One More Message (+6)

In a virtual reality

 I found my father online

 

Though he died before the internet

 a man of his time

 

So how is this possible

 that an email appears?

 

From a website immortal

 in cyberspace near

 

I knew it was him

 with each line that I read

 

I knew it was him

 from what he left unsaid

 

In trying to print

 my screen crashed in error

 

“No document found,

   the message interred”

 

Was I just imagining

 or losing my mind?

 

His words never clearer

 for me to then find

 

I’ve thought of him often

 as I’ve struggled and fought

 

And carried inside me

 those lessons he taught

 

With every search engine

 I’ve looked and I’ve prayed

 

For just one more message

 —to rebalance my days

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

 

 

One Way Mirror

 

If ignorance is truly bliss,

  and the Emperor has new clothes

 

Then who am I to judge at all

  —where peace and freedom go

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

Your Original Sin

 

What’s that you’ve settled for?

What’s that you say?

From the library of excuses

You reason away

It seems almost this

But never quite that

As the present escapes

And you look further back

No comfort to take

In that notch on your gun

As you fire in vain

And continue to run

But you say it’s enough

It will then have to do

You repeat what’s been spoken

Never anything new

And you look for a club

Others thinking the same

To plead their excuses

Blaspheme and profane

But alone in the vestibule

A soul fires away

And speaks about life

And its maxims today

His message reoffered

But again you look back

The last sinners you follow

Leaving motherless tracks

Your death now committed

To the lies that you’ve told

And your headstone engraved

With letters that scold

Once eternity beckoned

With your eyes looking up

And drawing strength from it

You drank from its cup

But that story’s been told

You’re alone in the ground

Scant little reminder

You were ever around

As your bones become dust

To be reclaimed by the wind

Those excuses you trusted

  —your original sin

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

Soul To Repast

 

In reference to nothing

Alone with itself

The truth burns in fury

Damnation to melt

Its legions are many

Believers so few

The stragglers all freezing

And lined in the queue

The mirror the liar

Death hiding within

The priest the deceiver

Who threatens with sin

But truth holds dominion

Setting fire to the throne

Rising above and beyond

What's self-righteously known

It calls to you silent

As it calls to you loud

Do you hide in the shadows

Or answer back proud

That thing that you reference

From your prison within

Those things done in deference

Now caught in the wind

You lie as you bargain

You cheat and defame

One voice now your jailer

And calling your name

Your back to the altar

You hide in the pew

Before robbing the poor box

A new low for you

Your history tarnished

And legacy shot

Your name ill-begotten

From all you are not

But truth has no time stamp

No ticket to claim

One choice will release it

Life starting again

Your mortal days finite

You have to act fast

Will you ask for redemption

 —your soul to repast

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

Visual Darkness

 

The picture worth 1000 words

  is priced only one way

 

Its value screaming

  —until eyes close

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

 

Twin Pillars

 

Is there a balance

Between poetry and prose

Anymore than a balance

between these and those

 

Is there a balance

Between poetry and prose

Or maybe a marriage

Where ‘heaven only knows’

 

If there’s a balance

Between poetry and prose

Are there rules to be broken

Where anything goes

 

Or is the real balance

Between poetry and prose

Truth sitting on top

  —their twin pillars below

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

      Never Act

 

Be what you are

  just don’t act like it

 

Be who you are

  —and never act at all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

 The Answer

 

Did you die alive

  or did you live dead

 

The answer saying everything

  —meant to be said

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

 

       Faithful And Alone

 

Writing to no other standard

   but his own

 

He was forever faithful

  —and forever alone

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)