Read Poem: BRIEF MEASURE, by Barbara Rosson Davis

What seems revolving heavens, keeps constant.
Winding life flows like water down the stream,
like wind across the desert. Don’t delay…
Seek out the facts, not the interpretations,
for there are many, like opinions.
Observe, clarify, record. Men and
women of science make good company.
Those who share wine and wisdom
discover the face of the rose. No one knows
the way through the curtain of mysteries.
Every field where the thorn-quince blooms
has been reddened by the innocents’ blood.
Sporting on the field of Causality lays bare
the fact– that sport did not exist when
the rules of life’s game were laid. Man’s
life is like the ball in the game, driven
hard, here and there, by forces of
the universe. Who knows the course?

The brief measure of our lifetime plays out
like a symphony for some, a dirge for others;
the secret score not disclosed. High notes
and low, some sing, some hum. The song
of the soul empowers the spirit. The truth–
Worldly goods come and go, so keep your head
like a cup—when it’s empty, fill it again, and
drink of knowledge. For reason seeks the way
of truth. Do not forget your heart, tongue, or taste.
Seize the moment, for it is yours. Remember –
the world is filled with rumor and disguise.
Like a fresh rose, forget hubris, mansions, jewels.
Life is rich enough with invisible things. It’s secret
glows in the home’s warmth, the joy of sharing
contented moments not purchased, nor stockin-trade, but cultivated in our awakening
of the heart. The lesson that is learned well
is— that no thing has been learned at all.

Joyfully live and let live, let the world pass–
that stream of events, lived again and again.
The continuation of matter, and what matters;
the beginning was not arranged with any one in mind.
So, drink the wine, and linger in the goodness of it all . . .
People to people, people to plants, people to animals—
‘til that moment when the wind carries us as dust
to dust, when death gathers roses, wreaths
that wither in the circle— that is life.

Author: poetryfest

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