And behind all this darkness

Tara Achane


And behind all this darkness
yes, there is some light
small, wondrous, out of sight.
It grows sometimes
and sometimes fades
falling into darkness, making shades.
With love and hate
both at war,
we hold together,
but together we are no more.
The world is flowing through
endless boundaries
of yesterday, today, and tomorrow
bringing with it a game of
time, life, and death.
The strongest of the strong
will surpass the ultimate
quest of power.

A Work of Artifice

Marge Piercy


The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high.
Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
the hands you
love to touch.