Vanishing Song
Chirping of baby robin,
vanishing song of late summer;
hops after its mother, then
fly away together,
leaving the yard empty.
At the Empty pool
a little yellow swimsuit
and a pink sandal,
scattered round the pool;
on the still water,
ponders the golden setting sun.
©Byung A. Fallgren
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The Weekly Avocet
Acceptance
Acceptance
Robert Frost
When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud
And goes down burning into gulf below,
No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud
At what has happened. Birds, at least, must knew
It is the change to darkness in the sky.
Murmuring something quiet in its breast,
One bird begins to close a faded eye;
Or overtaken too far from its nest,
Hurrying low above the grove, some waif
Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.
At most he thinks or twitter softly, "Safe!"
Now let the night be dark for all of me.
Let the night be too dark for me to see
Into the future. Let what will be be.
The Weekly Avocet
Garden Lullaby
Garden Lullaby
(for the grand child)
Two bumble bees play
with the flowers
saddened by the rain.
Two bumble bees fall
in the puddle;
sink and sink.
Sun saves the bumble bees;
drink and drink.
©Byung A. Fallgren
The Partner
The Partner
The travel bag, neat and ready,
still sits on the bed, as if waiting,
as if confused or mad.
That night, he had planed on
leaving in the early morning
for the high school reunion and more;
that was changed by my sudden
vertigo and fall; that night.
I couldn't rise but managed to say:
I need to see a doctor.
Admitting the state, he took me
to the E.R.; learned my B.P. pressure,
way up sky. Why? a crazy bird
no one knows where from.
The nurse's voice woke me from dozing.
Outside window, the lights of the city buildings;
on the horizon, orange dawn or sunset,
I could not tell.
Every three minutes, the automatic B.P. pressure
attached to my arm, shows the vital; the frantic angel.
Still too high, the nurse says, you need to stay
a couple of days.
At home, I'm sorry for the canceled trip,
I tell him. And thank you for your help.
Don't mention it, he says.
Isn't that what the partners do?
Yes, we are man and wife partners! I nod.
That night; had his plan on leaving,
five or six hours earlier; I, all alone,
fallen and could not get up; that night;
and he would have returned home changed.
©Byung A. Fallgren
The Weekly Avocet
In Something Seems Great
In Something Seems Great
When an idea seems great but not on second thought,
rescue it; dress it round on the second visit.
Living oversea, away from my siblings,
my brother used to chauffer for me when I visit.
Aged and worn, the brother no more my rescuer.
Sis says he cannot greet you at the airport; when you visit.
Texting and Facetime are the only they can do for me;
they can still shop together, but for me no more visit.
Don't punish a person for being a venturous; you cannot stop.
Someday one will show up at your door; no surprise; one's visit.
I am not a ghost, your little old sis, with a new driver;
from the travel agency for my old days' visit.
©Byung A. Fallgren
The Weekly Avocet
The Argument
The Argument
Four-thirty in the morning, the next door woman yells,
Her children blubber; blubbering and yelling.
The cry echoes in the neighborhood. What's going on?
Getting ready for the camping trip. Dark valley ghosts yelling.
My parents used to argue often; I thought they'd divorce,
which didn't happen, but they continued on yelling.
My daughter and her hubby repeat the family tradition.
Suddenly for days they stop yelling.
Red rose plants appear in the little garden at the front door.
I never know why. I only pray the roses flourish; no yelling.
©Byung A. Fallgren
Above poem is another GHAZAL I am practicing. Ghazal is Arabic
poetic form, like sonnet, ghazal has strict rule requirement.
Byung A. Fallgren 