Friday, June 8, 2012

“Pledge to Honor”




four walls   
         love, duty, responsibility, need   
                     box me into near solitude   


pressed by decisions   
         I bare this weight without grace   
                     floundering   


the brace of your love   
         supports me   
                     alone I will fail   
with three   
                     I can survive   


longingly, I look to our past   
         ache for its loss   


I fear today   
I dread tomorrow   


         trying to fulfill my pledge to honor   


Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

"Thinking Too Much"





My thoughts     
swirl and whirl into a tornado of confusion   
rolling over the landscape of my life   
sweeping up debris   
into the vortex   
flinging order into chaos   
roaring and thundering with unexpected velocity   
leaving destruction     
discouraging hope   
exploding my world with reckless carelessness   


Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

Sunday, June 3, 2012

"Sometimes"

sometimes the sun shines, oh, so bright, and sometimes the air is               sweet and clear   
sometimes my world glistens and glows, and sometimes the future feels so near   
then one day the sun doesn’t shine; one day the air is closed and too hot   
then one day my world's dull and dim; one day the future that was, is not   
I cannot cry for lost sunshine, and I cannot long for cool, sweet air   
I cannot see the world I know, and I cannot touch the future bare   
so I dream of gold lights of warmth; I dream of breezes in the dark night  
so I dream of my life's freedom; I dream of magic futures of light  

  
Perfect day in Leakey, Texas!


Copyright 1976 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

I wrote this poem when I was still in high school. It's one of my favorites because it reflects the optimism in which I've tried to view life..