Foggy Morning Fantasy

If heaven, as they say, is in the clouds
Then it appears my home and neighborhood
Were raptured in the night. If so, I should
Expect to see streets paved with gold, and crowds
Of saints and martyrs with the heavenly host
Outside my window singing in the mist,
Dignus est Agnus qui occisus est,*
In praise of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Have I arrived on Jordan’s distant shore?
Could it be possible that I have been
Translated to the New Jerusalem
Where tears are wiped away and Death’s “no more?”
My doorbell rings, but to my great surprise,
A Fed-Ex man . . . an angel in disguise?

 

*Latin: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” Revelation 5:12

 

 

An Ordinary J. Prufrock Kind of Day

A pastel blue behind a hazy gray;
A Noon-time sky not clear, not overcast.
A cool, light-stirring breeze meanders past;
An idyll of an ordinary day.
The softly whispered roar of surf and beach
Enfolds, like fog, my elsewise silent street,
While I, ensconced upon a cushioned seat,
Hear distant mermaids singing, each to each.
Their siren-song bestirs me to arise
And follow them along the nearby shore.
“Come join us now!” they cry, “or nevermore!
“Too soon will come an end to mid-day skies!”
In haste, I rise and go, ere I grow old . . .
I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

 

 

James A. Tweedie is a recently retired pastor living in Long Beach, Washington. He likes to walk on the beach with his wife. He has written and self-published four novels and a collection of short stories. He has several hundred unpublished poems tucked away in drawers.

 

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10 Responses

  4. Amy Foreman

    “Foggy Morning Fantasy” pairs the heavenly with the prosaic in a delightful poetic humoresque. Satisfying and smile-worthy!

    Reply
  5. Sally Cook

    Dear James Tweedie –
    Life on the edge of water always blends change and contemplation, as you have shown in these two poems, which blend both your religious beliefs and whimsical excursion.
    Very nice~.

    Reply
  6. C.B. Anderson

    James, like a good red wine, you age well — you seem to get better every day. What will I tell my children?

    Reply
  7. David Watt

    James, your descriptions are rich, and the element of humour rounds off these already polished pieces.

    Reply
  8. Joseph S. Salemi

    The second poem is an excellent evocation of Eliot. But I think that you don’t need a strange form line “Noon-time” in line 2. Just say “noontime,” without the capital N or the hyphen.

    Reply

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