Elijah Summons

Elijah Summons
by Gideon Burton

My children's children fanning out across
The decades, thriving in the fertile soil
Of time, will you remember us, the sweaty cost
We paid -- would pay again -- the daily toil
To raise your bodies to the sky, your eyes
To God? Do not unlink these tender bands
Of blood! For though we sleep, our living lies
In gentle generation, quiet, grand:
The babies, children, sisters, brothers, all
That we have cousined through our spreading reach.
Remember them, for through them we will call
To you, persuading though evading speech.
       Elijah summons now as to the past
       As time bends each of us from first to last.

Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship. Photo: flickr - Sekaino Ai

Light Years

Light Years
by Gideon Burton

How is it that our ranging minds across
Both time and space can freely, widely roam,
As though it lay within our means to toss
The years of light aside as waves do foam?
The tides of sluggish time for us will rise
But half a sigh and then return us low
Despite those worlds we compass with our eyes,
Regardless where our starry dreams will flow.
My grandfathers, like distant planets, shine
Across the inky fabric of my past
In dimming rays, and I have yet to find
My kin, beyond one generation vast.
       Our minds behold what never we can touch;
       Our time, our space, three pebbles in our clutch.

Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship. Image: flickr - kern.justin