Refuge

Blanket clouds had covered over all the good this earth had made
I stole up to your side window fiddled you a serenade
Back behind your house we’d pushed the dirt aside and made a bed
Opened up like we had wounded earth the clay was raw and red.
We had laid plans for a garden—heal this dirt with seeds we bring
Everything we hope in secret will take root and bloom this spring.

Tonight sirens sound louder than the songs that we have sung
Tonight a war that few have wanted’s almost already begun
Is there hope in tragic moments? Hear the razor drones of war
As if enchanted crowds like fish take shining barbs of fishing lures
Back a solid month ago it seemed that peace was not a dream
Now to hear our leader speak we throw that wish back in the stream

Television turns attention every twenty seconds—how
One sales pitch leads to another: buy this war, and buy it now
You and I cling close for refuge turn away these static storms
Were we part of this disaster? Now when love burns safe and warm?
We kneel in silence as the light falls push our seeds into the soil
But in electric lights behind we see the fires of burning oil

Tonight our love can plant this earth with all the good that we can bring
Our hopes lay buried—they will wait and bloom after violent storms this spring

Copyright Tracy S. Feldman, All rights reserved