On Jericho

In glacial boom the sonar trumps

through walls that snug the city in

And temple stones shrug in respite

Of sinners dwelling on pulpit bins

And calls to skies, fire reach their sun

And nights in darkness far from grim

Will joyous deserts rise with sand

And form tan meadows in layers rim

By dunes to peak a man’s despair

The people sire from great to moss

Minutely dim the flame with care

The loneliness of tundra frost

 

To this grand city will walls to crumble

And men to flee and women blunder

but truth be set in yearly light

Of dearth reprieve and timely plight

 

-j.m.

On Heat

In the inside of a man in heat

Of wells in deep restraint

Surge the waters woven rivers deep

And torrent crisp with breaks of wave

And in the hour of man’s defeat

When laid with troubles of summers’ past

When heat decried the bellow foul

Of smitten coals in glow to last

Felled by nothing and wanting more

He takes and swallows what barriers keep

He stretches arms that rain to pour

And wash away what sorrows weep

But to the last his will undone

By chains of iron in purest ore

Has nature ways to deal its pawn

To tear asunder and will no more

 -j.m.