The Virtuous Cycles

The towers touch the tethered sun

And darkness draws on silent wing;

The doge of day bestows his ring

To shadowed seas and dusk is done.

From star to star the axis shifts

Above the glades where glaciers claw

And winter weeps in season's thaw

As summer brings its borrowed gifts.

The dawn is dashed as water warms

And vapors vault in valleyed storms;

The rain that rounds the rugged crest

Will seek the sea from east or west

And reaping riches from the foam

The crab will craft his hardened home

And slide like snow to ocean's deep

Where mantle holds its hidden keep

'Til flame and fury's mountains blow

And blaze the night with fulgent flow

And billows block the sun in gray

Or dazzle with the dawn of day.

The fractured face of Earth holds tight

On wine dark waves that warm the drift

And bergs of ice that break and rift

The balance of the black and bright.

At noon or night the bold bells peal

For brides who break the covered glass

And martyrs mourned on meager grass

Are spokes upon a single wheel.

Author's Note

A virtuous cycle, or negative feedback loop, is a system that creates equilibrium, in contrast to a vicious cycle. "From star to star the axis shifts" refers to the precession of the equinoxes. Stanzas 3-5 are my attempt at a poetic description of the carbon cycle, a "virtuous cycle" that stabilizes Earth's climate. Stanza 6 refers to the albedo effect.

Reviews

[Anita Frader]

Reads like a classic. Beautiful poetry, Casey.

[Coyote Poetry]

You are right Casey. Life is a loop. Very hard to get off.
"At noon or night the bold bells peal
For brides who break the covered glass
And martyrs mourned on meager grass
Are spokes upon a single wheel."
The above lines. I liked. Powerful and worthwhile poetry shared.
Coyote

[Casey Truax]

I wasn't sure how many of my readers would know that breaking a covered glass is a Jewish wedding tradition. I wrote this before the latest resurgence of violence in the Middle East but those lines resonate even more with me now.

[Andrew John]

Rather an interesting read, especially the rhythm and rhyme scheme. Oh, and the subject, too, of course! Yes, lovely piece of poetry to absorb, and the albedo can dazzle. Thanks for a superb poem, Casey.