Kurt Philip Behm

Crossing Over — Turned Around (+10)

Through the eye of the needle

Not to the left or the right

Dodging both on the comets tail

 

I streak into the light

My last wish out in front

As words melt in a fiery contrail

 

And with only one question

To weaken my heart

With only one thing to know

 

The seasons entwine

All beanstalks are felled

With the exit signs all aglow

 

I crash through the doubt

Releasing new hope

My affirmation now to reign

 

And look ever further

Beyond my scope

As my senses become untrained

 

I feel the loose pieces

Start to come off

A new lightness now abounds

 

The last burden has lifted

Burning bright in my wake

Crossing over—turned around

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016) 

 

 

Only My Words

 

I’m covered in dirt,

  but my words are still clean

 

A vision half dried

  with stains running deep

 

With sinners and saints

  arm in arm at the bar

 

Each infection we share

  tonight’s hookup and score

 

Meaningless excuses

  all scandal affirmed

 

My bed made with sheets

  from a brothel once scorned

 

As I lie in the shadows

  with my soul partly damp

 

My words are set free

   —to the heavens restamped

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

 

 

A Sacrilege

 

Are people religious because

   they’re good?

 

Or good, because they’re

   religious?

 

The question remains,

  its verdict unclaimed

 

The wrong answer deemed

  —sacrilegious

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

 

 

 

The Promise

 

I discovered this morning

  after all these years,

  that everyone is really different

  from me

 

Whether rich or poor

  black or then white,

  it goes far beneath the surface

  to see

 

When I look in their eyes

  only questions stare back,

  as I try to keep my thoughts

  to myself

 

But along with those thoughts

  comes the promise I bear,

  and its hard to stay up

  on the shelf

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

 

 

Dream Prison

 

Once you have everything

 you can give it all up

 gratuitous though it seems

 

But until that day

 we lust and pray

  for what alludes us

  —a prisoner of dreams

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

To Inspire And Remind

 

A great voice has been silenced

 the wind through the willows

 blowing once, never to return

 

His words left behind

 to inspire and remind

  —of those things that we still have to learn

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

 

Released

 

The baser instincts

  within a higher calling

  —pain rewrapped in joy

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

 

 

Falling Free

 

Eternity shook,

   as the words fell free

    —startled, but unafraid

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

 

 

Our Essence To Bear

 

What if the Universe has always been here,

 defeating the concept of time

 

Never beginning and never to end,

 whose story you cannot define

 

What if the future, present, and past,

 are just crutches for the weakness we share

 

What if the answers lie beyond logic,

   inside us—our essence to bear

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

 

Lamenting The Past

 

Time not only seems to be speeding up…

 it actually is

 

Perception trumping reality looking forward,

 not looking back

 

Undercooked moments blow into the future,

 their aroma unsettling

 

As tomorrow disowns today

  —lamenting the past

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

 

As You Fly

 

I asked you to remain my student

But you wanted to teach

The balance between us changing

Our past out of reach

I gave what I could to your memory

And you borrowed the rest

Repayment to be due on arrival

 —as you fly from the nest

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania- January, 2019)