I am but a shell
For errant thought
A wax
A wane
A mouthful of full moons
Spiriting the wave
I am but a hope
A gasp of salt
A rise and swell
Adrift
And pulled ashore by faith
As darkness wanders round
It’s meaning
Sifts behind my eyes
Beneath my nails
I breathe the shadows
Rich and moist with tides
They whisper lives
They croon
Of loss
I savor what they tell
I am but a shell
The wind has dropped
Sun bleached
Sand peppered
Gull gulped
And tumbled raw
Exposed to hungry sea




Sara Mathews     March 2020
Leon Spilliarert / Belgium 1881-1946

Here is sadness

With her doleful eyes

And dismal tread 

She carries heavy news 

A face full of grey

She weeps her way

Into the rain

Sighs her burdens to the wind

And cries

I too 

Could love the blueness

Of an April sky

Ringing out with song

The reds of budding saplings 

The silver stream that laughs all day

Alas, no joy is mine

My harp was strung 

In somber key

Be gentle with her then

Let her stay awhile 

And rest her weariness 

Against your heart

She’s come to bide with you

For company

For empathy

For your strong 

Enduring hope

Sara Mathews     March 2020

Antoine Auguste Ernest Herbert

The trees rattle with smoky memories
All hallows eve
Bonfires blaze up
In hearts of long ago
Little foragers
Traipsing woods for fairy fire
The goblins breathing trepidation
At our necks
Shadowing our garnering
Deep darkness swallowing our banter
Nipping our bravado
All hallows eve
You serenaded ghoulish wind
And pelting rain
Those lyrics that you treasured
Weathering all those years
I search them now
Sifting shadows
But I have scattered up the words
Left some back there in the forest
They swirl and echo miry mist
Just beyond my reach
And your sweet song
Gone with the gypsies 
Lost to childhood
Stolen by time




Sara Mathews     October 2019

And when the morning comes
That I cannot hear your voice
And you can’t describe the moon to me
The way it hovered at your window
Like a mother
Gathering silver tears
And sleepless nights
And how the fullness
Sometimes broke your heart

And when that evening comes
And the sun
Without your words to color
Slips down behind a quiet hill
Gone to rest awhile
Away from me
Away from me
My sun
My moon
What will I do




Sara Mathews     October 2019
Duy Huynh https://www.duyhuynh.com/artwork/

And now the days fly south
On the back of the wind
And they call like the last
Reluctant traveler
Wish I could stay
Stay
Dance in the flame
Rouse the final embers
Oh sweet summer nights
Sputter and dim
Brief as a brilliant hummingbird
You seemed
A flash and retreat
Just a feather of your soft
And languid moments
May I keep




Sara Mathews     October 2019

The day awakes in gossamer

With silver breath 

The satin drift of 

Autumn

Pads her way

Across an anxious lawn

Kneels beneath the trees

Teasing colors

Flares of ardent summer hearts

And balmy dark

Embrace a long farewell

Scarlet cheeks and golden 

Promise  

Sing sweet, the pretty birds

Rejoice, the last Nasturtium

Clutch the hem of life with us

Cling until the final 

Brilliant gasp

Sara Mathews     October 2019

Nasturtiums/Odilon Redon

Sometimes the river flows back home
And sometimes I take the long way
The go around
Those times when the current
Skims too close to my heart
Those laden waters
Too ready to sweep me along
The peach tree on the hill
Still blossoms with the hope
From little hands
That rooted it with grownup plan
That tree speaks fluently
Of love and loss
And when it’s pink with Spring
I hear the voices piping
Whistling the branches
Of the Beech
Traipsing wall and wood
Barefoot expeditions
Forest forts and fairy places
And every innocence of childhood
I see them clear as shadow
Darting in and out of memory
They scramble
Brook and boulder
Ripple every sandy shallow
And conquer
True and valiantly 
The reckless wandering
Of the river that brings me back



Sara Mathews     July 2019