From the Empirical Archives: The Loss of Many, The Loss of One by By Peggy Aylsworth

The Loss of Many, The Loss of One

Peggy Aylsworth

Originally published in the January 2013 issue of Empirical

It’s August. The sea lies still.

The air grows thick and heavy.

What’s new

is old.

Young soldiers reverse artillery.

“Tough” is the word that drowns

in sorry

blood,

pushed to a pressure without a human

name. The spirit flogged to this:

obey,

prepare

for the kill, to face another face,

shatter its grace, less worthy, as

the story

goes.

Is this his brother, created equal,

condemned for the crime of other?

A bullet

to the head,

his own, crosses the divide to choice.

The land grows empty as lightning strikes.

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From the Empirical Archives: The Photograph: A Wish for Stillness by Peggy Aylsworth

The Photograph: A Wish for Stillness

Peggy Aylsworth

Originally published in the January 2013 issue of Empirical

The wing of the plane cut the sunrise

in half,

but couldn’t diminish the aurora

exploding

its orange, its yellow. Everything is on its way

to somewhere.

But look, the stanchions

on the bridge,

like children waiting to throw stones,

watch ripples

in the lake foretelling the clamor of their lives.

The stillness

of bare winter, its illusion could convince

the eye

nothing would change, but reflections

in the water

shimmy, wriggle, promising, promising.

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From the Empirical Archives: The Bridge, the Warrior, and Blue Eyes by Peggy Aylsworth

The Bridge, the Warrior, and Blue Eyes

Peggy Aylsworth

Originally published in the December 2012 issue of Empirical

The curve and rush of time and water.

Nothing learned as the warrior loses his head.

Blue eyes in the stone face, the subtle smile.

Who will answer this longing? There is

patience in the woman leaning on the wall.

In the distance women walk and talk.

Pulteney Bridge is more than a bridge.

Red Rover, cross over. On the way why not

buy a rose, an antique map or sip a glass

of blueberry juice? And still the women wait

and walk as their day bends toward night. The old

has left its dying wish within the stone: Endure.

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From the Empirical Archives: Within the Going by Peggy Alysworth

Within the Going

Peggy Alysworth

Originally published in the December 2012 issue of Empirical

I am where your life isn’t

and yet is,

driving across the world,

eternity at the wheel.

Long, long sky,

raw land,

someone always looking

for the Father

and the Son

of antique earth.

Children are crying

in the land. The baby

coming into his soul through tears

but not of sadness.

Adam was suckled and taught to know.

I wake from the fire into radiance.

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