Terry Roberts Poetry

Poetry by Terry Roberts

Reaching

Present past

Someone once asked of my past,
And the words came tumbling out beyond my grasp
And metaphors mingled to create a work called
“Bleak Berries”
An attempt to articulate the pain of intertwined losses

Now you, from further back than any other witness to the genesis of this

This - beyond definition,

this life? This Mishap? This Mis Shaped pattern of pain, …. ..

Now you appear and you ask me to fill in the gap, no the gaping hole of a lifetime, no not just a lifetime but what seems to me to be several lifetimes.

So we talk, slowly at first, knowing we both wear many a scar,
Far more than there will be the telling of at this time

The highlights and low points of past sorrows are paused over for but a moment,
Then we move on to the joys of here and now

How quickly we become the boys of yesteryear,
How quickly we become the seasoned sages, sharing our
Dare we say
“Wisdom”

My friend what we said to one another was salve to our wounds,

Ah, but what we left unsaid,
Who can comprehend the depth of healing!

St. Mary’s Glacier

Like school girls chasing the ice cream truck down the street
extending that shiny new dime MeMaw just gave them to share
as though it were a magnet that would draw the truck ever closer to them .

They rushed across the graveled road to capture an eternal image of the alluvial fan* being bathed by the summer tears of St. Mary’s Glacier
as though without haste they may never see the mountain’s beautiful rupture.

A chipmunk appears … posing for a moment…
an invitation to capture its image, for a price.
Hmm, no food? He scampers slowly away, pausing for a moment, perhaps they’ve forgotten?
Yes?
No. No… food . . . no pose .

Back across the road to the jutting crag and tail* on the mountain side.
A defiant testament to time and gravity,
he stands watch somewhat dispassionately,
with the slightest smile of appreciation.
He ceases to grow weary of the admiration bestowed upon he and his home.

The girls move uneasily toward the towering giant
they cautiously peer over the edge from a safe vantage point
to catch a glimpse of the crag’s tail.
Unwilling to share the crag’s epoch defying confidence
they drink in the monument one last time,
before continuing their pilgrimage.

There is more to St. Mary’s Glacier than will meet their eyes today,
for time has not only taken its toll upon the Glacier,
it has also taken its toll upon the matron saints at my side.

The glacier, a remnant of what once was
is not diminished in their esteem,
for they know not of its former glory.

The distant view from Alice’s pool is reflected by them.
They are delighted, in awe, refreshed by the cool breath of this sacred place. The summer weep of seeping lakes, streams, and springs are the flow of life to them. Every aspect of St. Mary’s Glory is a wonder to them.
Overwhelmed, they catch their breath.
Tears of joy join the rushing waters.

I have traveled the rocky path.
I have been upon the glacier.
I have tasted the icy Cirque.*
Where I once stood, no longer exists.
Just a memory, evidenced by Chattermark.*

The lover who stood with me hand in hand in this place
no longer stands by my side.
She has disappeared to where this glacier is now hidden.

Each time I stand here,
the tears I weep for all that is no more
join the glaciers tears,
continuing the eternal marriage of the souls.

****

Alluvial fan: A low, cone shaped deposit of terrestrial sediment formed where a stream undergoes an abrupt reduction of slope.

Crag and tail: a steep rugged mass of rock projecting upward or outward, especially a cliff or vertical rock exposure.

Cirque: The head of a glacial valley, usually with the form of one half of an inverted cone. The upper edges have the steepest slopes, approaching vertical, and the base may be flat or hollowed out and occupied by a small lake or pond.

Chattermark: A small, curved scar made by vibratory chipping of a bedrock surface by rock fragments carried in the base of a glacier. Each mark is roughly transverse to the direction of flow, and either convex ("lunate") or concave ("crescentic") toward the direction from which the ice moved.