater milieu

so many stones I've thrown into the sea

how many have washed back ashore to me

etched with the tales of marine escapades

and edges softened by time tide and waves

my beach'ed strolls I mull through candidates

but never wondered which chose to retrace

the arcing path I'd hurled them on before

to surface skip or plunge to ocean floor

relationships are often viewed the same

where clinical detachment serves as frame-

work of derived professional design

and personal kneels to the business shrine

perhaps our sandy strolls would better end

if stones encountered were viewed as old friends

© 2020 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

tidal love affair

I sit upon the bones of earth where they
meet ocean's breath who gossips through the day
through countless ebb and flow the whisp'ring waves
beseech the bones of earth come and engage

to share some bit of grand terrestri'l lore
but silence only emanates from shore
indiff'rence does to silence not equate
the sea and shore exist at different rate

in time the shore responds to ocean's breath
his answer patience shows to her behest
the jagged countenance shore once displayed
is softened by the sea's caress allayed

oh would that I in bones of earth should melt
so ocean's love eternal could be felt

© 2016 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

submerged addiction

a cunning rhyme a subtle twist of phrase
ambiguous enough to give one pause
the hidden meaning more than likely stays
on verge of consciousness as viewed through gauze

beyond the rhyme what meter does bestow
a pleasing shape and cadence from the tongue
viewed with disdain some readers call it flow
the lines thus cast more easily are sung

of most import emotions here evoked
the contents which this clever vessel holds
and once dispensed leave reader feeling choked
or breathless as if viewing highland wolds

once bitten it is hard to shake this sprite
best don't admit just take up pen and write

© 2015 Frederick Andrew ~ All rights reserved

Salt of Tears

April 14th challenge

The tears long dried to salt upon my face
could season endless feasts for kings and queens.
They taste of all the sins the human race
has rained upon itself since Eden's sheen

was dulled by apple feast so long ago.
And yet the tears which are no longer wet
have found a cause to cease their endless flow
related to that feast which sealed our debt.

Alone I was replete with sin and pain.
Complicit?, Nay!  A principal of rage
and war intended for ill gotten gain,
Author pierced by words upon his page.

Then you appeared and offered apple's feast
and in your gift my tears have found surcease.