We had the pleasure this week of meeting an area poet, Steve Pfister.  He is a long time Kansan who celebrates the beauty and mystery of the land around us.  We at Pen In Hand hope you enjoy his unique vision.

Photo by Steve Pfister

Stone and shadows

(for Marj)

Who were you and what secrets did you hide behind those walls?

Did you have time to dream or did your daily toil consume your hours?

Why is your home held tight by loving vines and leaves?

– And why inside, the musky smell of cooking smoke

  That lingers on the stone and shadows?

_

What were those tales you told beside your lantern lights?

And did you shiver in the frosty nights,

 Then rise to find the still of morning your sweet friend?

Why did your mother stroke her baby’s face

 Before she laid her in her resting place?

_

I  stand before your house to ask if I might join you

In your home held tight by vines and leaves.

 In your home of stone and shadows

  And hear stories within the glow of lantern lights.

_
Stephen K. Pfister February 2, 2014

*     *     *

Of Windmills and Yesterdays

Too sad to speak, too old to cry-

I float in oceans of my yesterdays

and wonder why I have become too old to cry

I know the night and light meet at dusk and dawn

to sit with me to laugh and talk awhile-

and as I sit among my friends

and watch the sky, I ask them why

I have become too old to cry.

_

S. Pfister 7-27-2014