Dead Sea Scrolls and Caves Discovered
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
The words remain on pages and on scrolls
Through centuries and millennia. On dark
Cave walls the long lost paintings left by souls
Like ours remain despite a deepest stark
Denunciation by the lack of light.
In fact the blackness has preserved the sweep
Of colors and of grace. They hold their might
In perfect form like dreams of gods in sleep,
Immortal sleep, the visions from a head
And hand forever waiting for our eyes,
From human art, from manliness long dead.
We know we had no right to feel surprise.
..When books are lost in jars beneath the ground,
….We must not be surprised when truth is found.
The Weight of Burning Brands on Time’s Own Skin: Sappho’s and Isaiah’s Verse
Dead Sea Scroll
When scrolls are laid in darkness and a page
Is closed inside a book, the darkness holds
The words. They bode forever almost, age
On age. The hands that hid them in the folds
Of utter darkness have preserved them in
Their little giant forms. They wait and wait
Unerringly for hands to banish sin
By opening them to light again. The hate
Involved in blackness is reversed in light.
The page and scroll await redemption. They
Do not know a hand will banish blight,
But banishment will come. Truth has its way.
..Our minds will see the lines again when hands
….And fingers open them, these red-hot brands.
….Sappho