Down the Cavern of Memory Turned

Down the Cavern of Memory Turned
Sorrow like flooding overflowing the banks
Of the river of heart swamped full;
Grief in the bones of despairing flanks
The mind's darkest desolation to pull.

Only half-remembered times of goodness went
To chase the agonies of all gone wrong;
Without the joys of the heart well spent,
Sadness drowned such happiness as song.

But deeper still than the darkest pain,
The loving heart may remain
Calm.
Even deeper again than all that's sane,
A knowing of peace 'came
Psalm.

(C) Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 6 May 2010. All rights reserved.

Sing for Me in Minor Key

Sing for Me in Minor Key

Sing for me in minor key

And syncopate the beat.

Let there be dischordancies.

Let the words repeat.

Sing me a song of pathos:

Tragedy with a flair—

A song to dance and weep about

With a haunting air.

The triumph of the spirit,

A victory of the soul,

Taking all life can give it

And come out well or whole.

Now with brighter tempo,

Sing me in minor key

That bittersweet song of survival

And life abundantly.

ã5 January 1991, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw