Setting Sail (For the OSU Seniors of 2011)

Now begins a time of change,
when old friends cruise with tattered mains,
their sails blown full with newfound dreams.

On some foreign coast they set their gaze
while we reminisce of the grandeur of our yesterdays
when kindred spirits and wry looks set hearts ablaze.

Emotions circle like gulls in the wind
and alight on the mast of beginnings and ends.
With sea breeze and freedom they now contend.

We wish them well with a pat on the back
and words of virtue to keep them on track
while hiding our faces when the tears do wrack.

They point their vessels to the rising sun
and feel the rays of a journey new-begun.

We see them vanish before our very eyes
and pray to God that true friendship never dies.

Returning Home

Finally home from a semester's work,
I stretch my legs to December's cold smirk.
The skies foretell of a perfect e'en,
slate blue and heavy with moisture unseen.

I pull on my boots, wool socks and coat,
then cinch up my belt for the fowls' heavy load.
I don my waxed cap and head for water far and remote.
The heavy, tumbling flakes a good hunt forebode.

Weather-worn walnut and bright polished steel,
my shotgun, like a leopard in my hand feels.
She leaps with agility as I mount for sport.
Yet, no bird rises to meet her roaring report.

I tromp through the prairie grass with her alone as my cohort.

I reach the pond dam with daylight to spare.
Breaking my double, I check the pair of high-brassed 4's.
Iridescent green lights the sky as mallards flare.
A day at the university never compares to one on the moors.

College Apartment/The Coming of Autumn/She Moves Through the Fair