2014 Adult Poetry Contest Reflections Black birds perched Upon a barren branch Silhouetted gainst A silvery sky Warm breeze blowing, briskly Through the trees Paints a pleasant picture For my eyes. Soon the sun will set And shelter they will seek Fighting, friendly for A cozy place to sleep Beaks tucked barely Under feathered wings One eye open For emergencies. Comes the dawn And daylight decorates the sky Finding food now Fills the stomach cry Cheerful chirping Echoes in the wind Playful, playing Starts the frolicking. Once again Upon the barren branch Black birds perch Till daylight slowly ends Night is still And silently they sleep Warm and cozy, Only to repeat. Bessie Vlahos
The Widowers Walk (A Humanist’s Elegy) In this my autumn, where solitary days, all-too-quickly, dapple from patterns of yellow morning sun to gray, evening shadows, I stop and listen to the prophetic rustle of wind-swept branches, high over head. From the corn stubble and stone, of their sparse bit of Eden, jade mallards return my gaze, waiting for my intrusion to pass, before continuing their courtship, and then through the high weeds, reptilian movements of running mink! Startled birds flash red and blue, always in couplets; I hurry on, now anxious to be with my departed. Through out my afternoon and into my evening, I walked the world’s winding roads, felt, no—savored the greenings and browning of woods and pastures, relearned yet again to accept the constant change. And now, it is that time of day when waning sun reflects orange off the world’s black-top roads, illuminates living and dead, all carnage of the silent call, and I, having completed my lonely rendezvous, tire and turn towards home. William Lally
Gold From Java Island coffees to Atlanta Mountain cold For centuries their men have given Arab women The gift of finest Gold And over ages great tales Of their beauty have been told. Their color being more like Gold than any other hue The men do well to give it, For no lesser gift would do; And so my darling dear, This Gold is for you. Thomas Chevraux
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