Kurt Philip Behm

Madonna\'s Last Hymn (+1)

I’m on my fourth lifeline,

how about you?

 

The first three pre-owned,

the current one new

 

This one seems fleeting,

which gives me concern

 

My freezer now empty,

no steaks left to burn?

 

The first one was blissful,

the second had pain

 

The third one reflective,

but this fourth one again….

 

I try to hold on

and describe it at will

 

Exceeding my grasp,

it alludes me and still….

 

I wouldn’t go back

to either one, two, or three

 

The things I see now,

seeded fruit on my tree

 

If this is the end,

and the lights start to dim

 

I’ll sing the words strongly,

Madonna’s last hymn

 

More thankful than troubled,

more joyous than sad

 

More today than tomorrow

—the past in the past

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

Forever At Once

 

Folding the past

inside the present

 

Rolling the future in layers

of perpetual time

 

Escaping from one then the other

leaving all three in simulation

 

A dancer shrouded in mystery

—all things forever at once

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2014)