To Guide And Delight (+4)

My reality secure

from the attacking winds

Sheltered by experience,

a fortress hard won

Neither fortune nor danger

can force their way in

All entrance is barred,

a mystery respun

An Eden contained,

in a legend foretold

Where peace and solitude

rekindle the light

Possessed of itself,

past-futures on hold

Its voice omnipresent

—to guide and delight

(Broomall Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

Perdition Assured

You try to mask your given voice

in what’s perverse and then profane

But truth speaks only for itself,

your costume tattered—seamstress blamed

This great parade, a grand charade,

your song a flattened chord

Its final line to seal your fate

—perdition now assured

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

My Past Returns

A tamer version of myself,

I rise from day to day

Fit for consumption publicly,

in camouflage I play

Memories deep, and memories stored,

from oh so long ago

Now sleep inside my attic walls,

ephemeral they glow

My current frame of reference…

four always two plus two

To the mundane I show deference,

and do what others do

But late at night I hear those sounds,

now coming down the hall

Remembrances to fill my dreams,

my treasure out of pawn

With sleep unchained and dreams on fire,

I return to who I am

And pray that on tomorrow’s eve

—my past will come again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Only For Itself

There are many voices

—but the truth speaks only for itself

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Ashes Cry

My tongue on fire,

words despised

The page in flames

—ashes cry

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)