Africa

From water are we born

Into acrid air,

A mothers hand to keep us,

A fathers heart to care.

To final place abandoned,

Today as in the past,

From rushing waters birthing bursts,

AIDS grips green fate too fast.

To spittle, those too young return,

No hope to AIDS appease.

Unheard, unseen and silently,

Cradling death in rattling tease.

Oh Africa, oh Africa,

Of beauty and of plain,

Let no one now forsake you,

Take hold compassion's claim

Tomorrow thrive with zealous strength,

Let go the buried pain,

Weave hope in baskets carried high,

Within your pained domain.

No sword nor steel will subjugate,

Wildebeest of plains patrol,

Grasp life past mournful misery,

Your country will be whole.

© 5/16/2005 Corrine hg Schlessel

The Lady Bug

The Lady Bug Is very fickle

Or so it sometimes seems

She flies around and settles down

Right atop the cream.

Not to her liking up she comes

Before she dies of riches,

‘Better stay away my friend

Before you die of riches!’

© 1995 Corrine G Schlessel

The Bear Sleeps Thru The Winter

The bear sleeps thru the winter

And when Springtime comes around,

I never hope to meet him if he's lost

And I'm not found.

© 1995 Corrine G Schlessel

Hallowed Dust

Let all revere the sacred dust

Of steadfast soldiers true

Who bore the nation's flag of trust

And died for me and you.

In valiant combat perished,

Sent home;

Entombed apart,

Alive they struggled side by side,

Let not death divide their hearts.

We gather them,

Each one and all

From Private to the Chief;

Above their tomb let fresh tears fall-

Shed venerated grief.

From scattered states assembled here

So dear their lifeless clay,

Their cause and country were the same,

They perished young in past foray...

Yet now assemble corpses strewn

Across the battle plains;

A name on granite gravestone etched,

We shoulder each one slain.

And so the dead shall meet the dead

While grieving heirs now weep;

Dear hearts that once together bled,

Now forever sleep.

© 2003 Corrine Schlessel

Cinnamon feet

Cinnamon feet

Trample on from fields of wheat filled plains

Walk beneath cities towering forestry

Enveloped by ochre gusts of biting pain

Sullen amber eyes seek midnight's moon

While hunger whispers with aspiring lust.

Insidious, it was there in fields abloom

Where only Hummingbirds can feed

On nectar drawn by blossoming perfume.

Hungers there in shelters overcrowded room

Destitute, It lies alone in excrement and gloom

Oh Indigo sky of such celestial dreams

I lay me down beneath umbrella trees of glistening green

Barely sheltered by a paper shroud

Alone in cardboard box to lie unseen

And wither there with hunger like a flower dried

Once salient figure full of life, now testify

That life is cruel.

We simply live –

No quality of life to satisfy,

Until by reapers grace we die.

© 2001 Corrine g Schlessel

Ode to Oceans

Each nebulous wave born of tides and shifting innuendo

Exuding life without firm heart but rhythmic all the same

Your salty spray revives my dulling breath

You cannot quench my thirst

but yet exceed the depth of any driven wells

Throughout millenniums you dominate the earth.

You are a keeper and a giver of all life

You nurture all you hold

and yet beyond your rhythmic nurturing

So wondrous

I am in awe of you.

Driven from the depths we cannot see but sense

By waving invitation you are sought by surfing men

Unseen cycles drive you to our shores

You come to us on summer days in subdued foam

Along all shorelines you are home

Exalting spirits with your misty spray and salty breath

Away on every pore, each strand of hair, I find you there.

By midnight moon you soothe each sense untouched by sleep

Lulled by lapping waves now making drowsy dew to bring a peaceful rest.

Impetuously, you come upon the shore in sudden storm

You are the god of salty oceans and of seas reborn

Fury from earths fathomed whorls of emerald, flow into our azure pools.

Monumental walls of life and death you bring,

You swallow life in unsuspected paths we mortals fear to know.

Unfaltering waves fall to their fate below.

Oh tides of blessings and of death determined by your wavering force

Your rippling waves beyond compare to other waters flow.

You are the giver and the god of life

You are the giver and the god of death.

Tsunamis sudden shadow whips your wavering undertow as

Deep within your berth your rumbling rushes pave a watery path.

Bestowing life, bestowing death,

Passing peace beyond the girth of each recruited wave.

Born of tides and intimate reflection

Awaiting destiny I do allege;

Waves, you are the beauty and the terror of each shore

For all earths life you are the fragile edge.

© 2005 chg Schlessel

Dance On Mountaintops

Raise my wings oh breath of wind

And I on mountaintops will dance,

On misty days I’ll touch the clouds

Be one with stars by moonlit chance

I’ll gather grace from glacial shrouds

Whose ancient rivers wide plateau

Of glistening ripples wrapped in ice

Silence rambling rivers flow

Oh breath of air from mountaintops

Bring spring to me from pungent earth

And I will dance a pirouette

On downy wings in airy berth

Raise my wings oh breath of wind

And I will soar with eagles view

Sing mountain songs for me to dance

To tread each step in my debut

No one can touch the clouds but I

On misty mountains tallest peak

Dancing in my sensual sky

I with my soul shall sing not speak

And dance forever with the wind

On mountaintops where I’ll remain

And gather all the love once spent

To fill my clouds with spirits rain

Warm rains return spent love to earth

By raindrops gift of circumstance

I raise my wings on breaths of wind

Reviving spirits for rebirth...

In my forever dance on mountaintop.

© 12/08/04 Corrine Schlessel

Fooling Himself

Wrapped in his ego

He warmed his insecurity

Floated

In his

Unyielding

False confidence

Fooling himself

Into believing

He owned his self-reliance

While warm tears flowed

Through his veins

Comforting his constant chills

Of self doubt

Not understanding he was

Worthy of being loved.

© December 2009 Corrine G Schlessel