Verse by Caleb Mannan

If you like Robert Service, Longfellow, Tolkien, Milton, Robinson Jeffers, Whitman, Poe, The Bible, Tennyson, Ray Bradbury, life, death, Untermeyer, Pound, Donne, joy, sorrow, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, children, beauty, Dante, Tom Waits, then set yourself down beside this fire.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

XVII. And Now to Give Thanks

I have come over windswept plane
In the valley of no name, and you have kept me.
Whilst I huddled beside my fire, alone and cold,
You sent your angels over me( I saw them in the sky).

In the crags of the devil’s back,
That turned my heart black, you have lead me.
Whilst I cowered, broken and bitter,
You laid your hand upon me, you did not forsake me.

In the creeping shadow o’er my door,
The blood crawling ‘cross the floor, you have girded me.
Whilst I shivered, horrified and spent,
You hunkered down beside me, and you were steadfast.

In the crash of battle, over the screams,
That rent my very heart’s seams, your song was constant.
Whilst I hacked in a red rage of bloodlust,
The angel’s tongues gave me peace in this everpresent battle

In the land of cleaving death,
Where the shadow steals my breath, you comforted me.
Whilst I sat in morbid darkness,
You set a light upon me, so that I could find my way.

And now to give thanks,
From 'cross the bloody banks, I call to you.

1 comment: