Deepend

Deepend

T.R. Drury

The TEMPEST

A distant flash 
A jagged beam
A stolid visage
An ominous gleam.

Painting by Sonya Berg

*

FRIENDSHIP (Part I)

Friendship bestows
Experience confirms
Resplendent layers
Though sometimes endured

A devoted brother 
or cohort dear
A refining presence
A trusted peer

True Friendship forges
Roads unknown
Withstands torrents
Never alone.

But yea beware 
Oh curious soul
Good student be ye
Of the lesson here told.

So carefully read
And as you do…
Remember true friendship
Must refine you.  

*

CONFLICT (Part I)

Adventure the norm
For so much time
A lyric, a sketch 
A friendship sublime

Yea Friends on occasion
Like siblings will be
Subtle contempt 
Waning glee 

Each of us clash,
All relations do.
Depth borne thru ache
Makes friendship true.

Questions elicit
Perspectives alight 
Talents obscure
When difference ignites.

Music or Art,
Can one compare?
The value of one
No judge could dare.

The crucible blends
A potent mix
Pampered acquaintance 
Must be fixed

*

SEPARATION (Part III)

So parted one 
To live in a tree
To paint dreams solo
Adventures wild and free.

An affable kind,
Committed, devout,
A consummate artist
Transcendent, no doubt.

Dangers and perils,
Battles grand and small.
His Canvas depicted
The detail of all.

One day as he painted
The North Wind blew,
Rain fell hard,
While silent rivers grew.

Not far away,
And of commensurate style,
Another dreamt of adventure
And lived without guile.

In cleft rough-hewn 
He made his abode, 
His chamber of solitude,
A theatre of stone.

Melodic refrains
Wrapped in genius conceived
By octave, by measure
His tales achieved.

The walls of his cave
A mirror portrayed
Each minor harmonic,
Every chord aptly played.

*

Lost, the two lads,
The existence they’d known.
A result of their conflict,
They languished alone.

Both yearned for adventures
What joy could be?
But resolve means departure
From cave and from tree.

One lumbering old river
Foundation’d their lairs,
Water cresting valleys
Enveloped the pair

Serendipitous events
Glorious but few
Destinies form
as the North Wind blew.

Gales unfurled 
Mighty tree bent
Sliding one lad
Churning waters he went

With Pallet and Easel,
Two instruments hewn.
Turned craft and paddle,
Now seaworthy thrown.

Matching the time
In a low-lying land,
A cave filled with water
Like hourglass sand

Wield tail and spruce
Their resonance clear
Now means of escape
For second hero dear. 

Typically twining
A Gordian Knot
The First Mover leads
A burgeoning plot.

Now placid and gentle
No ripple reveals
THE MENACE alas
Deep river conceals.

*

THE STORM (Part IV)

What sound is this to our hero’s ears,
The distant visage of darkest fears?
So rough the surge but worse will be
The Danger that waits at the edge of the sea!

Indeed it is, a perilous sight,
An abyss so deep even fossils fright.
Jaws consume the torment’s strength,
Closer, yea closer the narrowing length.  

Alas, must there be a reason for this?
Often amid our struggles we seem to miss
The bonds we forge in pain and love
A journey arranged from high above.

So, will these two find chance to greet?
An ordained reunion would be so sweet
But alas, will the gaping void devour
And rob us of this vital hour?

Deluge slowed to a snails crawl
Inches afore the fateful fall,
Seconds pass, their vessels near
Collide they did, the Divine appears.  

A decisive moment amidst the storm
When calm ruled the cruel form
As tempests’ throat prepares to devour
Four hands grasp at the timely hour.

Friendship re-forged in the heat of fire,
In complex crisis, relations inspire.
A problem, possibility, peril sure,
This duo would face a trial pure.

Churning spume the flood did spray
Rocks like savage jaws display,
A point in time so ghastly sits
To crush the spirit and test the grit!

Oh Fate so cruel such careless tact!
No thought, no concern, a useless act,
Into the breach our hope sent,
So loud a grave yet quiet descent.

*

DELIVERED (Part X)

A troubled farewell or hope deferred?
To consider unscathed a thought absurd
Cascading silence to deafening roar,
The ravenous pit… no friendship restored. 

Sorrow defeat, so delicate and young,
Yet through the air optimism hung.
For in the moment of certain death
A great wood’s web, Salvation’s breath!

When calm the boiling liquid subdue
In the mist below appeared phantoms two.
Soddened whole by the watery foe
Yet undaunted by the treacherous flow. 

Aha! beneath the oppressive mantle
Lie patient amidst the unruly battle
A friend, a liberator, redeemer true,
A sacred root, expressed anew.

What was this help one might inquire
Fortuitous luck or heaven inspired?
To abruptly change the course of time
And create an end with nuance so kind.

Safe below the current’s grip
It lingered patiently for this fateful trip
So oft rejected as angler’s snare
But rescue all who trust its care.

To firmly cling they must decide
Their prized possessions to set aside
Release did they, their only choice
To grasp the vine or lose their voice.

Descent of the menace so simple and pure
Like taming a dragon, no trouble for sure
Plunged down the labyrinth with exquisite form
They arrived below, friendship reborn.

Soaked to the bone and covered in green
Young pioneers emerge whole as a team
Navigate the current till calm ruled the bay 
They drifted in peace and cherished the day.

No picture to paint nor music to play
Contentment the captain not lost in the fray
So pleasant the feeling that comes from within
When life is made of true friendships therein.

But cast aside passions and throwaway gifts?
To experience the joy of friendship bliss!
Nay say we what gloomy an end
To withhold passion and limit true friends.

*

EPILOGUE

Our differences bond to reflect the divine
The blend of art and melodic rhyme 
He in us most clearly portrayed
When relationships reflect His gifts conveyed.

So continue did they, the inspired pair
To serve and delight with talent so fair
Not perfect nor pure though relation sublime
For future streams will aptly refine.

---

T.R. Drury
Poet

Photography by Philipp Pillz