Jeffrey Hull

Fortress

Upon the rack of circumstance
   Where life had tried to break me,
I followed gods of time and chance
   Wherever they would take me.

So time and chance they thrashed me hard,
   Which only served to steel me;
My heart was scarred, I kept my guard,
   Afraid it would reveal me.

A stony castle on a hill
   Now ever would protect me.
Heart's hardened walls and force of will:
   No lover could reject me.

'Til Love and Hope, by craft and guile
   Attacked my keep to save me:
Hope's hidden door and secret stile
   Let Love in to enslave me.


© 2005 Jeffrey Hull

© 2005 Jeffrey Hull - all rights reserved


A river surges through my heart
   To slice my soul in two,
As longing struts its tawdry part
   And hangs my halls in blue.

The poppies bloom along the road —
   They beckon me to stay,
Entreating me to loose my load
   And watch their gay ballet.

The clouds puff distant in the sky
   And hint a face above;
While earthbound I still puzzle why
   I could not hold her love.

And yet the scarlet poppies dance
   Like breeze in true love's hair;
They giggle of the wind's romance
   And sway on springtime air.


© 2005 Jeffrey Hull

Beloved

Forgotten, forgotten, all shall be forgotten —
   All shall slip beneath the seas of time and space.
Remembered, remembered, naught shall be remembered —
   Naught shall mark our tiny lives nor leave a trace.
Beloved, beloved, you are my beloved —
   But my love the toll of years cannot outpace:
Then with me, come with me, I beg of you come with me —
   We will disappear in time in our embrace.


© 2005 Jeffrey Hull

Luna

The moon that gazed upon Jurassic shores,
Cold-eyed and pocked, and shines the same tonight,
Looked down upon the ancient dinosaurs,
And sheds with equal disregard her light
On us. Once, travelers saw her orb and prayed
That beams above might drive the shadows back
And shepherd them in safety, fears allayed,
'Til brilliant Sun could burn away the black.

Now we return the moon's indifference
And marvel not what time and change has passed
From when arose her first magnificence;
But when the end of Man has come at last,
As sunlight fades and night eternal falls,
The ageless queen still walks her starry halls.


© 2005 Jeffrey Hull

Dreamtime

Night's diamonds fade; with quiet rosy hues
Horizon's verge the sleepy sky imbues.
Apollo bids his chariot arise
And sparks his sacred fire to light the skies.

And yet we sleep. Some dim-illumined screen
Reveals soft shadow-shapes of play and scene
Where mind acts out strange tales of love or strife:
Pale imitations of our worldly life.

Are we awake? Or do we wander yet
Among the phantoms that we'll soon forget?
Through eerie corridors each turn we take
The drug of sleep has dulled the will to wake.

We wrestle with the light, our dreams to keep,
To hold and understand our thoughts in sleep;
But Morpheus decrees that dreams remain
Secure with him 'til sleep shall come again.

Could we but hold the pleasant of these tales!
Cast out the bad, while memory regales—
But try and try, in hope we might recall
The dawning glow has burned away them all.


© 2004 Jeffrey Hull