Jaded And Hoping

The signpost a warning

  a resting black swan

Its flight to perdition

  last call from beyond

With roses ungifted,

  their thorns bury deep

Last moon a reminder

  a reckoning steep

The doctor’s watch broken

  your time shorter still

His prognosis a token

  beyond suture or pill

He asks if you’re ready,

  you say that you’re not

You ask if it matters…

  the main lesson untaught

And into the night

  you try once again

To find deeper meaning

  to reach beyond blame

But those last final minutes

  only serve to remind

What the jaded and hoping

   —are never to find

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)

Searching In Vain

Carrying your heart

Inside my pocket

I traveled the world

Searching for love

When fate was unkind

You never complained

As I forgot to thank you

  —time after time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)

End To End

That first book

That last book

That next book

That other book

Beginning and ending in the middle

  —they all turn out the same

The first book

The last book

The middle book

The forgotten book

Memory plagues that already said

  —only to be said again

The first book

The last book

The borrowed book

The successful book

Images recreated

  —as words jump page to page

The first book

The last book

The closing book

The memory book

An orchestra calls a final waltz

  —its conductor off the stage

The promised book

The distant book

The transforming book

The forever book

Sameness trapped a clone of time

   —as difference strikes again

That finished book

That published book

That famous book

That holy book

All critics choking in the dark

  —light burning end to end

 (Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)