One Arrow Left (+1)

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)