As Dead As Sabbath-keeping Saints Columba
and Patrick on Their Long Lost Shores
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
wallup.net
I cannot quite call back to mind and heart
My father’s voice, not even when he told
Us stories, stories from his boyhood part
In Cape Canaveral’s annals, strong his hold
On memories made of sun and mountain clouds
Above lagoons and ocean, clouds of flights
Above the myriads of birds, migrating crowds
Of wings and of the aria-like nights
When Wilma turned waves’ brackish waters to
La Scala brimming melodies. And now
Her coloratura loveliness too
Has disappeared far past his rowboat’s prow,
Two voices in lost places no one knows
As if Canaveral daybreaks never rose.
~ Phillip Whidden