Member Poem

(I)

Remember.
Upon the marble of the Acropolis
Tinted a dimming white….
Nevertheless stays as a wonder of the world
With awe inspiring grasp,
Whose stay elucidates the
Frustrated speech of Mnemosyne.
She screeched in silence,
Her voice reverberating the empty columns
Like a Chinookan’s drum beating
Off a plank house’s wall,
Which I am behest to remember
But can not, for time has ceased
All memories of them.

(II)

Remember.
That beat is one whose melody
You can not hear but feel innately,
It having a share of your soul murmuring
An archaic tribal tune.
What ancient paths must I trace to find you?
Or has time effaced your presence
As dust spreads across a barren field?
One must strain hard these days to remember
Without prompting.
I hear the echoes of your chanting
In the twilight of my consciousness,
If I could just recite them:

(III)

Remember.
The Enshrined chieftain, Sitting Bull,
Was famed for his bravery,
Yet I scarce recall his mighty acts of bravery,
Or perchance overhear
With some glimmer of recognition
The great Ger_- unspoken,
Whose name I’m barred from speaking,
And scarcely revive him
In Apache song,
Nor dance to his rhythmic thrall.

(IV)

Had the thirsty just not drank
From that accursed stream;
The river Lethe, who drowns all we are
In its callous waters.