Moonrise at Sunset And Other Poems

By Sally Boyington

Moonrise at Sunset

moonrise behind a screen
of silhouetted trees
a warm creamy yellow globe

vanished sun tied round
the horizon 
a pink belt
holding the fabric of
a nighttime world

as all the glow
slowly
deepens to indigo

Linger Still

To be the star to steer by and the house upon the hill,
in-dwelling always in memories dear, my mother lingers still.
In the time before that final flight,
with feet and hands chilled and bird-bone light,
though wasting in body her spirit unbowed—
all we who saw felt a shiver of awe
at the courage that grand lady showed.
Judge not the choice as the act of a coward,
don’t tell her to ‘Fight’ like this war can be won.
With death on both shoulders, she kept looking forward,
though hope for a different fate never would come.
So when your final breath you take,
and loved ones’ hearts at last you break,
when time trickles on and that first grief is gone,
warm feelings return, although ever we yearn
for the soul that has left us alone.

Rain House

At my rain house, the puddles all spread,
From under it, short streams run.
I stand atop the Temple of Mist;
About me, the mist wreaths my head.
Cupbearers bring me the liquor of life;
The blood-red drink I swallow.
Cast up on the earth as the milk of my making,
The shining road draws the sun.
No more the fields be dry and hollow,
Green shoots no more a-burning.
Swift come the clouds to the Rainsinger’s call;
The spadefoots start their singing.
At the rim of the world the storm it waits,
With thunder and lightning a-borning.

Sally Boyington has had poems, novels (most recently Rainbow Knife, 2022), book reviews, and nonfiction articles published. As a copy editor and publishing coach, she has helped several hundred authors see their words in print. Sally lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.