So Hard Undefined (+5)

Neither over nor under

  ahead or behind

My position unreferenced

  your judgment still blind

Not over nor under

  ahead or behind

So easy once labeled
—so hard undefined

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Those Quiet Damned

From Lederhosen

  a monster chosen

Whose Reich is damned

 —gas slaughtered lambs

The eagle rises

  truth despises

A country shamed

 —those quiet blamed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Last Verse—Zero Sum

A richness of words

  my legacy foretells

New questions to reason

  old mysteries dispelled

No breaths taken lightly

  or lines left undone

No memory forsaken

  last verse—zero sum

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Love's Denial

The memory bitter

 —from the taste of love’s denial

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016) 

If We Were Young Men

If we were young men

  if we were strong

If we had fresh words

  to add to our song

If we were soldiers

  with war in our veins

If we were poets

  our voices reclaimed

If we were lovers

  of women that cried

If we went wandering

  our heart’s reapplied

If we were statesmen

  the world in our grasp

If we were sailors

  the wind at our backs

If we were farmers

  with meadows so green

If we were actors

  on stages supreme

If we were hunters

  new wolf on the prowl

If we were dreamers

  all wishes allowed

If we were young men

  still facing the sun

But alas, we are old

           —and darkness has come                 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Radiant Epiphany

The light burns brightest

  at journeys end

     “Radiant Epiphany

       Seraph's descend”

Its blaze to enrapture

  the love that you give

     “Celestial applause

       for a life well lived”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)