Tapestry

 for Finley and Evan

 

there can be no greater sorrow

than this

with its cruel edge tearing the threads

of a tapestry just begun,

but our tears will weave new threads to those cut short

to hold Finley’s place in our hearts

as we remember the brightness of her smile,

the symphony of her laughter,

the clarity of her eyes. 

her beauty and brilliance

will not pale under today’s shadow.

Finley’s memory will be shared as

part of our own stories,

with her dazzling colors running through,

shining light back into our lives.

the threads of Finley’s life

will be woven into the tapestry

of our lives.

there,

her blaze of purple and pink

will shuttle through the fabric of our souls,

lighting our way through this sorrow 

brightening moments of the long days ahead

 

Barry DeCarli

January 6-8, 2014

©2014 Barry DeCarli

 

Barry DeCarli: golden

Barry DeCarli: golden: mostly we bury the body, the bones hair and sinew whether we believe or not, but wanting to that the soul has gone on is not there in ...

ice symphony (draft)

Christmas morning’s first dim light

brought  a thunderous welcome

or frigid warning as the pond sang out

its frozen winter song

like the recorded symphony of whales

this primordial music of ice’s

tectonic meandering

woke man and beast

with its release of energy

 

the sleek icy surface seemed to struggle

to keep water and sky apart

the low hum and staccato notes were witness

to the cracking, the fracturing

that spread erratically like lightning

against a background of twinkling candles

across the pond and back again

 

Barry DeCarli

December 25, 2013

Goshen, MA

© 2013 Barry DeCarli

hope

can it survive 

where is it

in the deaths

of Martin Richard

Krystle Campbell

Lu Lingzi 

where is it

among the twisted, torn

and broken limbs

the riddled bodies

the amputations 

in the aftermath

of tragedy

in the bloodied fingers

and knees

the held hands 

in the resounding anthem

at a hockey game

 

in the act of a new Pope

cleansing and kissing

the feet of men, women

and Muslims 

is it in a prayer

sent out

across a violent sky

to the imagined

face of God

and in a Neil Diamond song

or in a YouTube video

of a dancing queen 

is it found

in other countries

where bomb blasts

are as ordinary

as thunder

and hunger

where resignation

would be

easier 

can it be found

sometimes

in the wrong

places

in the midst of carnage

and crying

blood and glass 

after  the unfathomable loss

shock and senselessness

will we pick the bones

of grief

to find it

there 

Barry DeCarli

Aril 19, 2013

©Barry DeCarli 2013

Peeps & popes

 

the day of the month nearly the Ides

when a network soothsayer chides

‘tis the season of Peeps and popes

when it’s harder to sleep than it is to hope

winding down as up the chimney smokes

at the feeder another  cardinal pokes

but mostly yellow, the covered marshmallow

celebrates on the surface without a halo

rebirth at a time when fewer believe

a bunch of old men who can’t help but deceive

but still a long shot the cardinal’s speak

white smoke that rises past the seagull’s beak

but my wager’s on the Just Born Peep

with sugary taste its promise to keep 

Barry DeCarli

March 13, 2013

©2013 Barry DeCarli

repair

 

we could balance

our mistakes

told and untold

her bad, my bad

 

without knowing each other’s

imperfection

hoping that weight would

not tip the scale

 

foundation cracks repointed

primed and repainted

a temporary fiction

hoping not to see

what we knew

would always be there 

Barry DeCarli

May 29 & December 7, 2012

©2012 Barry DeCarli

 

Barry DeCarli: the masters

Barry DeCarli: the masters:  how they stumbled   upon their insight   conjured the words to  contrive a common language   what amazing things   they imagined, creat...