ARTHUR TURFA

ARTHUR TURFA

REFLECTION ON MUSGROVE MILL AND TODAY

Along the Enoree’s banks, Musgrove Mill

lies among the Piedmont’s pines and hardwoods.

On a sultry, long-ago August day

Loyalist and Patriot joined battle,

neighbors and kinsman clashing, Scotsmen too,

blood flowing on green-ringed forest meadow.

Now rages renewed warfare all around

in cyberspace, chatrooms, and face-to-face.

Everyone a combatant now, none are spared;

Tarleton’s Quarter appears merciful.

Friendships severed, relationships broken

not only here but from coast-to-coast.

The Republic for which for which the victors bled

unravels like a second-hand overcoat.

Arthur Turfa, ©2016

AT THE ROSEWOOD ART AND MUSIC FESTIVAL

Standing in morning sunlight

young girl reading my poem

about Parnassus. Her mother

beside her, both hearing about

the Muse-loved mountain and

Castalia’s cleansing, inspiring

streams. Blond hair shimmer,

eyes aglow: do they behold the

graceful dance of the Muses?

Several hours pass- hikers fresh

From Virginian trails ask me

to read a poem of my choice.

I read “Three Woods” and we

find outsteps transported to

places long-loved and never-

forgotten. We stand on the

parking lot and feel sylvan

coolness and mossy ground

under entwining branches

reaching above us. Such

is verse’s power and glory.

Arthur Turfa ©2016

HER EYES

Her eyes I remember most…

Opened wide to capture

Adolescent hopes and fears,

Residual angst, concern

For others, nascent joys.

As time flowed,

As we touched

Places and people

Tangentially,

Her eyes, older now

Beheld fading dreams, wrong turns,

The what-might-have-beens

Singing like sirens.

Angel, why was your hand not

Upon her shoulder, why did you

Not show a glimpse of glory

To saddened, tear-laden eyes?

Perhaps you did, but her eyes

Saw what they wished to see.

For me, Angel, lift her eyes

Beyond present concerns.

Raise them to the light

Which will shine through them

Again, sustaining them,

Pointing them towards

Endless bliss and not

Previous struggles.

, © 2015/6

ARTHUR TURFA

  

ARTHUR TURFA lives in the South Carolina Midlands, but his poetry contains influences of his native Pennsylvania, California, Germany (where he has also lived), as well as other places. His first book of poetry. “Times and Places, Reflected”, was released in the Spring of 2015 by eLectio Publishing.   Published in the Munyori Literary Journal and the South Carolina English Teacher, in Afflatus magazine, In Mused Bellaonline Journal,  and in Altpoetics, he also maintains a personal blog, Some Poetry at aturfa.blogspot.com, , Goodreads, Amazon, and Facebook author pages, He is an Owner in POETS, and a moderator at words on Fire and Peppered Poets Google + online communities.