Unbroken
If I should break myself today
Unchanged from every burden bare
Determined unafraid to say
That I shall find the strength to wear
Whatever fortune great or small
My maker has bestowed on me.
By chance wherever I may fall
I forge alone my destiny.
Then I may find the eyes to see
Beyond the trembling darkness
My will shall not yet conquer me
Until I have shown my greatness.
I will not yet abandon you
My heart, my soul, my memory
I will struggle and stagger through
Until at last I shall be free.
Oh Slow My Setting Sun Depart
Oh slow my setting sun depart
As time is far too fast
Bereft my broken beating heart
So more my will outlast.
So more my will outlast my pride
Like fleeting fields of frost
As shadows fall asleep inside
My dreams are never lost.
My footsteps fade and wash away
So tangled with the tide
These trampled tears shall not dismay
My strength shall not be tried.
My strength shall overcome my fear
And mend my beating heart
As yet this time shall disappear
Oh slow my setting sun depart.
The Mistress In The Mist
(A true story of North Haven Island, Maine)
Have you seen the mistress?
The mistress in the mist
Resting on a fallen spruce
Longing to be kissed…
She walks down to the shore
And up the dirt drive way.
She wanders here forevermore
Like it was yesterday,
The many men who knew her
All have slipped into the sea.
While many years have passed her by
In lonely misery
She has been held captive
By the moss and by the mist
She searches hopelessly in vein
For a love she cannot resist.
For a love she has forsaken
When her dream, she was denied
Though her soul was never taken
With the tears she never cried.
Even mighty men will fade away
As iron turns to rust
The mistress in the mist is lost
With no one left to trust.
With no one left to talk to,
With no one left to love.
She walks without a shadow
Beneath the stars above
And somewhere in that forest
Smelling like a summer rose
The mistress in the mist was found,
Still sleeping as she froze.
Still sleeping as she passed away,
On a quiet moon-lit night
She chose to stay among the spruce
Turning away from the light.
She chose instead to wait for love
If choosing love is wrong
The mistress in the mist, shall wait
Forever, far too long.
Andrew Gelinas is a poet living on North Haven Island, Maine. He was born with cerebral palsy.
Featured Image: “After the Storm” by William Bradford.
Enjoyed these pieces, especially the second one for it’s structural strength for it held very well to the natural stresses of the written words when spoken. And although the representation of the sentiments it was trying to portray was great, the third one was even better in that regard. A really pleasant read to wake up to on a Sunday morning and I look forward to reading more of Andrew’s work.