Cara Mumford Films

Selected Poems by Cara Mumford 

(a page in progress...)

Dreams

My heart aches for what I dream in dreams

but leave behind on waking.

I hear such music,

feel such love,

but wake to such despair.

I dreamt I heard a thousand voices

singing harmonies to God,

but woke to fading echoes in the dawn.

I dreamt I found a kindred soul

loved deep within my heart,

but woke to empty longing in the dawn.

Is there yet to be a day which dawns

without despair and heartache;

a morn when hope and joy do not flee?

Need I stay within my dreams and never wake to see the day,

or will love and music someday wake with me? 

echoes

Melancholy riffs

echo in my head,

so empty of all thought.

Instead—

such images of evil

and the din of fear,

death,

last breaths.

And I fancy that I see

the fabric of freedom

disintegrate,

like an ancient shroud,

into so much dust—

a broken trust—

on the streets of the city.


Dante had nothing on this.


The evil that man wreaks upon man

overwhelms me

as before,

as always.

And my cold soul

fills with loneliness.

There is no anger yet,

nor tears,

just despair and sorrow

to face the morrow.


So as this long day collapses into dark night,

the only solace that I find

is in the blues refrain

that echoes in my mind.

Rain

The rain comes down 

carrying bits of ash and smoke that kills. 

Sodden women and men sit on filthy concrete in the rain,

hair plastered to flushed faces, 

heads thrown back in defiance of the rain. 

Police officers at attention guard the gate.

Square shoulders, straight backs, unyielding in the rain. 

Clear and strong once voice breaks the silence.

How sweet the sound,

the sound of life, of voices raised in song. 

I once was lost but now I'm found.

Solemn eyes express resolve. 

Was blind but now I see.

Officers can't close their ears or hearts. 

Under one blue cap, wet and salty eyes betray the ramrod indifference. 

And the rain keeps falling.