Two Poems by Patricia Furstenberg

I Am Built

I am built on my ancestor’s dreams,
Of glass that was shores and wood that was trees;
I am built on my parent’s blueprints,
Of tears of joy, and white nights of dreams.

I stood on land that came all wrapped up,
Bows of rivers and a note of clouds.
I grabbed it, too eager, I opened my gift,
Forgot to say “thank you”, too greedy to live.

I lived and I loved and I used up my gift,
I forgot to look back; now I’m lost in my dream.
One last chance I am given, build my blueprint,
Gift others life, and love, and dreams.

I am sand, I am earth, I’m the seed of a tree,
I’m the foundation where others can raise their dreams.
I know for I looked back this time;
Life moves forward by recalling the past.

Like a Ladybird on a Daisy

A ladybird
dashes through my field of view,
recklessly she aims for all directions at once
like a hysterical airplane
that lost an engine.
Acute are the depths
of its diving
and the smears or red
in the still day,
like the tick line
of a teacher’s pen,
break the silence.
How do you perform CPR
on a ladybug
crossed my mind.
I’ve even drawn back
and offered her
my personal space:
the garden table,
wrought iron painted green,
my notebook
where I doodled
a daisy in black ink.
She darts still,
diving and nearly crash-landing
then performing an emergency recovery
and soaring again.
It knows geometry, I see,
it swirls and traces circles now
frisky over my notebook
where it lands.
On my doodled daisy.
I bow and thank
for such a compliment.
and look around
for an offering of sorts.
A cookie crumb,
for I can’t bring myself
to sacrifice an ant.
Wouldn’t that be execution?
The ladybird reads my mind
and saves me,
spryly dashing away.
I bow in thanks.

Patricia Furstenberg, with a medical degree behind her, has authored 18 books imbued with history, folklore, and legends. The recurrent motives in her writing are unconditional love and war. Her essays and poetry have appeared in various online literary magazines. Romanian-born, she resides with her family in South Africa.