To The Victor  

Death, I defy thee!
My passionate breath
Warms thy sunless embrace.
Taste defeat then,
You uncompromising fiend,
For I rebuke thee!

My victory is won
Before I have lost,
For I have lived!

And eternity’s darkness
Cannot erase the mark
My soul has engraved upon it.

~ Daniel F Mitchell

Dig, miner, dig!
No mountain is too big
To find a vein within.
Begin, soul, begin!
Cast away the stone.
There is treasure in the core,
An infinite store,
Deep within the bone.

~ Daniel F Mitchell

I saw a kite caught in a tree -
A dream I thought belonged to me.
I lost one there, some years ago,
In autumn wind, before the snow.

It left me for an urge to fly,
To ride a surge into the sky.
I dreamed it sailed across the sea,
But someday would return to me.

~ Daniel F Mitchell

Blessed be the flower of hope -
That sprouts roots in any soil,
With all weather willing to cope,
To reap the reward of toil!

I will feast on any table.
I will grow what can be grown.
I will bud as I am able.
I will bloom where I am sown.

~ Daniel F Mitchell

She kneels before the judgment chair,
Arms folded in reverent prayer,
In the heart of her saintly lair.

A pilgrim passes by in quest,
Is fast transfigured in her nest,
As lay against her loving breast.

~ Daniel F Mitchell