Carolyn Evans Campbell: Two Poems

Light and Shadow

When nights are full of moon

and deep sky, moonlight

is in the violin across the lake

in the throats of amorous frogs

shines in the eyes of lovers

and on the backs of beetles

puddles on every leaf

drips through the branches

wavers on the forest floor

marks the way across the water

What then are the dark shadows

moving throughout the moonscape

without a source, form or substance

swallowing beauty, consuming light?

            Carolyn Evans Campbell

A Roll of the Dice                                         

They walk to a drum under a sun blazing red

Slowly down a path, silent and humble

Carrying crude coffins on top of their heads

A zombie parade left to bury the dead

Dig out bodies from earth’s terrible tumble.

They walk to a drum under a sun blazing red

Their shadowed faces carved deep with dread

Of a fickle god who rolls dice in a gamble

As they carry crude coffins on top of their heads.

When the mountain split open, screamed and bled

Were good souls left to stagger and stumble

As they walked to a drum under a sun blazing red

Carrying crude coffins on top of their heads?

­                                    Carolyn Evans Campbell