Your arms lift me up,
as your words take me down
And I’m caught in-between
your smile and frown
Your eyes making promises,
your words yet to keep
My spirit in limbo,
my heart left to weep
A soul now in turmoil,
my mind double dealt
As your fear and your passion
collide
What’s to be known,
and what’s to be felt
Is it your words or your actions
—that lie
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Time
Easily measured,
not clearly defined
Often lamented,
more often unkind
Its loss we all mourn,
searching heaven to find
The time to become
—a new past to rewind
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
This Instant
Embracing the present,
freeing the past
Abandoning the future
—eternity’s mask
Seizing the moment,
lies tumble and fall
Salvation perpetual
—this instant and all
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
The Music Stops
The jaws sing
As the drip, drip, drip,
Of the petroleum chorus
Dances across
The inverted aluminum
And the hissing starts
And the hissing stays
Its smell a warning
A final omen
Like the last rose
Of summer
Or the fragrance she wore
For that final goodbye
The teeth tear inward
Like the regret for today
And the regret for yesterday
And the lament for tomorrow
Its promise broken
And your khakis red
And baptized
A stigmata
To self infliction
As the music plays constant
And the rushing you feel
An emptying of sorrow
Onto the crushed ceiling
Of a dream in reverse
Of all life in reverse
Until two arms grab you
And you fall from the sky
And you fall from the sky
Waiting
For the ground
To coronate the outcome
And for one more answer
To a ‘why’ unquestioned
And to love you one more time
But the lights are now dim
And the voices muffled
As an organ can be heard
And store bought flowers smelled
And an old woman cries…
As a young woman cries…
And a stranger pronounces
What you feared the most
They didn’t know you
And couldn’t know you
The exit sign flashing
But there is no door
“There Is No Door”
—and then the music stops
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
For Better Or...
Committing to joy,
committing to moonbeams
Committing to hope,
committing above
Committing to sorrow,
committing forever
Committing to heartbreak
—committing to love
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)
Forever In Shade
The light of remembrance,
the will’s DNA
Entombed by dementia
—forever in shade
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Redemption Near
Did you waste your life
just making money
Did you eat the bread
and not the honey
Did you sell your soul
as your children watched
Was your heart left cold
in a tinderbox
Were your excuses rich
and your reasons poor
Did you wake up full
and still ask for more
Were your blessings shunned,
as you scratched and clawed
Saying: “No harm done,
I never broke the law”
Were your teeth all straightened
and your motives bent
Were your eyes detached
from what heaven sent
Were your memories lost
in some dead refrain
As a lonely footnote
to another’s name
If you had one chance
to re-right these wrongs
Would you hide in silence
or break out in song
With your soul imprisoned,
the choice is clear
All joy awaits
—redemption near
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
One Last Memory
I thought that I had said it all
but then—my world was changing
I thought that I had seen it all
until the moment rearranged me
With the hourglass empty and clock run down
leaves fall with the promise of snow
As I’m left to write a final verse
inspiration still unknown
I thought I’d always have in store
one last memory for my pen
But the truth has spoken, my cupboard’s bare,
and I’m left here alone—unread
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Daydreams
The nursery, a womb
where fantasy begins
The clay, the permission
for a sculptor to sin
The keyboard, a staircase
to a heavenly score
The day, once forsaken
—its daydream records
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
That Place I Wander
My level of concern
goes only so deep
I care only to there
in meters or feet
Beyond that depth
lies a hidden zone
Where beneath the caring
what’s really known
In my efforts to hide
from the surface again
My words shelter there
immune from the pain
Below its demeanor
I now call out to you
From that place that I wander
—and keep out of view
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Smokescreen
“Commercially Successful”
—the metaphysical oxymoron
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Liars Dwell
Is the truth even electable,
redemption now a sin
The confessional a voting booth
—where liars dwell within
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
The Brick Wall
None of you are listening,
this ending all too real
Heaven’s on the horizon
—with the Devil at the wheel
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Captured & Slain
Where have all the Poets gone,
has time then captured and slain
Those heraldic writers of messaged truth
—whose shields once bore their names
(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Original Sin
A battalion of feeling,
a dead soldier’s thoughts
A war of contrition,
last battle not fought
Distant artillery,
final shot from within
Its smoke covering over,
—the most original sin
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
\'Father To The Man\'
“You can’t play with something you don’t own,\" said
the father. “But father, that is the truest definition
of play,” said the Russian boy. “What is not owned is
not worried about, and what is not worried about sets
you free.”
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Camp Cookie Sings
The Camp Cookie could be heard singing…
“Cowboy: You can’t wrangle the future,
till you stop rustlin the past”
(Dewey Wyoming: July, 2016)
Last Drop
Should a tree be cut down,
for missing a branch
Should the wounded be chastised,
for taking a chance
Should the cup that’s been broken,
forsake its last drop
Should a man be accountable
—for what he is not
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)