On Leaving
You can measure
How much the fear of friendship
weighs
How far it is to the end of the
world
But there’s no place you can
hide
Quickly heat disappears from
embers
You cannot force
The love of someone vis-à-vis
And no returning after years
abroad
Because when the stove had been
cold
Where could affection have
stayed?
Take the courage to stay
Do not leave at the wrong time
But when the time comes to go
Embrace once more all your
loved ones
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
(picture and poem)
The Scarecrows and Us
The smell of damp, musty soil
The rotting stalks of corn and
rapeseed
The splendor of leaves now in
decay
The field looks sad and
abandoned
The scarecrows do not dance
anymore
Now we guard the house again
Do not dare to leave our warm cave
The sky’s pale light will no
longer suffice
Near the oven is still the
coziest place
We prefer to drink our tea hot
and sweet
We sit in the dry and read
quietly
The scarecrows are in the wet
fog
We are rigid in our coziness
And the scarecrows stopped
dancing
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
(picture and poem)
Polished
coffin
Autumn rain, earth, and lilies
The dead do not mind
©
2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
Empty morning sky
Ship in full lights on the
Rhine
Waves move in darkness
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
And published on September
18th, 2018 by Mainichi Japan:
Every time
Stepping into this river
A new river
--
Lothar M. Kirsch (Meerbusch,
Germany)
Selected by Dhugal J. Lindsay
Hourglass
Out of a crack in the hourglass
Sand keeps spilling at each
turn
We have to gather grain for
grain
And put all sand into cold urns
Because sand is the ashes of
time
Each turn of the hour glass
Leaves less time
Each urn of wasted time
Is lost forever
Try not to fix the ancient
clepsammia
For each crack closed there’ll
be a new one
No time to be gained from
eternity
But maybe weeping into the
hourglass
Will render the sand of time
stickier
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
The old voices
Where are the old voices?
They echoed in hallways
They whispered in corners
They stabilized the house
They blessed the people
Sometimes they called for war
Wherever you are
You old voices
Do not dare to
Return
Thoughts
I want to collect thoughts
As they fall down
In words and quotes
In syllables and symbols
I shall measure
And I shall choose
Timbuktu and Zanzibar
Caressing and love
Death and knowledge
©
2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
Sansibar
oder der letzte Grund - Zanzibar or the last reason (1957) is a novel by
Alfred Andersch.
#POETSFLASHBACKWEEKEND
I’d like to close with a haiku
on the prompt:
Dragonfly
Dreaming on a leaf about
Another life
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
Apartment Block in Wedding
The apartment block in Wedding
made of brick
Where I had pressed a calloused
hand
And attached importance to
echoes in the stairway
The light was turned on again,
immediately
A clicking revealed the
pouncing of the meter
Lugubrious yellow light casted
in cones
On the sloping walls of the
stairwell
The groans of retirees along
the railing upwards
After a meeting with mulled
wine and pastries
Dressed in coats full of cold
and moisture
I stopped after the light went
out and listened
A stair treat cracked and
voices penetrated doors
I sucked in the air full of
floor wax and winter
And moved past the park to the
subway station
Wedding - district of Berlin
© 2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
Walk into the Morning
Golden light poking out from
the kitchen
Out into the dark blue morning
Close the door as you leave!
Father, cleaning woman,
workman, mother
And walk the empty road ahead
Then sun is chasing the vampyrs
away
And stars cease to twinkle and
fade
Too early for Mr Magpie’s voice
Too early for rabbits’
breakfast
But you keep walking away from
home
Thoughts come and go with ev’ry
breath
Your steady steps keep pacing
you
Suddenly you feel elated
And rejoice this crisp morning
air
©
2018 Lothar M. Kirsch
#PoetsLinePrompts
#crispmorningair
Hosted and invited by +sunita
hussain
.
