Like Bread
Bill Beardslee
Like bread you fed my head
Touched my heart with healing hands
In a time of no return.
When waters churned
Lapped the doorways of becoming
Rising in chaos to consume.
I bow before dreams and songs
Your steady shake of hand
Sure voice of calm
That led the wayward forward
Through dark forests and frightening nights
Much is made of the sixties
Like much is made of many ages
Perhaps the Way did seem clearer
A convergence of hearts and minds
Only to be scattered by the chatter
Of talking heads
The clatter of distant tongues
The silence shattered by distant guns
The challenge of keeping feet on the ground
Hands clasped
Bodies in rhythm with our own heart beats
And the drums of ages past.
You glanced at me, I at you
To understand only now
The songs of silence being sung.
We all pace the cage rapacious
Growl at the night
Rumble like bears
And laugh like hyenas at the moon.
The streets are full-vacant with ghosts
Of broken dreams and melted memories
Like Dali’s clocks hung over chairs.
I am no more home than I was yesterday
A gesture, a glimpse, an ache and pain
Knocking upon unopened doors of expectation.
The woman by the tree glanced in this direction
Her eyes worn and burned by consuming fires
Rising out of hearts everywhere
She bent and supped from the fresh clear stream
Stood tall, turned without looking back
Walked into the forests whichremain.
I touched the hem of her long brown gown.
I wonder now what is the cost and weight
Of the light descending upon the table
Where breakfast is prepared
While people starve.
I wonder the cost and weight of our square house
So misplaced upon the earth
That asks something else of us.
I wonder about this pulse, red hot
In my breast, this lust and loathing
That begets constant longing
While this blue sky and autumn sun seek to warm me.
I wonder how it is that the city streets
run thick with blood, broken, frozen hearts and minds
That children are tossed like refuse, used as playthings
On the altar of death.
I wonder that perpetual war eats everything
Solves nothing
Fills certain pockets full and empties all others.
I wonder at the resilience of the young
Of dream bearers and hope carriers
Making a life full despite all the news to the contrary
I wonder about the difference between
Greatness and good enough
Satisfaction with what is and what one can do here and now.
Touched my heart with healing hands
In a time of no return.
When waters churned
Lapped the doorways of becoming
Rising in chaos to consume.
I bow before dreams and songs
Your steady shake of hand
Sure voice of calm
That led the wayward forward
Through dark forests and frightening nights
Much is made of the sixties
Like much is made of many ages
Perhaps the Way did seem clearer
A convergence of hearts and minds
Only to be scattered by the chatter
Of talking heads
The clatter of distant tongues
The silence shattered by distant guns
The challenge of keeping feet on the ground
Hands clasped
Bodies in rhythm with our own heart beats
And the drums of ages past.
You glanced at me, I at you
To understand only now
The songs of silence being sung.
We all pace the cage rapacious
Growl at the night
Rumble like bears
And laugh like hyenas at the moon.
The streets are full-vacant with ghosts
Of broken dreams and melted memories
Like Dali’s clocks hung over chairs.
I am no more home than I was yesterday
A gesture, a glimpse, an ache and pain
Knocking upon unopened doors of expectation.
The woman by the tree glanced in this direction
Her eyes worn and burned by consuming fires
Rising out of hearts everywhere
She bent and supped from the fresh clear stream
Stood tall, turned without looking back
Walked into the forests whichremain.
I touched the hem of her long brown gown.
I wonder now what is the cost and weight
Of the light descending upon the table
Where breakfast is prepared
While people starve.
I wonder the cost and weight of our square house
So misplaced upon the earth
That asks something else of us.
I wonder about this pulse, red hot
In my breast, this lust and loathing
That begets constant longing
While this blue sky and autumn sun seek to warm me.
I wonder how it is that the city streets
run thick with blood, broken, frozen hearts and minds
That children are tossed like refuse, used as playthings
On the altar of death.
I wonder that perpetual war eats everything
Solves nothing
Fills certain pockets full and empties all others.
I wonder at the resilience of the young
Of dream bearers and hope carriers
Making a life full despite all the news to the contrary
I wonder about the difference between
Greatness and good enough
Satisfaction with what is and what one can do here and now.