Two Poems

Photos and Poems by Howard Richard Debs

Watching The Moon Rising

Watching the moon rising,
reclaim your sense of place in our world.
The hoary Hebrew calendar counts the moon, 
Stonehenge watches for the sun.
It all comes down to us from ancient celestial mysteries
and still we are enthralled by these mystical memories.

When you rise up, the sun is in the east
and when you lie down, the sun is west 
and going down somewhere in tune 
with its universal rhythm
while the moon is rising in its own time
and if you are down in a valley
you can stand, lifting your head, looking upward 
watching the moon rising
over the hills in the distance, far away
and if the full moon is rising
in all its grandeur you can feel your place on earth, 
a small still voice within this sphere.

While your feet may yet be planted firmly on the ground, 
but gazing up toward the firmament your eyes
are mesmerized by the giant orb of night,
now you can consider your destiny, and the way you will go, 
following the sun? Rising with the moon?

The wolf howls at the moon, 
we humans wonder, 
watching the moon rising. 

Sunrise On Big Pine Key

There is nothing as spiritual
as standing on the beach 
witnessing the sun rising 
seemingly right out of the sea.

There is nothing as mesmerizing
as billowing clouds swirling around 
an azure sky meeting the ocean
in a cascade of hues of blue.

There is nothing as consequential 
as wading into the surf at dawn 
amid the roar of sound pounding 
around our ankles and our feet.

As the day wears on, whatever we bear, 
we will sleep at night
wrapped in the morning we
spent on the sand at the shore. 

HOWARD RICHARD DEBS received a University of Colorado Poetry Prize at age 19. After devoting the past fifty years to a career in advertising and marketing communications, with recognitions including a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press Association of America, he has recently resumed his literary pursuits, and his latest work appears or is forthcoming in The Germ, Calliope, Big River Poetry Review, Jewish Currents, Poetica Magazine, Misfitmagazine, Eclectica Magazine, Star 82 Review, Ardor Literary Magazine, and China Grove Journal. His background in photography goes back many years, both creative and technical, having been involved in management with the notable Wollensak Optical Company, and his photography will be found in select publications. He lives in sunny South Florida with his wife of 48 years, where they spend considerable time spoiling their 4 grandchildren.