The Branches of a Woodland Lullaby

The crickets whisper a lullaby beneath a lavender sky

 While the trees sway in the balmy summer breeze.

A boy stands below, listening to cicadas

Chatter on the edge of night.

 

His heart flutters at the sound of their flight,

Which rustles like crisp autumn leaves before they ignite.

Panic creeps through his mind like smoke before flame

Until it blisters his soul and he blames the forest.

 

Still the crickets bathe him in the bounty of songs which

Withstood the forces of fire on the longest night of the year,

Lending the stability of many seasons to the lad�"

With wisdom in his limbs, he quells the cicadas’ quips.

 

And the crickets sing: let no shadow slink into your soul�"

Stoke your heart with beauty and illuminate the whole.

Reviews

[Southern Cross]

This reads like a breath of fresh air on a warm summer's night . I live in the south and on those nights, when all is still.. The sounds of cicadas are all you hear. You have a way of making words become vibrant images that open the mind to much thought.

[Renée]

Peaceful poem..love crickets.. your descriptions are lovey...

[bunmal]

Wow, the imagery in this was perfect! I got goosebumps when I read "The crickets whisper a lullaby beneath a lavender sky / While the trees sway in the balmy summer breeze". Wonderful wording; it made me feel like I was there under a tree on a warm summer's evening. Well done

[Coyote Poetry]

A good place this poem took me. I like to hear the sound of the crickets. It is a calm and peaceful sound to me. I enjoyed the complete poem. A very good ending to a outstanding poem.
Coyote

[LovelySparrow]

What a beautiful song sung in only words on a page. Such real images pop into my head and morph my views on the wilderness. It created a sense of actuality, and suddenly I could smell your story; the wood, grass, air. And I could hear the cicadas whispering to me. Wonderment!

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

There are lots of very sharp, crisp and well presented images in this. You paint the entire scene very well.

[Jinx]

Sweet, now that I circumnavigated all the nonsense to register so I can comment, here I am. This is definitely my favorite thing of yours that I've seen thus far–– I really do enjoy the imagery that you created, or at least what I interpreted in my own head, with the word "ignite." This definitely has your voice to it, and that's my favorite thing about poetry, especially when written by peers. It seems like most people who are either younger/new to poetry just straight to the thesaurus or attempt to channel the stereotypical High-English, archaic poet when approaching their writing, and it's great to see that you can avoid that while you sound unbelievably well-spoken, educated, and passionate about what you're doing.

Well done, amigo.

[emmajoy]

In spite of the cicadas' songs, how peaceful this is, a masterpiece slowly brought to life with wonderfully subtle phrasing, '.. listening to cicadas ~ Chatter on the edge of night. ' and, a little later, ' And the locusts sing: let no shadow slink into your soul ~ Stoke your heart with beauty and illuminate the whole. '

And such a wonderful title .. beautiful, Christian, truly.