Two Poems by Richard Schnap

AS ABOVE SO BELOW

The stars seem caught
In strange, obscene orbits
As if crippled by the wishes
Of the madmen of the world

While the moon seems to wear
The face of a mourner
As if the love it conjured
Is now a withered rose

And the sun seems to shine
Like a pale, weakened eye
As if it is a light bulb
On the verge of burning out

For in desperate times
Even nature seems afflicted
As if it too feels helpless
When a shadow grips its heart

COLD SPELL

The clouds hang like stained sheets
Over the unmade bed of the world
Where sleepers wander through uneasy dreams
Borrowed from the biographies of the mad

And I wonder when it was the wind began
To speak a language long thought dead
For it seems we are all now puppets again
Guided by an idiot god

But the stars still sparkle like tattooed diamonds
While the flowers turn their faces to the sun
And the laughter of children cascades like water
As pure as their unsullied hearts

For in the great epic of the earth’s story
There are both chapters of darkness and dawn
And today’s tragedies are tomorrow’s reprieves
As they fade like yesterday’s news







Richard Schnap is a poet, songwriter and collagist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poems have most recently appeared locally, nationally and overseas in a variety of print and online publications.