Lynn W. Petty

Lynn W. Petty Poems

Time seemed interminable.
A curious and inexplicable apprehension came over me,
As I sat in an elderly care home waiting to visit a friend.
The atmosphere was heavy with quiet confusion.
...

When all supply was in the hands of Cause,
Effect was molten primal chaos, held
Within a universal cauldron, rest
Was given to consider what the blend
...

I looked into the face of this new life,
I thought of what a father had to be;
Provider for his family, all its needs;
A strong example for his child to see;
...

We stepped across the threshold, she and I,
Her body seemed so weightless pressed to mine.
The setting sun had haloed her dark hair,
A tender, loving warmth had filled her eyes.
...

For Dr. Granzella, The Last of The Few,
Who refused to succumb to the corporate
Dictum of "Profit before the patient.'
...

From where do the words of poetry come?
Where, in the bridal chamber of the brain,
Is poetic thought conceived?
Could it be that concept is impregnated
...

Upon the fly-leaf of this tiny book,
She had inscribed:

"To thee, who lost a love as I,
...

You ask how deep does my love lie for you.
There is no human measurement to test.
An inch, a foot, a yard, a mile? It grew
To depths, to heights, too vast to be assessed.
...

While sitting at the table sipping tea,
I had the thought that though my teacup has
But just a singular intent, its state
Of being is a two-part form. There is
...

What's that you say? You say there is no God?
Have you considered where we're standing now?
We stand upon the surface of a globe,
A sphere spun out into a vast abyss.
...

There is a dark side of love,
Love that suffocates with
Twisting vines of petaled tendrils,
Twining round the one who's loved
...

Is there a greater fear than one's own child
Preceding him in death?
Leaving the church, I thought about the service,
Its hymns, homilies and effusions, written
...

I studied her from far across the room.
Her depth of beauty deepened day by day.
A calm transcendent goodness showing through,
As though her inner source of self were found.
...



Those deep etched lines upon her face
Have been incised by love and caring.
...

Beneath a 2000 Year Old Mississippi Oak Tree

Beneath the luxuriant foliage of this venerable oak tree,
whose branches shut out the noon day sun;
...

Who can endure, from day to day,
the spectacle of an unveiled human heart
with all its vanities, and all its weaknesses,
desires, pain and regrets; the pain
...

19.

War, atrocities, corruption, crime,
Hatred, murder.
Where can I go to escape
This pall?
...

I have had a few privileges in life.
My marriage; the birth of my two children;
To have embraced my grandchildren,
Contribute to their growth;
...

The Best Poem Of Lynn W. Petty

A Question Of My Own Mortality

Time seemed interminable.
A curious and inexplicable apprehension came over me,
As I sat in an elderly care home waiting to visit a friend.
The atmosphere was heavy with quiet confusion.
People wandered about searching and shifting in a
Sort of stolid acquiescence. Their lives recalled as flashes in memory, projecting film images on their thick, gray screen of dementia.
Across from me sat an elderly gentleman whose gaze was a glassy
Expression of inattention. I could see the declinations of his skull
Beneath his facial features. A victim of the grievous calamities
Of time, vaguely aware of his own frailty.

A harassing anxiety overcame me. Is it death or is it the lingering
Before my death I find discomposing?
No, it is not the naked fact of death I fear, it is the prison
Of my own being; that time from competence to incontinence;
Between enclosure to final closure.

Why was I so disrupted? Perhaps, it was a solemn foreshadowing,
Dimly seen on the distant reaches of my destiny,
In that, I had witnessed my own fragile mortality.

Lynn W. Petty Comments

Bri Edwards 12 July 2018

a fine gentleman, a WWll veteran, a rare poet, a devoted human, a friend of mine on PH. my best wishes to him in his 'last days' amongst us; he may be gone to his reward already. of course i'll probably never know 'cause I CERTAINLY will never see him THERE! I'll be elsewhere! ! ! bri edwards aka brian edward whitaker (in the real world) :)

0 0 Reply

Lynn W. Petty Popularity

Lynn W. Petty Popularity

Close
Error Success