POETRY
Touched by Light
Nights
I become
a bird flying
through the blind darkness
always landing on faith’s shoulder.
The church is my sanctuary
praying not for myself
for those misguided
as I was for years
I hear their silence
and their weeping.
My childhood ended
when Father
handed me
his new rifle
I shot my first deer
becoming a man he said.
The feel of a gun
warped all that was good
the frightened faces
I drew strength from
robbing strangers
even friends.
In prison
with its infused darkness
a man of faith
asked me to find mine.
I was saved
in jail
by a light
bright enough to blind
the evil in my soul.
Wolves
The wolves could be heard
most nights while I waited
with a brand-new rifle.
They had killed
my breed dog who was
rare as family.
The pack circling unseen
but I’d hear them
devouring peace in the distance.
One night a stray
came to my bloodless gate
I aimed to fire.
It was young
and the trigger
felt like fire.
Saw its eyes
blink twice
with questions.
As if outside myself
I aimed and shot
into the sky.
Allowing it to run
away with a mercy
I knew not I had.
The wolves left me
not long after that
but remain hungry.
Ever present in dreams
their ghosts taunt my eyes
daring them to blink again.
Rp Verlaine lives and writes in New York City. He has an MFA in creative writing from City College. He taught English in New York public schools until he retired. His first volume of poetry- Damaged by Dames & Drinking was published in 2017 and another– Femme Fatales Movie Starlets & Rockers in 2018. A set of three e-books titled, Lies From The Autobiography 1-3, followed in years 2018 to 2020.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com.
Heart of Flesh Literary Journal 