Kurt Philip Behm

Time Frozen Deep

Buried in the leaves of a Fall gone by,

memories wait for Spring

 

Entombed in hope as Winter reclaims,

till birds return to sing

 

Cold and dark, the seeds of change,

lay dormant ill disposed

 

Snow is falling, the wind blows hard,

escape routes all but closed

 

Hearing new footsteps walking above,

the weight compressed and strained

 

My sentence malingers, time frozen deep

—the cold to ease the pain

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

 

 

 

Recording Our Folly

 

What is the human  

perception of time

 

If measurement stops

and clocks will not chime

 

Seconds to minutes,

minutes to hours

 

Pendulum still

—Big Ben disempowered

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

 

 

 

The Emperor\'s Tide

 

Mesmerized by his own success,

swimming naked and alone in the dark

 

Drowning in what he forever professed,

he rose and fell with each critic’s remark

 

Hypnotized while diving for fame,

he sank while caught in the tide

 

His pleadings washed up, divested and bare,

exposed—with nowhere to hide

 

(Crater Lake: October: 2015)

 

 

 

A Deafening Pause

 

Silence…

often the loudest voice of all

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)