Eve Sewell-Shaw

Boynton Beach, FL, USA

Is it?

The dusk is falling softly on the ruin on
the hill
In the mellow shades of autumn the fields lie
green & still:
Stealing through the evening shadows is a
holy peace & fair,
Is it just the charm of starlight, or
because you're walking there?
through eternity between us still your
face keeps smiling through
With its glory of the sundown come
memories of you
Something gleams as we remember at
day's end & with the dawn,
Is it dew or silver tear drops
for the one who has passed on?
there's a hush upon the players, mid
the chatter & chaff
Did you hear a sound die faintly,
like the echo of a laugh?
There's a hush among the watchers
when the game at last is won
Is it just the joy of victory, do
they hear of soft "well done?"
Though there's gaiety & revels when the
dance is at its height
Memory crowds & through the windows
someone peers into the night
Through a mist of past & present gazes dimly
at the skies
In the starlight bringing comfort, or a pair
smiling eyes?
Is this just an idle fancy, just a
dream that brings you near?
With your soul beyond the starlight
can you still be walking here?
Everywhere you seem to linger, can you
also not forget?
Is it haunting reminiscence, are
you really with us yet.

Gypsy

With my caravan & horses, shadows out
of shade we steal
From the town where busy people have
forgotten how to feel.
We have shared earth's hidden laughter
when the land was warm with spring
When the breezes through the cornfield left
the grasses tittering
And the trees like old man creaking
as they shook with kindly mirth
While the earth was gay & splendid
in the strength of her new birth
And we poured forth all our gladness
till an echo back was flung
For we shared the vibrant joy it was
to be alive & young-
I have felt the soft commotion of a
thousand breathless sighs
When the whole world waits a-tremble
& the tempest stalks the skies
Known something leap in answer to
the storms wild, restless beat
And the little winds have tugged me,
they have led my eager feet-
to the revels of the cliff-top, to the
wild & tumultuous might-
Shaken in its savage splendour,
swept to its ecstatic height
Till the glory of the tempest became
only one small part
Of my greater satisfaction and the
throbbing of my heart.
I have lain upon the uplands &
have never heard a stir,
And have cried my hurt & puzzlement
into the earth's green hair
I have found the gnarled comfort
that there is in knotted wood
While I only knew the smell of soil
beneath my tears was good.
Till lifting up my eyes again
upon me softly stole
the compassion of earth's still
things & mutely touched my soul.