Twas deep within my golden years
when youth came rushing back
Tired of being left behind
seducing what I lack
Clocks run down as midnight harkens
options running thin
Amorous feelings lost to time
whose walls are closing in
But then an archer from the past
tightens up my bow
One arrow left to fire off…
that girl I used to know
It flies directed from my hand
t’ward one I left so young
To strike a memory buried deep
—of first love woe begun
(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: June, 2022)
It Sits In Judgment
There’s a voice that hides
with message plain
“IT STILL IS NOT ENOUGH”
No matter how the
phrases turn
“THEY LACK THE FINER STUFF”
It sits in judgment
undeterred
to flame and scold unbound
To speak when I’m
inopportune
—and turn me inside out
(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)