past

by

A Face

– from an inhuman place –

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A Face

– from an inhuman place –

Thru shady light,
Fixed traces be  
In still of night, 
A face I am to see         
Set in a staid life,
Yours, to be returned 
From an inhuman place…

In time dawn’s shadows,
Might dim the cruelty
That carved its path,
To manner evidently 
A paranormal flesh 
That, reads as brail,
In a face lined like mesh
Imprint of like chain mail....

Imaged on grievous faces,
Begs end held memory
In recalls of life fleeting,
Phantoms of past journeys
Emerge in these raw faces, 
Thus, from an inhuman place! 

                       Ode to man’s rush for the future,
                                   with a recall for our fading memories...

                                               © Jean-Jacques Fournier



                                      Image - Wikimedia Commons                         
                                      Music - Almost Blue by Chet Baker
                                      Audio - Jean-Jacques Fournier     
                                                                        
                                                           ov written in Montréal 
                                                                 January 2, 2002
                                                           rewrote in Sweetsburg
   				                              December 1, 2022     

































	













!
by

Merited Spell

         – man can nay tell –

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Merited Spell
         - man can nay tell -

Man can nay tell
If life disregards,
Said merited spell
Save benign bard
Bids serene dwell
Despite ye regard,
That risk may well
Be placidly marred,
By set endured hell
Of invasive sounds,
Affirm be the knell
If ye maker ignores,
Beyond human intel
Ye having long past,
Find point of return
Will fix obtain cast,
Should merited spell 
Ne’er be meant to last,
Tho a man can nay tell!


                                   © Jean-Jacques Fournier 

Imagery - Wikimedia Commons
Music – excerpt by Chet Baker, of Alone Together
Audio – Jean-Jacques Fournier

				               written in Sweetsburg
					        March 27, 2022
by

While Ye Sleep

          – life aims to recur –

Falk’s Sleeping gypsy

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While Ye Sleep

          – life aims to recur –

Ought to count
Ye contemplate,
A given amount
Thus undertake,
In a set response
End futile haste,
With life too fast
Fixes we’ll waste,
Even a mind blur 
Finds lessen state,
Life aims to recur 
Tho be fates take,
We fail not deter
Yet whilst awake,
To find won’t last
The while ye sleep,
Life ever rushes past!


                                   © Jean-Jacques Fournier

				                  written in Sweetsburg
					         January 15, 2022



Imagery - Source Wikimedia Commons
Music - Alone Together - Chet Baker
Audio recital - Jean-Jacques Fournier
by

Shadows – where faces hide –

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Shadows
         - where faces hide -

In time dawn’s shadow
Would dim the cruelty,
A face deemed bide 
From its carved path,
Will transmute hide
Said nature’s trap,
For wind burnt flesh
That reads like brail,
Or weathered mesh
On skin humanly frail,
Finds soon be paired
To rock-strewn canyons,
Reflection of a dire face
As pain unravels memory,
Of its passing shadows
Hence where faces hide,
Among phantoms of the past 
Where these faces did emerge!

                                                           © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Images – Private authors; Malik Earnest 2015

Music – Leaving by Chet Baker

Audio Recital – Jean-Jacques Fournier

                                                                             written in Sweetsburg

                                                                                   January 2, 2022

                                                                       edited January 10, 2022

by

An Image – wants be –

An Image

– wants be –

May not as ere see
That one may find,
An image wants be
Past life fixed time,
And beyond destiny
Said annals defined,
For no matter the plea
The gods remain blind,
To fate's hold ye not flee!


© Jean-Jacques Fournier

                      written in Sweetsburg
                            final October 5, 2021


            Excerpt of image by Stiller Beobachter 
                                         from Ansbach, Germany

                                                                   

by

“ Distant Faces ” – etched on my mind –

by Claude Théberge 1987
ceramic mural 12 ‘ x 9’ for Eastern Topographies,
Ossipee, New Hampshire, USA

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Distant Faces 

            – etched on my mind –

 There are traces
 From prior times, 
 Of distant faces
 Etched on my mind,
 That stay forever 
 Hence so adorn,
 A place of musing 
 Where past ground,
 Be worth pursuing
 Tho but a semblance,
 Might now be found…  

 As memories falter 
 Thus in mind’s eye,
 Imaginings alter
 And fall beyond,
 Familiar places 
 Of aging optimism, 
 In mature zeal 
 Be timeless isms,
 Scarcely notes real
 With fading traces,
 Of now distant faces… 

 Tho wishful thinking  
 Could yet show trace, 
 That offers an inkling 
 Alludes to per chance,
 A faint hint of passing
 Mightn’t ye remember,  
 Enough of such places
 May outlive December, 
 Has ye find the more, 
 Of now held distant faces!   

                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
  
                          Ode to Hilary, Natalie and Wayne, old friends! 
                                    
 Mural - by artist Claude Theberge ...
 Faces - Personal & private collection ...
 Music - Excerpt of,  Night Jazz, by Chet Baker ...   






			

	
	



			
				



	
	


		
					

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“ Reaching ” – the edge,  of life’s design –

	


		

		






                                              Listen to audio





“ Reaching ”





           – the edge, of life’s design –





         





I’ve journeyed    
Far and long,
At times hurried
Thus to prolong,
That meagre stay
Palpably foregone,
A notable evidence
Recall diminishes,
By limited passage
Thru hazy distances
Now on the ledge,
Blurring defines
Life may allege,
Tho be insistent
Prays on a mind,
To suffer existence
In dwindling time,
Tho but an instant
By recall’s decline,
Reaching the edge
Of life’s design,
Fate shan’t pledge
Be shadows assign,
To offer life hedge
On finale it deigns,
Past illusion held fast
As image perceived disappears,
In the dusk of a lifespan once cast!  

  
              © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
    
                  written in Sweetsburg
                                 October 25, 2020
 
Imagery – MD & private collection –
Music - excerpt from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade op.35











			

	
	



			
				



	
	


		
					

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“ Life Is But A Minute ”    – held implied as a lifetime –

	


		

		
images-11


                                                             Listen to audio


“ Life Is But A Minute ”


              – held implied as a lifetime –


The Journey starts


Tho soon too fast,


And way off chart


Predestined cast,


Scarce one recalls


What life is to last,


The span of its all


Save less ye forget,


Said be our lifeline


This nascence day,


Thus a minute past


Had found its way,


A birth ye may ask,


As it came together


Seeks its short stay,


In echo of ones other…


 


Life soon will wither


While none to waste


Pardon my rancour,


Of they who crowd


Or find to anchor,


On my fleeting pace


With so little living,


I reason make haste…


 


With hint to soon rest,


Lying neath memories


Of its life’s alleged fest,


My back to its epitaph


For all who have been,


Knew well to find daft


Held implied as a lifetime,


Denies life is but a minute!


                                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier


              Music, One Minute Waltz, (1847) Fryderyk Chopin

			

	
	



			
				



	
	


		
					

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“ The Last Train ”  – may have gone –

	


		

		
795px-Claude_Monet_-_Train_in_the_Snow    Listen to audio


                                                            painting by Claude Monet




“ The Last Train ” – may have gone –


I’d bought in too


A youth’s fallacy,


Ye want find true


Save failed to see,


Fate shan’t renew


A life forever be,


Tho we continue


Frivolously free,


To ponder pursue


And endlessly roam,


Tho state of askew


Too far from home,


Long past ye renew


Will find one alone,


When the last train


Now may have gone!


                                              © Jean-Jacques Fournier

			

	
	



			
				



	
	


		
					

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“ A Loaf of Bread ”  ~ a jug of wine,                               and thou ~

	


		

		
Held loaf of bread,


A jug of wine


And thou he’d said,


Be propitious find


Tho but line I read,


Fixed state of mind


Tho barb now dead,


Lived poetry’s sage


Long ago far ahead,


Of creation engaged


Tho of ancient past,


Did inspire persuade


Every nuance he cast,


Be a tableau each page


Stated words of Khayyâm!


 


                                                         ode to a great poet and polymath


                                                                   © Jean-Jacques Fournier