Ravensong Poetry And Writing Blog by Donovan Baldwin

By Donovan Baldwin

So many times
I've stood upon the shore,
Gazing across endless waters
Hoping and dreaming
With the offshore wind
In my ears and
Against my face,
Promising adventure
While holding me back.
So often I have dreamed
Of sailing off
On an outblowing wind'
To seek my destiny.

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droplets on the wind
gray clouds rolling from the west...
fifteen percent chance?

-----

dracula retold...
i kissed your soft neck
and loved forever

-----

give the sun credit
he's trying to rise and shine
but clouds are winning

-----

full body contact
private personal massage
with happy ending

-----

Despite my poetic,
Fantastic bent of mind,
I am grounded, rooted,
Nailed to the floor,
Awash in reality,
Been and seen and done
Way too much
To live with
My head in the clouds
Unless I create them
Myself.

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just a tiny creek
too small to be a river
yet so full of life

-----

i watched seasons change
snow to green to red and gold
my private postcard

above the valley
i stopped each few months to see
earth change her raiment

nature's fine artwork
germany in younger days
memory today

-----

the lightest of breaths
important as the deepest...
the values of life

-----

earth has many songs
some far too quiet to hear...
but they can be felt

-----

silent music plays
dancer taps her dainty foot...
i hear the guitars

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Poetry copyright 2020 by Donovan Baldwin
Art: Painting, Along The Shore, by, William Trost Richards

Labels: Along The Shore, donovan baldwin, dracula, full body contact, Germany, haiku, poems, poetry, tiny creek, upon the shore, William Trost Richards

By: Donovan Baldwin

Recently, I told a story elsewhere about myself, as a young soldier, on a train in Germany in the 1960's.

I made a mistake, got off at the wrong spot, but got back on in time. Two other young soldiers were not as lucky.

They were headed to Augsburg.

Unlike me, they did not speak any German.

They kept reading their orders, and repeating the word "Augsburg", reading every sign, seeking that word.

Suddenly, as the train stopped at a station, one grabbed the other's arm, said urgently, "This is it!", and they both jumped off the train just as it began to leave the station.

I knew we were not anywhere near Augsburg but, could not get to them in time to stop them.

As the train pulled out, I saw the sign the young soldier had seen. It said "Ausgang", which means "Exit", in German.

So, they exited into a strange place, stranger even than Augsburg, simply because it wasn't...Augsburg, that is.

I am sure they got where they were going eventually.

Many of us go through life so intent on getting somewhere, achieving something, focused so intently on our goal, that we overlook, or misread, the signs and symbols we really need to be looking for.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing." So's a lot of learning, if we apply it incorrectly.

Perhaps NOT knowing what we really want, and where we want to go, takes us to the wrong destination. When you're not really aware of those two things, you can get off a lot of wrong "exits", or "Ausgangs".

Labels: Augsburg, Ausgang, destination, donovan baldwin, Germany, railroad, soldiers, travel