John Stocks - One Poem

Berlin

And now a soft rain falls
Over the Tiergarten
The new glass palaces
Shimmer in weak sunshine.

My father came here too
In recrimination
Sat and gazed in awe
At the faceless children
Stumbling through the ruins.

We sit and share our wine
Between smiling faces
Light blossoming laughter
Ekes out the afternoon
Calmly we wait on dreams.

Later we think only how
The evening twilight falls
Too soon, gaze at the moon
Knowing no human fears
Or souls can graze the stars.

Tonight it seems absurd
To speak of war, or grief
Your ghosts are nebulous
Your wine as warm as blood.



Jon Stocks is a UK based poet who has had work published in magazines and anthologised worldwide. He has twice been nominated for the Pushcart prize and has work held under copy write at the English national poetry library. Recent poetry has appeared, or is scheduled to appear, in a wide variety of magazines including: Candelabrum, The Coffee House magazine, The Journal, the Dawntreader, Other Poetry, Manifold. Poetry Monthly, Harlequin, Tadeeb International ( translated into Urdu), Avacado, Involution and Interlude.