Genre: Lyric – FLYFANDANGO.COM

HUCKLEBERRY

August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“HUCKLEBERRY” feels like a blues/folk ballad disguised as a comic monologue. This poem is most immediately performative: you can almost hear a singer delivering it with a grin that gradually becomes less funny. Its central character keeps announcing what he will become, while the woman responds with doubt. The result is simultaneously funny, pathetic, defiant, and surprisingly sad. The work is a contemporary comic-tragic ballad with a blues lyric, with elements of folk song, Southern/Americana storytelling, satirical poetry, character-driven narrative, dramatic monologue, and dark comedy.

“HUCKLEBERRY”

i told her i’m her man and she just laughed
the perfect man for her, but she just laughed
the rat race flows like a great river
and you ain’t got a raft
i told her i’m her man and she just laughed

i told her i’ll be great and i was mocked
a mark upon this world, but i was mocked
what legacy, a million ghosts
in some old cotton sock
i told her i’ll be great, but i was mocked

i told her just you watch and she just sighed
i will rise up to the top, but she just sighed
i see you crawl out momma’s basement
to that unemployment line
i told her just you watch, she just sighed

i told her i’ll be rich and she just spat
i’ll find fame and fortune, but she just spat
a poor man can be rich in jesus
and you are even far from that
i told her i’ll be rich and she just spat

i promised her the moon and she just moaned
the big old harvest moon, but she just moaned
drunk on dreams of romance
and still hung up there alone
i promised her the moon, but she just moaned

i told her i’m her man and she just laughed
i told her i’m her man and she just laughed
the rat race flows like a great river
and you ain’t got a raft
i told her i’m her man and she just laughed

Copyright © 2026 Robert Myrnyj | All rights reserved.
The poems and literary works presented here are original creations by the author.
Unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, modification, or public display of this
content is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

EVENING DESCENDS

August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“EVENING DESCENDS” is a compressed contemporary lyric / minimalist narrative poem. It feels like a lyric miniature — almost a dream, parable, or fragment of a larger story. The work contains elements of gothic poetry, dream poetry, and romantic poetry with religious symbolism, a sense of parable/fable, and surrealism. It also has a strong song lyric quality. The short lines, repetition of sounds, and compact narrative make it feel as though it could be a verse from a dark folk song or ballad. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“EVENING DESCENDS”

evening descends
and midnight moonlight
burns again
an old man
blows away the dust
and from the holy books,
he reads
and the woman so fair
her blue eyes
and golden hair
in a perfect act of trust
kisses him, turns in,
and falls asleep

NONETHELESS

August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“NONETHELESS” is a contemporary satirical lyric and philosophical song-poem that contains interesting irreverence and wordplay. It is formally organized, having a strong song/ballad architecture. Its central concern explores the contradiction between hope and disappointment, faith and hypocrisy, generosity and deprivation, appearance and reality. The poem repeatedly asks us to consider things that appear to promise one thing but deliver another. Despite hypocrisy, disappointment, deception, and suffering, something persists—morning comes, daylight appears, life continues, and the speaker refuses to completely surrender to the logic of despair. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“NONETHELESS”

how strange the pages, mirth and woe
the tragic comic book that reads
about a caped crusader, lo
who prays cash money for his deeds
the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when the noonday sun burns hot
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

sometimes
our times
and presence
is fleeting
the season ends
without warning
and whatsoever
the reason being
that my friend
is anybody’s guess
but it is written
a foggy morning
brings us daylight
nonetheless

how strange the scriptures, is it so
what magic holy book yet reads
about a priest all draped in robes
that cover up the darkest deeds

the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when you gave more than you got
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

sometimes
our lies
are lessons
misleading
and reason bends
without warning
but whatsoever
the treason being
that my friend
is anybody’s guess
but it is written
a bright blue morning
brings us shadows
nonetheless

how strange the stranger from up north
who bears the gifts while heading south
and more estranged, this lonesome ranger
who looks the gift horse in the mouth

the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when i reject this barren lot
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

XANDRA

August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Xandra” is a quiet, lyrical, romantic, and deliberately repetitive work. It reads almost like a song lyric, and its repetition gives it the feeling of a memory being replayed. The poem depicts a woman lying in bed during a January morning, moving from sleep and dreaming into wakefulness and remembrance. The speaker then reveals that he had failed to recognize that Xandra loved him. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“XANDRA”

the cold of january
waits outside
she’s under
blankets piled high
she lies
asleep in bed
in warmth
and dreaming

morning window sunshine
curtains wide
the wonder
pries into her eyes
she lies
awake in bed
in love
and dreaming

dreaming

i never gave a second thought to xandra
how ever could a man be so blind
that she might love me so
had never crossed my mind
i never gave a second thought to xandra

she sighs and stares into the
golden light
remembering
the evening
she sighs
awake in bed
rewinds
and dreaming

dreaming

i never gave a second thought to xandra
a treasure worth forevermore to find
that she might love me so
had never crossed my mind
i never gave a second thought to xandra

APRIL DAWN

May 24, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“APRIL DAWN” is a lyrical free verse poem centered on renewal, intimacy, and emotional rebirth, carrying the tone of a quiet devotional or love lyric. This piece feels tender, hopeful, and restorative, with a gentle voice that speaks through reverence rather than anguish. The poem’s greatest strength is its musical softness, with repetition creating a soothing refrain that frames the speaker’s awakening as both emotional and spiritual. Seasonal imagery functions effectively as metaphor. The language is restrained and uncluttered, allowing warmth and sincerity to emerge naturally. Particularly compelling is the poem’s ability to suggest transformation without dramatizing it; the awakening feels gradual, earned, and deeply human. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “First Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“APRIL DAWN”

smile, she says,
and so this awakens
so bright, so warm,
she rises softly,
a prayer aloft for the heavens beyond
this april dawn,
she calls for me
to come along,
and spite the weathered wear
of our wintry miles.
smile, she says,
smile and we are there
and so this awakens

FUNNY MAYBE

May 25, 2026May 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Funny Maybe” is a strong, thematically dense lyric poem that blends anti-romantic confession with folk-blues cadence. A reflective poem of a love lost, it maintains a sharp tension between trauma and divine order as principle factors in romance, where only wisdom prevails, but the source of wisdom is God, who many ignore or deny. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “Third Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“FUNNY MAYBE”

romance is a double-edged
sword of bliss and pain
what one day finds sophisticated
another finds insane
i met her on the road to torment
dancing in the rain
funny how its feast or famine
funny how things change

i learned the hard way long ago
and true the light remains
a man can stand tall in a storm
a boy gets washed away
i was never not the fool
up to wisdom, faith and grace
so what fool any better than
the one so blind to his own face

they say the road to hell’s so wide
that we need never know the way
just what we’re apt to think and do
will surely get us there someday
by god i did not die the fool
by god all things made new again
lest i’d forever be beneath
her spell and tethered to her fate

her wrath was bred for so she said
on trauma no one sane could face
and so averse, she to the curse,
castrated patriarchal ways
and there the seed, revenge and rage
into the dirt of dark decay
stretched a hand out to the moonlight
that predator might become prey

but for suitors woe was but a ruse
a pagan priestess yet a saint
and all for good that it harm none
but such it is until it ain’t
no light true is born of darkness
no good comes from bitter hate
and yet the line runs round the corner
where in the rain so many wait

i met her on the road to torment
planting roses in a vase
funny how it keeps repeating
funny, maybe, surely strange
one sure thing a fool will do
is take up arms, defend her name
a knight in shining armor, no
just icarus into the flame

TEARDROPS TWO

May 16, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“TEARDROPS TWO” is best categorized as a lyrical contemporary poem blending romantic elegy, dream pop surrealism, and refrain-based confessional verse with strong musical and song-like qualities. Its language is simple yet emotionally charged, creating an atmosphere that feels intimate, wistful, and electrically surreal at once. The alternating dedications establish a mirrored structure that reinforces themes of reciprocity, separation, identity, and emotional exchange. The repetition functions musically rather than redundantly, producing a soft rhythmic pulse that resembles a melancholic ballad or synth-pop lyric. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“TEARDROPS TWO”

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
reborn and renewed
the one you inspired
to rise from the gloom
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the supercharge queen
the one with too many
to choose, in between
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two,
in a bottle on the sand
once upon a time
i held the lightning in my hand

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
the one tried and true
the one who constructed
a folklore undue
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the one i set free
the one with those eyes,
yet too blind to see
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two
in a bottle on the bay
once upon a tide
i watch the lightning drift away

HELL AND EGYPT (REPRISE)

May 24, 2026May 16, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

This poem, the continuation and stark follow-up to the longer “Hell and Egypt”, is likewise a lyric narrative within the gothic and confessional genres, having strong elements of ballad and theological complaint. Its central theme is the trafficking and abandonment of a child by a mother who herself had been sent off as a baby. It speaks subtly to the notion of generational curse under the horrible torrent of grave misfortune. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “Second Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“HELL AND EGYPT (REPRISE)”

she was sworn to not reveal
that she had been the devil’s whore
and so her wrath and agony
is shade upon the boy she bore

and so the shadow falls on him
she left him lying there alone
who allowed this to occur
she left her baby on the stone

she sold him off to hell and egypt
her running blood, her like, her kind
like some cold slab of bovine carcass
and she rode off, left him behind

she sold him off to hell and egypt

HELL AND EGYPT

May 24, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

This poem is a lyric narrative within the gothic and confessional genres, with strong elements of ballad and theological complaint. Its central theme is the trafficking and abandonment of a woman, the subsequent shattering of her faith, and her defiant but self-destructive turn toward forbidden love. The poem also explores inherited trauma and the seemingly unanswerable question of why darkness befalls the innocent. The voice is a third-person omniscient narrator who shifts between anguished witness, theological interrogation, and tragic chronicler of the woman’s internal collapse. Structurally, the poem unfolds across eight stanzas of irregular length, mixing quatrains and couplets. Repetition of key phrases creates a refrain-like meditation on desire, suffering, and divine silence. The title phrase suggests both a literal place of exile and a biblical resonance, with Egypt as the land of bondage and hell as ultimate abandonment. The woman’s rejection of God and her choice to lie beside “a priestess of deceit” frames her rebellion as both liberation and damnation, symbolized by quicksand imagery. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “Second Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“HELL AND EGYPT”

they sold her off to hell and egypt
her running blood, her like, her kind
like some cold slab of bovine carcass
and they rode off, left her behind

who set her naked on the stone
and who allowed this to occur
who left her lying there alone
why did this shadow fall on her

and what, dear lord, in darkness breeds
the heart it wants and the heart it needs

she swore to hell and heaven then,
with hand on heart, forevermore
that this would never be as such
no not again, no never more

and so forwent, and then she severed
whatsoever ties and binds
even unto god most high
and then, again, and for all time

for he allowed this woe to be
who tames the storms and calms the seas
they say he sees our darkest thoughts
and hears our cries, our prayers, our pleas

but she chose not their ancient one
in vain, she deemed him obsolete
and chose instead to lie in bed
beside a priestess of deceit

but the moonlight whispers marking time
the quicksand of her very sin
and though the kicking of her legs
she drifts and sinks much deeper in

she was sworn to not reveal
that she had been the devil’s whore
and so her wrath and agony
is shade upon the boy she bore

the heart it wants and the heart it needs
but what, dear lord, does darkness breed

THE MOONLIGHT CRIES

August 23, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“The Moonlight Cries” is a lyric narrative blending confessional poetry with ballad-like repetition and elegiac tone. Its central theme is the burden of bearing another’s trauma and painful secrets. The voice is a first-person listener and confidant, someone to whom the moonlight has “sworn” her secrets. The speaker oscillates between tender witness, helpless chronicler, and mourner. Structurally, the poem shifts between rhythmic quatrains and shorter refrain lines. The repetition creates an incantatory effect. The final stanza introduces unresolved mystery, suggesting that some wounds resist articulation, even by the one who lived them. The imagery grounds the ethereal pain in physical, almost noir detail. This poem was written for the novella “A Shattered Cup of Doom,” and being newly produced, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“THE MOONLIGHT CRIES”

IX.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
i guess to test, but nonetheless
i hear her
and getting something off her chest
a haze of menthol cigarettes
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that september,
about a day she can’t remember
how once upon a time, forever
the mothers arms, the soul surrender

what, by god, in moonlight shown
passed away from all she’d known
abandoned, set adrift, alone
what, by god, in moonlight shown

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a child estranged
the darkness of that day remains
what wind aloft might drive the rains
even she, herself can’t say

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
i give my best and nothing less
i hear her
her heartbeat staggers in her chest
a shimmery star amulet
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that october,
a horrid tale she’s not yet over
how once a stranger got to know her
a raving stranger got to know her

and what, by god, might a heart do
iron fisted, torn, abused
overdriven, insane, bruised
what, by god, might a heart do

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a maid insane
the darkness of that night remains
how many tears might lift the stain
even she, herself can’t say

XI.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
she draws the curtain to confess
i hear her
pandora opens up her chest
that they might leave her heart to rest
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that november,
how the savage ravage rendered
her with child of her offender
with the child of her offender

at night the scorpion, it stings
nine months more, she bore these things
beloved baby unbelonging
and the cuck who cut her strings

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a child estranged
the darkness of those days remains
how deep the cauldron of her bane
even she, herself can’t say

XII.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
and dumps her mess with no regrets
i hear her
she lays a hand upon her chest
and by these truths she does attest
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that december,
the fire smoldered down to ember
since her man demand she sever
the bastard child bond forever

a baby born, a babe like she,
a baby born and then set free
what kind of hell behind her be
why did, that night, her hand touch me

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight stares into my eyes
and darkness dominates the skies
so what awaits beyond today
even she, herself can’t say

III.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
and shackled to this dark request
i hear her
spinning gold, a treasure chest
of circumstantial evidence
i hear her

and so she told me, and so she lied
she told me she told him goodbye
i saw what i saw, but still she denies
and so told me, and so she lied

what, by god, is wrung from right
how many tears to blur the sight
the fates pin stars upon the night
distant so, can’t taste the light

and even though she told me so
she has lost my trust, i fear
i keep her basted in my doubt
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a witch ordained
she roams the darkest depths, unchained
what good a man, de-balled, de-brained
even she, herself can’t say

DRAW DOWN THE MOON

August 23, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

This poem is a lyric incantation, drawing on the traditions of chant, folk magic, and gothic verse. Its central theme is the summoning of forbidden or dangerous feminine power, blending erotic obsession with spiritual transgression. The voice speaks in imperative commands within a ceremonial circle. The tone is hushed, urgent, and reverent, building toward the whispered climax of the curse. Structurally, the poem consists of heavy internal rhyme and near-rhyme that mimics the repetitive nature of spellcasting. The juxtaposition of sacred imagery with profane or transgressive language aligns with the “A Shattered Cup Of Doom” novella’s recurring tension between salvation and damnation. Originally titled “Draw Down The Moon”, “Molly Black” appears as a snapshot in the “First Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“DRAW DOWN THE MOON”

open the circle,
open the door,
draw down the moon,
draw out the whore.
the greenwood floor,
the quarters, four,
the witch, she whispered
the curse d’amour

CHURCH TO ME

May 24, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Church To Me” is a lyric poem with strong elements of spiritual skepticism and romantic devotion, blending confessional and secular hymn traditions. Its central theme is the replacement of institutional religion with a beloved person as the locus of transcendence, grace, and moral reckoning, without requiring faith in God, heaven, scripture, or organized worship. The voice is a first-person speaker who is unapologetically flawed, agnostic, and self-deprecating, yet experiences the beloved as a sacred presence. Structurally, the poem uses a repeated refrain across five quatrains, each rejecting a traditional religious element before affirming that the woman’s supernatural quality provokes the same awe, sanctuary, and moral gravity as church. The language is plain, rhythmically steady, and undercut by earthy imagery that grounds the spiritual claim in bodily, lived experience. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “Second Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“CHURCH TO ME”

i don’t pretend to be an angel
i’ve done my share of evil deeds
but something in her, supernatural
seems so much like church to me

i don’t intend to go to heaven
just roll my carcass to the street
but something in the air about her
seems so much like church to me

i don’t depend upon some jesus
cannot believe what i can’t see
but something in her eyes, like lightning
seems so much like church to me

i don’t attend saint paul’s on sundays
i naturally just oversleep
but somehow she’s my sanctuary
seems so much like church to me

i can’t defend the holy bible
i cannot reckon what it means
but something singing in her whisper
somehow seems like church to me

TIME AND TIME AGAIN

May 11, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

This poem is a lyric poem, with strong elements of confessional and gothic poetry. Its central theme is the cyclical nature of suffering and redemption—specifically, the journey from suicidal despair and imprisonment toward spiritual rescue through love. The voice is a first-person speaker, who oscillates between raw anguish and hard-won salvation. Structurally, the poem uses stark rhyme, repetition, and fragmented imagery to mimic obsessive thought and emotional relapse. A new work, “Time And Time Again” is not yet assigned to a chapbook.

“TIME AND TIME AGAIN”

the darkest night of all my days
mousetrap house rat in a maze
some angel shoulder old crow sings
one-eye jack go suicide king

the knight is still without the moon
lately death can’t come too soon
an ounce of cure, a pound of rock
beat the dead horse, beat the clock

marking time and time again
i’m living hell and back again
again and again
and again
again

the prison gate reverberates
scared straight date where fate awaits
lightning striking, hallowed hall
shadow creeping up the wall

she sat beside me on death row
her eyes a blue electric glow
my heart plugged into supercharge
the second hand remains at large

travel time and time again
i’m back from living hell again
again and again
and again
again

she stood to rise and took my arm
and led my spirit clear of harm
due time done did doing time
a simple love, a simple rhyme

energized amazed enthralled
her picture nailed onto the wall
the undeath of the valley stir
every time i think of her

TWENTIETH & SIXTH

April 25, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

The mystical and darkly spiritual work called “Twentieth & Sixth” is something of a ghost story, a snapshot in the back story of the antagonist character in the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella. The poem is an Urban Gothic type with a note of Melancholic Lyrical that conveys the haunting memory of a particular crossroads and emanates from the battered psyche of one particularly troubled witch, an unlikely villain silently seething with vengeance and relentlessly nursing a vicious agenda. The poem is released in the “Third Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“TWENTIETH & SIXTH”

lonelier, yet,
than just alone,
ghost of passion
bastard drone
undead adrift,
chained to a myth
of some church
twentieth and sixth
where some are born
and some are cloned
but all them boys
are turned to stone
the fruits of one
ecstatic kiss
all avenues
lead me to this

ALWAYS

April 25, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

The poem “Always”, although tiny in stature, packs a large structural punch that interlocks two souls in a single space in time, and for all time. It is an expression of the remnants of a doomed romance trapped in time, yet timeless, holding only the distant memory, maintaining no presence, and having no hope for any future. It is at once happy and sorrowful, at once triumphant and somber, and at once blessed and cursed. The poem is classified in the Lyric tradition while employing a distinctly minimalist and free verse style. A snapshot in the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it is released as a part of the “First Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“ALWAYS”

always
there you are
in the place
that I
last left you
waiting
in the place
that you
last left me
forever
waiting
always and forever
there you are

NOTHING AT ALL

August 23, 2026April 15, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

An example of Lyric Poetry, “Nothing At All” is a self-talk done in blues form. The words are taking the wisdom of a friend and instilling them as one’s own mantra of a new anti-discipline: letting oneself go. It is part of the narration character’s backstory in the “An Empty Cup of Doom” novella and appears in the “First Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.

“NOTHING AT ALL”

when the clouds get heavy
don’t they rain
when the clouds get heavy
they just go ahead and rain
when the weight
of the world
is on your shoulders
and all you know is pain
you can cry
just like the clouds
you can cry

when the sun gets tired
don’t it sleep
when the sun gets tired
it just lays right down and sleeps
when the dark
of the night
falls upon your soul
and all you know is grief
lay to die
just like the sun
and let it die

maybe the moon will rise
maybe the stars will fall
when i look to the skies
after all this time
i realize i realize i realize
that i know nothing at all

GEE AND HAW

April 9, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Gee and Haw” is an anthropomorphic piece, at once nostalgically pastoral, romantically idyllic, traditionally Americana, and socially working class. Inspired by the legendary Twenty-One Mule Teams of the borax mines in Death Valley, the poem draws deeper into the story, back east to where the mules were bred, and how sweet was the life and inspired the dreams of the youth – once upon a time.

“GEE AND HAW”

i go back to limestone valley
don’t we all, by god, by now
through memory and blood and dreams
don’t we all, sometimes, somehow

the sunrise on the osage plains
sparkling dew drop prairie sprawl
the budding bluestem, green in spring
and switchgrass, in the summer, tall

the farmhouse, grand, ground to gables
and the stables there, once my home
and champions one and all were we
with a hundred acres fore to roam

and glory be the wondrous day
when i was five at fifteen hands
they rigged me collar, hames, and britchin
and put my passion to the land

and it was gee and it was haw
the plow was dropped the plow was drawn
and it was click-cluck getty up and whoa
the world forever turns as so

the spoils of our burden yet
behold, such fortune not our fate
we watched the setting sun burn down
in twilight by the paddock gate

and born for power over time
we are bred to pull our share
and when wherever morning comes
it shall be ours to toil there

and it is gee and it is haw
the plow is dropped the plow is drawn
and it is click-cluck getty up and whoa
this world forever turns as so

FOR ALL TIME

August 23, 2026April 9, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

Written in 2026, “For All Time” is, in its beauty and wonder, perhaps the most unsettling poem in the dark and dreary realm of the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella. It is the linchpin that holds past, present, and future together as one and it is the burst of dawn following a deeply foreboding night. The warmth, the light, and the life of “For All Time” is both the beginning and the ending of the novella, the alpha and the omega. Though it registers with simplicity as Pastoral and Idyllic in tone, it is a very unique work that covers many poetic genres. In its constitution, “For All Time” is at once, Pastoral / Idyllic, strongly Lyric, certainly Romantic / Love Poetry to the fullest, very deeply Religious and Spiritual, and loosely but assuredly Narrative. It is presented in the “Third Shards of Broken Glass” collection, but also stands alone in dedication to the excellent wife that the LORD GOD blessed me with.

“FOR ALL TIME”

some time after dawn
a glaze of dew yet on the lawn
an old man and his pups
beneath the old catalpa tree
and the woman so fair
her blue eyes and golden hair
a kettle and two cups
she brings to him his morning tea

and god is good and god is kind
the peace of christ is peace of mind
and in her weary eyes he finds
his home, his hearth, his partner
for all time

in the noonday sun
he sees his course is not yet run
he has toiled not enough
to set his soul and spirit free
and the woman so fair
her blue eyes and golden hair
as he rolls up his cuffs
brings lemonade and levity

and god is good and god is kind
and blessed are the vows that bind
for in his weary eyes she finds
her home, her hearth, her partner
for all time

when the chains are loosed
the orpingtons come home to roost
he wipes his brow, shakes the dust,
and ascends above his elegy
and the woman so fair
her blue eyes and golden hair
cuddled up with the mutts
brings the wine of their liturgy

and god is good and god is kind
and here for heartbeats so inclined
for in his ancient eyes they find
their home, their hearth, their partner
for all time