October Poems 2024 >> the heavens declare

A poem for each day of the month in which I was born

October 16
the heavens declare

i’m writing these poems for conflicts and wars,
that they may be read through the horns
that bellow out orders, in mesquite and thorns,
that deepen foul wounds and fresh scars.

i’m writing these poems for the hospital bed
that host broken bodies and minds,
to open closed curtains and roll back stiff blinds,
and give hope to those not yet dead.

i’m writing these poems for prison and cell,
where criminals plot while they wait,
or seek hopeless clemency, e’er some fair fate
may save a lost sinner from hell.

i’m writing these poems for widows and orphs,
whose years are conscripted by days
of violence, hunger, shock waves, and malaise,
whose giant existence life dwarfs.

i’m writing my last poems for brave souls, who dare
to tackle life’s bull by its horn.
find in them sound reason: that you have been born
to sing when the heaven’s declare…

© Copyright 2024 October 14
by Clyve A. Bowen♫