The Way
The way things have gone,
timeworn men and women are keepers at favor’s gate-
with grass green and gold, a view onto a valley with good
gravel roads,
it’s these elders who need show perspective,
usher children’s color to new dawn
and rinse freshened rain from orange clouds.
But the way things are now,
those elders are mostly distracted with a predator’s lust
for youth-
and with their glimmering rings, real estate, and brand new
ovens
(used briefly only during the holidays)
any rain received will quickly run down concrete gutters
toward some foreign sea.
This, the way things will be-
long walks in January snow,
wrathful, aloof and icy with
an intermittent, blind sun in full view to the south.
All the while, our true stock lies just underground,
silently, wisely, reliably outlasting winter’s grey.
Still, the way things have always gone here
and most everywhere above the thirty-fifth parallel
shadows and light will sway like political conscience,
as clear-eyed lovers remain above the fray.
The way will endure, open to seekers
and those petulant enough to become their caretakers-
timeworn keepers at favor’s gate.