Love Poem: Graffiti Traces On a Crumbling Wall
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Written by: Roof Missing

Graffiti Traces On a Crumbling Wall

My sister stopped to visit on her flight home from a tropic isle.
Are COVID mutants on last legs? (Most think their death’s long overdue!)
Trump’s naive crimes seem more passé though Putin dreams his lies are all
he needs to rule the world. Why court the vote of anyone? “Who counts
these days (that is not me)?” They’re twins (though Trump’s heirs own less real estate)!
Both short of stature, short of Grace, their grotesque presence waste of space!
Best trick? When they shoot their own feet (nearsighted optics fuel conceit)!

I know Sis loves me dearly, but both distance, years can cramp one’s style,
old eyes need to refocus to grok clearly she’s still there (if true!),
past’s sinews feel more tenuous, imagined slights (like leaves of fall)
suggest vitality (more green) is in recess. Fresh waves that rise like founts
through gold-laced veins in rock sprout seasons that recall springs past due date!
An argument hung in the air, that vented, proved our love still there.
It’s what we dread that dims Love’s light, the risks we take that banish Night.

I know my poems sometimes flail to friends whose pages never dared
to give their muse free rein, researching voice. I follow fantasy,
the joy it gives (fresh thoughts I never knew I owned), prefer to live
in sand traps or in rough (path forward less assured), swim nude with tone!
My time’s my own, but my delight’s my muse’s dump. My muse! Stay friend!
A poem’s puzzle for the mind! One rarely knows just what they’ll find!
It’s joy, too, when some come along and swallow content of a song!

Should I fault walls that crumble or a faded poem’s truth unshared
if it provides some shelter from harsh winds that blow for only me?
I honor masons as myself for respite that I get or give
if muse’s gifts grant you some pause, gifts’ music hints you’re not alone.
It’s ‘peace’ we wage that brings joy to the ‘heart of God,’ not war’s we end!
God needs no help to conquer death, to end life’s pain! Love honors breath!
Abundant life’s God’s poetry and ‘faith in God’ man’s ecstasy!


Long Tooth
March 24th in 2022