A Wish Unfulfilled (+5)

I came to your hospice,

I came here to die

 

I came for my family

a final goodbye

 

I broke that one promise,

I most wanted to keep

 

Alone on my mountain,

no mourners to weep

 

The doctors and nurses,

they prod and they poke

 

Their intentions most noble,

my spirit on dope

 

In the night, strangers faces

call out my name

 

And act like they know me

new pawn in the game

 

If I had that one wish

still left unfulfilled

 

I would walk to the rim

of the Canyon so still

 

At dawn I would jump

with both arms open wide

 

Saying: Thank you Dear Lord

—for a wonderful ride

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

 

Icebergs Melt

 

Simple words

and deeper meanings

 

Softer thoughts

and harder leanings

 

Letters line up

straight and true

 

But often they bring

something new

 

Simple words

and deeper meanings

 

Icebergs melt,

the flow still gleaming

 

Say it once,

and say it plain

 

Your heart will roar

—your soul to gain

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

 

A New Song

 

The answers deceive

The questions stand

The dancers leave

To track the sand

Round robin conspiracy

Threatens us all

The letters all lower case

The finality TALL

Butting my head

Inside of the line

Where does it end, Father

Maybe this time

The black and the white of it

The tall and the short

The poisons the same

One knife in the pork

New action may draw

What inaction restrains

What once again, once again

Once again drains

So back to the future

Back to the past

Choose not your weapon

You’ve had your last laugh

The wind’s in the vestibule

New breath in the hymn

Your darkness commands

What the light needs to win

The seven unsavory

The eight still to roast

The turkey unstuffed

Leaving room for the ghost

So ride away, ride away

Ride away all

The damage inflicted

This hammer a mall

The blood’s in the alleyway

Life beckons on

Death has been slaughtered

—as begins the new song

 

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: August, 2014)

 

 

That Tux In Your Mind

 

Do they only get dressed

for those formal affairs

 

Are your words clothed in rags

when no one else seems to care

 

Awaiting an invitation,

do the hours seem long

 

Your verse patent leather

set to dance to a song

 

Are the verbs sharp as linen,

is your meaning like silk

 

Is delayed expectation

and the silence your ilk

 

Do your words hang in limbo

like that tux in the dark

 

In a closet unspoken

—where the verses take heart

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

 

 

To Harness The Wind

 

I rode the emotion like a horse

until the shoes fell off one by one

 

Leaving me silent and alone

 

A horseless prophet on the raging sands

—desperately trying to harness the wind

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

Until Last Night

 

Until last night I had never been alone,

never bereft of sleep

 

Until last night I had never been afraid,

never afraid to dream

 

Until last night my thoughts were in stone,

indecision a foreigner sure

 

Until last night my will had been staid,

my conscience both steadfast and pure

 

—until last night

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)