Swans

William Goresko 1951 (Philadelphia, PA) – 2008 (Willow Grove, PA)



Let us gather our tears in musty barrels,
Juice crushed from fruit of old vines,
To bottle, lay down in cool, dark places,
And when it becomes a supple potion,
Redolent with fragrance of violets and oak,
Fill our glasses, raise them together,
And bathed in the glow of their burgundy lenses,
Drink.
             Dropping everything
We will soar across turgid skies,
Swans, high above the slumbering trees,
Journeying to a land of fair wind and calm sea
Where we can dance on the soft sand
Locked in embrace, heads thrown back,
Burning in the light of the moon
And a million stars.
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Submitted by cuwoodford on May 31, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
5

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFCGHIJKLMNO
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 565
Words 102
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

William Goresko

William Goresko was an avid landscape photographer, a lover of backpacking and the outdoors, a voracious reader of classical literature and ardent fan of classical music as well as 60s rock and folk music. He also loved cooking and watching Sixers basketball games. He was a floor sander by trade. In 1984 at age 32 he was rendered quadriplegic in a car accident and lived for 24 more years. He retained his love of life and had a strong will to live. All poems were written a few years after the accident, typed one letter at a time, using a sip and puff device. Poems were submitted by his wife Cheryl. more…

All William Goresko poems | William Goresko Books

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