Promise (For Robert) Poem by r james sterzinger

God said he'd never flood
The world again
You know
I wonder what that means
Do we take Him at his word?
Is He serious?

I have seen the Red River
In northwest Minnesota
Wash away the lively hood
Of thousands to Hudson Bay.
I have seen mamas and babies
Washed away in Singapore
In typhoons,
Never to be found again.

Did he mean turning out the stars
Flooding the night?
I have seen nights as black as ink,
Dark as coca-cola.
Grey days that went for weeks
The lights always came back on.

I have had days of border-line
Depression go on for a lifetime
Though. I have had it for years
And years now the days keep
coming; thicker, faster.

I have hung on,
Like a overboard man
To a yellow raft.
Eyes fixed to the horizon,
Where I have seen days
Of more more more.

I have an ark of books
And have gathered poems,
Two by two
Mated them to my madness
Waiting for God to make his move,
Tethered to nights
Sad and thick with aloneness.