Three Poems by Roger G. Singer

Open and Close

It was a crawl space for thoughts,
a window slight with opening, a moment
of memory cutting in at the head of the line,
full of intensity and color reminding us
of where we've been and the joy we achieved
once arriving.
It's a wall without a door.  A face without
a mouth.  We feel the motion but are unable to
give it a title or explain its worth.
It's a somewhere between open and close, that thin
line we step into without trying, rushing us
to a flavor place from the past; a fleeting
glimpse of our mechanical soul.



Mountains

It was a disconnected light, un-renewed
and abandoned, laboring to produce
gray from cold morning shadows;
leafless branches stretch out, separating
earth from sky.

Songs of preparing and moving lift
from homes and streets.  A fresh start
blesses the soul in search of a brighter
path than what appears before them.

What gains befall us if we fail at the
challenge?  What mountains can be
climbed before we arise?

"My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth."



Mercy

Mirrors spy on the eyes,
drawing them to the vortices of
reflection; celebrating the good,
condemning the faults.
Each glance a smile or frown,
changing the weather of
the heart into storms or sun;
the soul of self, shoulders up
to the day.
Like the surety of high winds
aloft the image we see is set;
mercy finds little hope where
time prevails.