Life Immense

Here lies a comrade
Faithful slain friend
Once blazing the trail
Then matching strides
Then leaning heavy
Now withered pale cold
Slain by the way

-T. Weeks
(A response to “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night”)

Here we grieve the lost
By destination or by death
Drafting on a moment

-T. Weeks
(A response to “Come Up from the Fields Father”)

Oh my good Soldier
Valiant loyal exact
You have I remembered
Pride of service past

Oh my good General
How bravely I fought
Servant for the cause
Happy in your employ

Why then, my Soldier,
Have you defected now?
It cuts my heart to see
Such as you lost

For you, my General,
Will I always hold love
But now I see more
A new war I fight

T. Weeks
(A response to “By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame”)

Awake in the dark
Fitful sheets wrinkled
Alien notions mushrooming
In a fertile plot of brain

Dawn bearing hope
Dragged in on new light
Reluctant relief arriving
But still no change

-T. Weeks
(A response to “An Army Corps on the March”)

Your army is a row of insects before a mountain
This city appears as a spore next to the sea
Yon tower scratches but the hem of the heavens
Our world is dust swirling in orbital sunbeams

T. Weeks
(A response to “Bivouac on a Mountain Side”)

Cavalry the cavalry
Young brave hungry
Taking each space
Wild dice tumbling

Have they their honor
In a brass button
And a stiff salute
Death evaded narrowly

Plain clothes reject
Sits watching the line
Invisible in bravery
Rushing to the fight

-T. Weeks
(A response to “Cavalry Crossing a Ford”)

Hearty conquests stew
Aromatic broth of yesteryear
Rarely so sweet is the memory
Straight off the vine

-T. Weeks
(A response to “The Centenarian’s Story”)

In to port
Vessels sway
Watching a silent city
Up and down
Stuck online
Seeking more
Marquee letters lost
Shades parted
Meaning

-T. Weeks
(A response to “City of Ships”)

In that moment the earth awoke
Felt the warmth in its belly
The pull of its sun
And the distance in its sisters

Here am I, thought the earth,
But what is me?
Fiery massive engine like that sun?
Dormant cold rock like these?

Pushing and tugging at its skin
The iron belly of the earth churned
Magnetic shield billowing
Invisible shade from the solar fury

I am more than just rock
Atmosphere rises and swirls about me
Oceans flow on and above
And back down again

Yet a mystery is me
If only I could send me out there
To turn about and look
Then I might know

So began the effort,
Iteration on iteration
Elemental mixing
Searching for an eye apart

Starting small, eyes began to see
And the earth saw a little
The eyes got larger
And the earth saw more

These are not enough
I must get outside of myself
Pondered the earth,
Large eyes abandoned

Then came the eyes that search
Reaching higher and beyond
Turning and capturing
The profile of this pale blue dot

Ah, there I am, smiled the earth
Imagination spinning past resolution
That is me, I am not what I was,
What will I be?

-T. Weeks
(A response to “Virginia—The West”)

Did I do that right
Did I say it wrong
What if they don’t like me
What do they think
Do they know about me
About things I think
They will find out
Then what
Should I just hide
So they can’t find me
Am I what’s wrong
So what’s next
Run or stand

-T. Weeks
(A response to “Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps”)