The Stranger

I saw Time up on my path.

His shadow leapt,  his flesh drew down

ditch and vines. He turned. His wrath

Was wild. He wore a hollow crown.

 

It scraped the sky with antlers ancient:

sticks without leaf, worn by wind.

A veil masked his face, his auburn hair was rent.

The grass became his teeth. The earth, his grin.

 

An age he gazed on me. An age, forgotten.

I felt the dusk and dark.

And was felt by him: an old man with old skin.

His hands crept. They clawed. I was peeled apart.

 

And I thought: I want to let him in. Invoke,

Then know what cement, car, and call forgot.

Burn with spring and smoke.

Breathe life and death, youth and rot

 

And remember the crumbling throne:

On which the old man sits

And bides and schemes alone…

Until the night. Then show his final visage.

 

Reviews

[kmartell]

I thought of the cave paintings with shaman wearing antlers, travelling through time. An old man, appropriate. That is what I saw reading this good poem, reread, re interpreted.

[kmartell]

I used to work with a homeless man who lived in a cement culvert, all year round. This poem reminds me of him. I could never get him to live in a house.....the last four lines are especially strong. when you burn the brown grass in spring, evokes eternity.

...like the "Burn with spring and smoke" The smell of which turns you toward the moment.
...the rhyme of lines are so anchoring in this...I cannot rhyme two consecutive lines...wonderful

[Devesh]

This is easily the best poem I've read here. Spellbinding, with imagery that sends shivers down your spine.

[Sami Khalil]

A dark write. I felt the shivers from this stranger...Bravo.........................

[A. Amos]

And remember the crumbling throne:
On which the old man sits
And bides and schemes alone…
Until the night. Then show his final visage.
 
Love the start however the end above verses you nailed it..good write and enjoyed the whole read

[Why Nori]

I know not why but i liked this.

[Christyn Jeffries]

I love how you make time out to be a super creepy old man. I like "antlers ancient: sticks without leaf", because it creates in my mind this vivid image of this cross between a deer and a man, like some mythological beast. Even the rich and powerful will succumb to time.