Time of Move

by RC James
Babilu
Third Place, October 2019
Judged by Laurie Byro


Mountains are crumbling, the sea is dry;
time to let the horses run, Elvera,
there’s a long promise unwinding
on the other side, in that peaceful oasis
where the messiah waits with the faithful
for every beginning to come back around.

No one can take away this flight of desire,
one thought of mine with another of yours;
we’ll walk through this landscape of hills
carrying the broken past on our backs;
we’ll stride, dream suspended, into horizons
opening like a lotus on a morning pond

where a poet writes verses that provide
our long journey with a feeling of home.


Time of Move is formatted like an unrhymed sonnet. Again, it sent me to the internet to learn that the name Elvera means "truth." The phrase "carrying the broken past on our backs" is very fine. Upon looking to see if Messiah should be in caps, I learned that it can also simply mean "message." This soft poem competently expresses the message of peace. --Laurie Byro