Exposed
Bare and raw for the world to see
The soul exposed to vicious disdain
Stood alone destitute and decayed
Bereft of any earthly pleasures
Harboring resolve beneath pure blue skies
Nothing remains of yesterday's news
When we were young and innocent
Unencumbered by life's misapprehensions
The bark peeled back on a dying tree
Revealing its inner soft fleshy bast
Smooth and white like creamy skin
Dripping remains of morning dew
I looked for you once in the dry riverbed
Nearly drowned in tear-smothered grass
You appeared on the knoll dressed in black
Carrying your life in a small canvas sack
19JAN21

SCHÖNKE
The Passage of Time
X
12JAN21

CARDOSO
05JAN21

TETTERO
The Waning Season
It seems forever since I lasted strolled the avenues
The waning season's monotone glow
Continues shining in the cold evening air
Illuminating dancing branches on leafless trees
The streets are silent and clean
Absent of humanity and glee
Vagrants and travelers introspective
Innocent bystanders guilty only of their reality
There are spirits drifting above the brume
Ringnecked parakeets nesting near the Hofvijver
Chimneys belching dank plumes of smoke
Choking the city's constricted lungs
The spring is waiting in the wings
Patiently it hovers high above the cloudscape
Bidding farewell to souls succumbed to winter's affliction
While life and death hold claim to the same flickering lights