Perle Champion

naught grows now in the
garden where he once flourished
sun sears fragile blooms

drinking rain quenches
those here but not I think there
what path does he walk

now what lessons learned
did he miscue leave too soon
or we stay too long

visions gone beacon
fades to just a sad refrain
from an old sad song
echoes only for
companion no fit lover
death waits in the wings

on the races age
it’s hard not to be drawn in
hie the season’s pace

the wheel timely turns
ranting changes not a thing
summer strolls stage left

why desperate haste
at desperate enterprise
winter hurries not

I do not keep pace
with my companions hearing
different drummers

soldiers keep cadence
that civilians cannot force
spring’s early entrance

for now we gather
what we can and await sun’s
return warming soil

nurturing life when
the ice recedes and life’s wheel
turns toward spring’s rebirth

not this day nor next

would our second chance arrive

to begin again

and that new life would

bear only small resemblance

to what came before

we’d collected long
species plants animals seeds
prepared to reseed

earth when the ice passed
clouds parted and sun returned
abetting nature

assignment simple

as continents fell to ice

seek out the living

before the steady

march of ice destroyed all who’d

ignored our warnings