9/19/2005

While We're Waiting for Serenity

[Blogging has been light lately while I introduce my roommate to the joys of "Firefly." As long as I'm on that general theme, here's a little something I wrote two summers ago that I rather like.]

Fidelis

I am snug in the chamber,
waiting for the jolt against my back
that will launch me forward. How long will I wait?
A week? A year? Fifty? I was born
for glory, to be sent on wings of fire
to do the work of a lifetime in one
instant.

For what cause will I be used?
I hope that it is just. Perhaps I will strike down
a murderer, or a would-be rapist.
(I hope that such a one does not
use me instead. The indignity of it
would be unspeakable.)

I am a knight of lead and brass,
honored with the noble task
of making all men equal.
That duty is mine, and I gladly wait
for the moment when the hammer strikes
and I fly off into destiny.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I came here from our mutual participation in the poetry carnival.

It took me a moment to realize what the subject was, bbut once I did a second reading brought appreciation.

Very well done, and thought provoking.