TRIOLET #4
A wider landscape I see beyond;
It beckons to me from afar.
The land has a kaleidoscope dawn
And many wonders that lay beyond.
Run your hands over its grasses blonde;
Catch a whiff of its sacred rose attar.
To a kinder landscape I go beyond;
Someday it will beckon no more.
AFTER making love
I lay my head upon your chest
To hear your heartbeat;
You are delicately built
But wonderfully alive.
Your skin is like satin
Draping across my fingers
As a blanket would but better;
Let me lay in your warmth
'Til the evening's end.
DEATH, to me, is a stranger;
I know not his whereabouts.
I've seen him but haven't heard -
I know of him but we've not met.
He spoke at length with my elder
And convinced him to go.
I got to say good-bye before
He left, but of Death, I don't know.
He seems so popular among
Celebrities - distant and queer.
With the sickly, too, he throngs -
Too important to come here
Although once, without persistence -
Death did rap upon my door.
I was busy - I did not answer
So he left a calling card.
GOD never promised you and I Eden -
Only thistles, but even a thistle
Will grow tall in shaft and be edible.
Was that not sufficient for Adam?
OUR Sun imprints heavy July
Upon a crimson sunset.
The first star I see in the west
Brings with it a cobalt sigh ...
LIKE a sparkling Roman candle
Parry's penstemon dots the canyon.
Oh what deep purple bells! -
That decorate the trail along
Where pebblestones were swept aside
And sway with the breeze -
Not to illicit a reaction
But to accompany green.
THE BUTTERFLY DANCE
Do you know the Butterfly Dance?
How it enchants, how it enchants -
Make way for the midnight entrance.
See their wings so pretty in color
Glowing by the moonlight pallor
As they turn and curtsy each other.
Taking hold of her, they twirl away
Quickly about in wondrous display -
Eclipsed by a moon cloud of gray
Under the desert canopy -
Watched by creatures who know closely -
Such a bold aviary! - oh see! -
Until finally, they touch down
Moving about to the cricket sound
And bow even as morning is found.
Do you know the Butterfly Dance?
If I could acquire wings perchance
I would do the Butterfly Dance.
YOU want to requite my love;
You already have with a ring
And many years of life
So this I command you to bring:
A bouquet of chocolate flowers
Each with a nice, dark button
Comparable to your eyes
And a fragrance as divine.
Put it together with care –
Tape it inconspicuously –
Present it when I’m caught unawares
And you have hours to give me.
Such a bouquet – bright and simple –
As native as the mourning dove –
Would be a challenge worthwhile
Your time and your love.
A PROFUSION of great heat
Rose up and oppressed my mind.
So few were signs of retreat
It stifled an alarm seldom heard.
Philosophy says the mind
And body are two different entities
And it's not meant with scorn
But Invincibility disagrees.
PANTOUM #1
I give you a gift of fireflies;
They're all I have to give -
Captured by many tries -
Given with all my love.
They're all I have to give
To you. They are white magick -
Given with all my love.
Let them illuminate your path.
To you, they are white magick
In the myst of the forest.
Let them illuminate your path
Because fear is darkness
In the myst of the forest.
Captured by many tries -
Because fear is darkness -
I give you a gift of fireflies.
HE comes around the wall
And I feel my quickened heart.
I dare to look even while
Seconds become a moment.
He passes with dull eyes
And a whiff of musky skin.
I wish I could pass by
As unaffected as him.
SHE begged with her eyes
Yet they loved her no more.
Home was a place of purgatory
Far from a thing of comfort.
Long ago they were ordinary;
They had planned her birth.
She used to be their princess.
Now her life has little worth.
They loved her no more
Though she begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes
But with their fists, they beat her.
They laughed and like a dog
Chained her leg to a tether.
She played in plain sight of people
Who knew not how they were.
She learned it was best to smile
But wondered if she'd endure.
With their fists, they beat her
As she begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes
When they broke her arm
And she mumbled a poor excuse
As she was bandaged by the doctor.
She obeyed every word they said
Too afraid to blow their cover.
The freedom of the light of day
Kept her going as a fighter.
When they broke her arm
She again, begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes;
They remain a haunting spectre.
After a fit of drunken rage
The pain of her short life was over
Because her body relented to death.
The thoughts of one suspicious neighbor
Were little more than curiosity.
Her teachers were left to wonder.
They remain a haunting spectre
For she begged with her eyes.
JULY 11TH, 1991
Time, as I felt it, stopped
As the Sun gave up its power and waned
But for an interval. I was lost -
Called away from the mundane.
Given like a vision from God -
I was shown one of absence
Contrary to a comfortable thought
But at the mercy of physics.
I am One with the Stars and Earth
And all Things of eternity;
That doubt of universal birth
Was overshadowed by gray reverie.
LAST night remains a scent
Remembered at slow length -
Drawn from the air, lingering about -
A secret kept under my breath.
The union of your soft lips
Upon mine - warm and precious -
Mixed with your fingertips
Touching my arms were luxurious.
Your flirting, like your words, stumbled -
Became nervous on cue.
Your eyes - brown like truffles -
Were delicious to my view.
Yes, above all else, your eyes
Are what I remember.
Let me kiss your eyes shut tonight
So that they might sleep better.
TO a stranger who has died
Money is nontransferable -
That the Egyptians tried -
The kings - they're unconsolable -
But I know of things that follow:
A reputation is transferable -
Fame - too - worth much in gold
As well as a pretty caricature -
Others will take their talents
And I - by a memory that's perfect -
Will take - cheating osmosis -
My poems with me into death.
RATHER than talking to walls
I'd prefer a saguaro
For the wisdom they know.
Centuries - they come and go -
Leaving mysteries unsolved
And the traditions Loss mourns
Told through centenarian eyes
Could straighten crooked lies
With some persuasion - surprise! -
Instead they bristle with thorns.
THE BELLS OF SAN XAVIER
Emerging from a doorway shadow
Through thick air - sweet with incense -
Comes a dark figure dressed in a robe
To be near the altar in silence.
The trappings pierce the dark with gold.
Upon him fall the eyes of those saints
Portraying the centuries of old
And every breeze makes them shift shape.
His fist is clenched over his rosary
As he mutters a prayer of small sound.
The peace is sacred and momentary
And it speaks to a heart as cold as stone.
Over the ghostly flames of candles -
His vacant eyes go up a tower
And he thinks he hears
That which shrills:
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
As his prayer hovers in the smoke
He remembers priests who've come and gone
And there lingers a bitter hope
To join them and the angels among.
He struggles against purgatory
That curses him for reasons unknown.
His life on Earth was exemplary
But God has not yet called him home.
Visions of yesteryear play back
And thoughts of one woman remain.
Surely loving kindness is not bad.
He wonders if his life was in vain
Then shaking off the feeling of sin -
Returns the passion by which he sware
And with that spirit
Fighting rings vivid
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
Echoes of laughter come down the hall -
High-pitched on the ears - innocent -
Broken by children coming through the wall -
Dead for so long they think nothing of it.
They are translucent in the moon's glow
Like a rushing wind for the fire
Released their essence many moons ago.
Behind them follows a Sister.
Like a father who loves his children
He draws them nigh with nothing said.
Their twinkling eyes cause him to grin.
He blesses each one upon their head.
With the cares of his heart made light -
The nun chases them into the air
As if their flight
Was called by that night
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
Once again - he is left with his thoughts
And he turns to face the empty pews.
The hope of the church has not been lost;
The energy felt there is profuse.
Off to the side - he gazes upon the bones -
The bones of a Padre behind glass -
So old and brown they could pass for stones
With an expression frozen like a mask.
Again - he thinks of the tower up high
So he whispers an apology to the Padre
And swears that before the Age passes by
He will finish the church with bells someway.
A breeze comes in and puts out some wicks
And halts that concern of loving care
But through the darkness
Rings true his promise:
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
GHAZAL #2
Love celebrates a triumph tonight!
The stars - they sparkle for us tonight!
How long had I endured in my dream? -
A dream not lucid until tonight.
Always to the side of my vision -
A legend you were, until tonight.
I honored distance for fear of loss
But fear has lifted its curse tonight.
The past is past; I see everything -
A path of fresh steps I left tonight.
Heart upon heart; flames burn into one -
Your eyes speak a thousand words tonight.
You are a whale and I - a white crane;
I gave you iron wings for tonight.
Never to part again - let's fly up;
Move with me in a sky waltz tonight.
I have refound Myself, Love and Life -
These three, I bequeath to you tonight.
I am your Friend who flies with the breeze -
The moon and the sea rejoice tonight.
I SEE the green of the desert
That overcomes the brown
Clinging to ground and water
And with gentle affection
It might reveal some color
Like a yellow persuasion.
I feel the fermenting sun
Calling out the vultures
That fly with a heart of one.
It heats a beautiful hearth
Of brown quartz and white granite
That swears of Nature's wealth.
I sense the black jaguar's stare -
Eyes that have a thirst for blood
And those teeth - a gnashing lair.
I smell blood in the wind
When death captures its prey
And in birth when life tries again.
I hear the cicadas' buzz
Drowning in humidity
As thunderheads growl above -
Billowing, creeping steadily
To the hour of their rage -
Covering the path of a coyote.
I taste the kindness of plants
Of palo verde, jojoba -
What nutrients each grants!
I spy the purple mountains
Blending in with their shadows -
Not knowing where either begin.
They tempt my spirit below
To their crags and lonely peaks -
To secret places I know.
WHAT a curtain Bisbee has
That keeps Mexico subdued
And influences the lands
From which the Sierra was hewn.
What purple folds keep Oaxaca
As a fortress in the sky
Breaking only in Panama
To let a vessel dredge by.
No courier have I on hand
Except the initial breezes that blow
So a whisper I channel into it:
Give to Colombia my hello.
PANTOUM #2
Sealed with a kiss –
Our union is a circle;
Love, Laughter, Friendship
In motion centripetal.
Our union is a circle;
That ring of passion
In motion centripetal
Is neverending.
That ring of passion
Given unto us in prayer
Is neverending –
One vow, Two hearts.
Given unto us in prayer:
Love, Laughter, Friendship –
One vow, Two hearts –
Sealed with a kiss.
SOME people - unpopular in stature -
Slip away into death unnoticed
Softer than a falling feather
That little earns a second glance
But the good deeds of their lives
Grow - recount a love that's long
And with increasing strength - strive
To tell of hope that spans a marathon.
Others are taken with a shout
Heard far across the air waves -
Ushered by those in the crowd
To a biography and grand raves
And some die amid great efforts -
Succumbing to an evil deed -
And leave a hole as big as their hearts -
Hindsight is the mystery.
Still others leave unknown;
Their time becomes a strange gap
That hides behind a name
Clinging to a simple lithograph.
THE mirror is ignorant
Of what I know is the truth:
Youth repelling the elements -
A smooth face untouched by grief -
An expression revealing no thought
Whose round eyes of ocean blue
Can't focus in on a plot -
Can't see vandals for what they do
But this face is aware of things
From academia and abroad -
Challenged by touch and theory -
Although my peers might say not
And my opinions - they run deep -
Diverse in classifications -
My humility - held steady -
By the years of my burdens.
WHEN Philibert first met Jeanne
A finer pair thus hadn’t been paired
Who else could conjure up deceit
Fit for as such - true and rare.
She had few chances to get aboard
But Huguenot pedigree foresware
That the sea would call her forth -
Then came the whispering in her ear.
The grand prize of Uruguay he gave
To her whose fingers were golden
With a love greater than love -
To her - a garden as green as Eden.
Lush and vivid - that strange species
Called bougainvillea was discovered
Amid such biome whose silken leaves
Sat in her palm and curled up.
What imagination must have been theirs! -
To think the whole jungle your own
And see your beloved over pretty petals
And touch a frond you know is unknown.
Then the sea began its whispering -
They took off into the Atlantic blue
Trading frigid October for a spring
Subject to a rich spray of dew.
Proving to be a powerful aphrodisiac
Was the scent of the Strait of Magellan -
If not - honorary pieces of chocolate;
Moreover - Tahiti was kind to them.
Now their journey of intrigue
And their testament of botany
Is a tale worthy of a repeat
But for a bit of fun history.
AN inhospitable truth I have
To carry throughout my life
That must stay buried in my heart -
What a terrible truth!
It dances on my tongue
When I feel somebody knows.
On the scale of history - it nags -
On a bone - it gnaws.
It's the shadow that follows
My genetic path incurably.
It shall follow me into death
And be the Ghost beside me.
I WAS given a vision in a box
Loosened shortly from behind locks
Then it was sealed with anticipation
And I contemplated what was shown.
I saw a picture of time that's long
Telling a tale of survival that goes on
And of a sunset drowning in mud
Followed by a better sunrise coming up
And of many things of beauty
Waiting for those who want to see
And that not a single day slips by
Where a chance doesn't wait in lie.
I sensed a truth: the hope of history
Is family for God; inheritance for me
And to look back without shame
To find that throughout wisdom remained.
So now a golden request lies ahead
And needs to be answered with a pledge:
To die to self and for each other
And remain as one body together
As the Savior has done because
We have every reason in the world to love.
HE has a gift little perceived -
A mind for temperament and thoughts.
That he is one of privilege
Is both natural and mysterious.
Such witchcraft to them of fright
Puts them to good reactions -
Harmless to a passerby -
Helpful to a set of events.
It was taught by a Master -
His mind is only existence.
We walk about - caught unaware -
Then he finishes my sentence
And with the magic he has
He twists the day as we go.
For that I could kiss his head -
It impresses me so.
APRIL - breezy and demure -
Make yourself at home.
I've kept some tea warm.
Here is a seat of nature -
A trunk on which to sit.
The birds announced your arrival
By chirp and warble -
I'd been waiting for it.
I saw wildflowers in full flush
Arrive just ahead of you.
The bees buzz as if to say “hello”
And throng around the brittlebush.
Company is such excitement!
Show me your light winds -
Stir them up in the mountains
But thirty days - then what?
Oh pretty April - do not go -
You are one of my favorite guests.
Stay for a few months -
May calls but burns me so.
PERHAPS he was once a great chief
And when he died so full of grief
Was one that he picked up a chisel
And declared that face immortal
For the many centuries to see
Or else he was a brazen warrior
Who - unable to sleep in his lair
When they buried him in the mountain -
Comes and looks over to be certain
Of how well his people fare
But I think it more conceivable
That God spoke of it in our preamble
To show that no humor on him is lost
And left hastily with the rocks
His signature upon the wall.
OH star - brightest star -
That's first in the sky -
I don't need advice;
I just need an ear.
Nobody else must know
But I feel terrible.
You seem quite capable
Of fighting evil's blow.
Shine for my heart -
Let your fire burn my strife
With resilience tonight;
Shine on with luster.
The sight of you is crisp -
Your wisdom is your silence;
I lay this up to heaven
And trust it upon your lips.
A wider landscape I see beyond;
It beckons to me from afar.
The land has a kaleidoscope dawn
And many wonders that lay beyond.
Run your hands over its grasses blonde;
Catch a whiff of its sacred rose attar.
To a kinder landscape I go beyond;
Someday it will beckon no more.
AFTER making love
I lay my head upon your chest
To hear your heartbeat;
You are delicately built
But wonderfully alive.
Your skin is like satin
Draping across my fingers
As a blanket would but better;
Let me lay in your warmth
'Til the evening's end.
DEATH, to me, is a stranger;
I know not his whereabouts.
I've seen him but haven't heard -
I know of him but we've not met.
He spoke at length with my elder
And convinced him to go.
I got to say good-bye before
He left, but of Death, I don't know.
He seems so popular among
Celebrities - distant and queer.
With the sickly, too, he throngs -
Too important to come here
Although once, without persistence -
Death did rap upon my door.
I was busy - I did not answer
So he left a calling card.
GOD never promised you and I Eden -
Only thistles, but even a thistle
Will grow tall in shaft and be edible.
Was that not sufficient for Adam?
OUR Sun imprints heavy July
Upon a crimson sunset.
The first star I see in the west
Brings with it a cobalt sigh ...
LIKE a sparkling Roman candle
Parry's penstemon dots the canyon.
Oh what deep purple bells! -
That decorate the trail along
Where pebblestones were swept aside
And sway with the breeze -
Not to illicit a reaction
But to accompany green.
THE BUTTERFLY DANCE
Do you know the Butterfly Dance?
How it enchants, how it enchants -
Make way for the midnight entrance.
See their wings so pretty in color
Glowing by the moonlight pallor
As they turn and curtsy each other.
Taking hold of her, they twirl away
Quickly about in wondrous display -
Eclipsed by a moon cloud of gray
Under the desert canopy -
Watched by creatures who know closely -
Such a bold aviary! - oh see! -
Until finally, they touch down
Moving about to the cricket sound
And bow even as morning is found.
Do you know the Butterfly Dance?
If I could acquire wings perchance
I would do the Butterfly Dance.
YOU want to requite my love;
You already have with a ring
And many years of life
So this I command you to bring:
A bouquet of chocolate flowers
Each with a nice, dark button
Comparable to your eyes
And a fragrance as divine.
Put it together with care –
Tape it inconspicuously –
Present it when I’m caught unawares
And you have hours to give me.
Such a bouquet – bright and simple –
As native as the mourning dove –
Would be a challenge worthwhile
Your time and your love.
A PROFUSION of great heat
Rose up and oppressed my mind.
So few were signs of retreat
It stifled an alarm seldom heard.
Philosophy says the mind
And body are two different entities
And it's not meant with scorn
But Invincibility disagrees.
PANTOUM #1
I give you a gift of fireflies;
They're all I have to give -
Captured by many tries -
Given with all my love.
They're all I have to give
To you. They are white magick -
Given with all my love.
Let them illuminate your path.
To you, they are white magick
In the myst of the forest.
Let them illuminate your path
Because fear is darkness
In the myst of the forest.
Captured by many tries -
Because fear is darkness -
I give you a gift of fireflies.
HE comes around the wall
And I feel my quickened heart.
I dare to look even while
Seconds become a moment.
He passes with dull eyes
And a whiff of musky skin.
I wish I could pass by
As unaffected as him.
SHE begged with her eyes
Yet they loved her no more.
Home was a place of purgatory
Far from a thing of comfort.
Long ago they were ordinary;
They had planned her birth.
She used to be their princess.
Now her life has little worth.
They loved her no more
Though she begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes
But with their fists, they beat her.
They laughed and like a dog
Chained her leg to a tether.
She played in plain sight of people
Who knew not how they were.
She learned it was best to smile
But wondered if she'd endure.
With their fists, they beat her
As she begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes
When they broke her arm
And she mumbled a poor excuse
As she was bandaged by the doctor.
She obeyed every word they said
Too afraid to blow their cover.
The freedom of the light of day
Kept her going as a fighter.
When they broke her arm
She again, begged with her eyes.
She begged with her eyes;
They remain a haunting spectre.
After a fit of drunken rage
The pain of her short life was over
Because her body relented to death.
The thoughts of one suspicious neighbor
Were little more than curiosity.
Her teachers were left to wonder.
They remain a haunting spectre
For she begged with her eyes.
JULY 11TH, 1991
Time, as I felt it, stopped
As the Sun gave up its power and waned
But for an interval. I was lost -
Called away from the mundane.
Given like a vision from God -
I was shown one of absence
Contrary to a comfortable thought
But at the mercy of physics.
I am One with the Stars and Earth
And all Things of eternity;
That doubt of universal birth
Was overshadowed by gray reverie.
LAST night remains a scent
Remembered at slow length -
Drawn from the air, lingering about -
A secret kept under my breath.
The union of your soft lips
Upon mine - warm and precious -
Mixed with your fingertips
Touching my arms were luxurious.
Your flirting, like your words, stumbled -
Became nervous on cue.
Your eyes - brown like truffles -
Were delicious to my view.
Yes, above all else, your eyes
Are what I remember.
Let me kiss your eyes shut tonight
So that they might sleep better.
TO a stranger who has died
Money is nontransferable -
That the Egyptians tried -
The kings - they're unconsolable -
But I know of things that follow:
A reputation is transferable -
Fame - too - worth much in gold
As well as a pretty caricature -
Others will take their talents
And I - by a memory that's perfect -
Will take - cheating osmosis -
My poems with me into death.
RATHER than talking to walls
I'd prefer a saguaro
For the wisdom they know.
Centuries - they come and go -
Leaving mysteries unsolved
And the traditions Loss mourns
Told through centenarian eyes
Could straighten crooked lies
With some persuasion - surprise! -
Instead they bristle with thorns.
THE BELLS OF SAN XAVIER
Emerging from a doorway shadow
Through thick air - sweet with incense -
Comes a dark figure dressed in a robe
To be near the altar in silence.
The trappings pierce the dark with gold.
Upon him fall the eyes of those saints
Portraying the centuries of old
And every breeze makes them shift shape.
His fist is clenched over his rosary
As he mutters a prayer of small sound.
The peace is sacred and momentary
And it speaks to a heart as cold as stone.
Over the ghostly flames of candles -
His vacant eyes go up a tower
And he thinks he hears
That which shrills:
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
As his prayer hovers in the smoke
He remembers priests who've come and gone
And there lingers a bitter hope
To join them and the angels among.
He struggles against purgatory
That curses him for reasons unknown.
His life on Earth was exemplary
But God has not yet called him home.
Visions of yesteryear play back
And thoughts of one woman remain.
Surely loving kindness is not bad.
He wonders if his life was in vain
Then shaking off the feeling of sin -
Returns the passion by which he sware
And with that spirit
Fighting rings vivid
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
Echoes of laughter come down the hall -
High-pitched on the ears - innocent -
Broken by children coming through the wall -
Dead for so long they think nothing of it.
They are translucent in the moon's glow
Like a rushing wind for the fire
Released their essence many moons ago.
Behind them follows a Sister.
Like a father who loves his children
He draws them nigh with nothing said.
Their twinkling eyes cause him to grin.
He blesses each one upon their head.
With the cares of his heart made light -
The nun chases them into the air
As if their flight
Was called by that night
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
Once again - he is left with his thoughts
And he turns to face the empty pews.
The hope of the church has not been lost;
The energy felt there is profuse.
Off to the side - he gazes upon the bones -
The bones of a Padre behind glass -
So old and brown they could pass for stones
With an expression frozen like a mask.
Again - he thinks of the tower up high
So he whispers an apology to the Padre
And swears that before the Age passes by
He will finish the church with bells someway.
A breeze comes in and puts out some wicks
And halts that concern of loving care
But through the darkness
Rings true his promise:
The Bells - the Bells of San Xavier.
GHAZAL #2
Love celebrates a triumph tonight!
The stars - they sparkle for us tonight!
How long had I endured in my dream? -
A dream not lucid until tonight.
Always to the side of my vision -
A legend you were, until tonight.
I honored distance for fear of loss
But fear has lifted its curse tonight.
The past is past; I see everything -
A path of fresh steps I left tonight.
Heart upon heart; flames burn into one -
Your eyes speak a thousand words tonight.
You are a whale and I - a white crane;
I gave you iron wings for tonight.
Never to part again - let's fly up;
Move with me in a sky waltz tonight.
I have refound Myself, Love and Life -
These three, I bequeath to you tonight.
I am your Friend who flies with the breeze -
The moon and the sea rejoice tonight.
I SEE the green of the desert
That overcomes the brown
Clinging to ground and water
And with gentle affection
It might reveal some color
Like a yellow persuasion.
I feel the fermenting sun
Calling out the vultures
That fly with a heart of one.
It heats a beautiful hearth
Of brown quartz and white granite
That swears of Nature's wealth.
I sense the black jaguar's stare -
Eyes that have a thirst for blood
And those teeth - a gnashing lair.
I smell blood in the wind
When death captures its prey
And in birth when life tries again.
I hear the cicadas' buzz
Drowning in humidity
As thunderheads growl above -
Billowing, creeping steadily
To the hour of their rage -
Covering the path of a coyote.
I taste the kindness of plants
Of palo verde, jojoba -
What nutrients each grants!
I spy the purple mountains
Blending in with their shadows -
Not knowing where either begin.
They tempt my spirit below
To their crags and lonely peaks -
To secret places I know.
WHAT a curtain Bisbee has
That keeps Mexico subdued
And influences the lands
From which the Sierra was hewn.
What purple folds keep Oaxaca
As a fortress in the sky
Breaking only in Panama
To let a vessel dredge by.
No courier have I on hand
Except the initial breezes that blow
So a whisper I channel into it:
Give to Colombia my hello.
PANTOUM #2
Sealed with a kiss –
Our union is a circle;
Love, Laughter, Friendship
In motion centripetal.
Our union is a circle;
That ring of passion
In motion centripetal
Is neverending.
That ring of passion
Given unto us in prayer
Is neverending –
One vow, Two hearts.
Given unto us in prayer:
Love, Laughter, Friendship –
One vow, Two hearts –
Sealed with a kiss.
SOME people - unpopular in stature -
Slip away into death unnoticed
Softer than a falling feather
That little earns a second glance
But the good deeds of their lives
Grow - recount a love that's long
And with increasing strength - strive
To tell of hope that spans a marathon.
Others are taken with a shout
Heard far across the air waves -
Ushered by those in the crowd
To a biography and grand raves
And some die amid great efforts -
Succumbing to an evil deed -
And leave a hole as big as their hearts -
Hindsight is the mystery.
Still others leave unknown;
Their time becomes a strange gap
That hides behind a name
Clinging to a simple lithograph.
THE mirror is ignorant
Of what I know is the truth:
Youth repelling the elements -
A smooth face untouched by grief -
An expression revealing no thought
Whose round eyes of ocean blue
Can't focus in on a plot -
Can't see vandals for what they do
But this face is aware of things
From academia and abroad -
Challenged by touch and theory -
Although my peers might say not
And my opinions - they run deep -
Diverse in classifications -
My humility - held steady -
By the years of my burdens.
WHEN Philibert first met Jeanne
A finer pair thus hadn’t been paired
Who else could conjure up deceit
Fit for as such - true and rare.
She had few chances to get aboard
But Huguenot pedigree foresware
That the sea would call her forth -
Then came the whispering in her ear.
The grand prize of Uruguay he gave
To her whose fingers were golden
With a love greater than love -
To her - a garden as green as Eden.
Lush and vivid - that strange species
Called bougainvillea was discovered
Amid such biome whose silken leaves
Sat in her palm and curled up.
What imagination must have been theirs! -
To think the whole jungle your own
And see your beloved over pretty petals
And touch a frond you know is unknown.
Then the sea began its whispering -
They took off into the Atlantic blue
Trading frigid October for a spring
Subject to a rich spray of dew.
Proving to be a powerful aphrodisiac
Was the scent of the Strait of Magellan -
If not - honorary pieces of chocolate;
Moreover - Tahiti was kind to them.
Now their journey of intrigue
And their testament of botany
Is a tale worthy of a repeat
But for a bit of fun history.
AN inhospitable truth I have
To carry throughout my life
That must stay buried in my heart -
What a terrible truth!
It dances on my tongue
When I feel somebody knows.
On the scale of history - it nags -
On a bone - it gnaws.
It's the shadow that follows
My genetic path incurably.
It shall follow me into death
And be the Ghost beside me.
I WAS given a vision in a box
Loosened shortly from behind locks
Then it was sealed with anticipation
And I contemplated what was shown.
I saw a picture of time that's long
Telling a tale of survival that goes on
And of a sunset drowning in mud
Followed by a better sunrise coming up
And of many things of beauty
Waiting for those who want to see
And that not a single day slips by
Where a chance doesn't wait in lie.
I sensed a truth: the hope of history
Is family for God; inheritance for me
And to look back without shame
To find that throughout wisdom remained.
So now a golden request lies ahead
And needs to be answered with a pledge:
To die to self and for each other
And remain as one body together
As the Savior has done because
We have every reason in the world to love.
HE has a gift little perceived -
A mind for temperament and thoughts.
That he is one of privilege
Is both natural and mysterious.
Such witchcraft to them of fright
Puts them to good reactions -
Harmless to a passerby -
Helpful to a set of events.
It was taught by a Master -
His mind is only existence.
We walk about - caught unaware -
Then he finishes my sentence
And with the magic he has
He twists the day as we go.
For that I could kiss his head -
It impresses me so.
APRIL - breezy and demure -
Make yourself at home.
I've kept some tea warm.
Here is a seat of nature -
A trunk on which to sit.
The birds announced your arrival
By chirp and warble -
I'd been waiting for it.
I saw wildflowers in full flush
Arrive just ahead of you.
The bees buzz as if to say “hello”
And throng around the brittlebush.
Company is such excitement!
Show me your light winds -
Stir them up in the mountains
But thirty days - then what?
Oh pretty April - do not go -
You are one of my favorite guests.
Stay for a few months -
May calls but burns me so.
PERHAPS he was once a great chief
And when he died so full of grief
Was one that he picked up a chisel
And declared that face immortal
For the many centuries to see
Or else he was a brazen warrior
Who - unable to sleep in his lair
When they buried him in the mountain -
Comes and looks over to be certain
Of how well his people fare
But I think it more conceivable
That God spoke of it in our preamble
To show that no humor on him is lost
And left hastily with the rocks
His signature upon the wall.
OH star - brightest star -
That's first in the sky -
I don't need advice;
I just need an ear.
Nobody else must know
But I feel terrible.
You seem quite capable
Of fighting evil's blow.
Shine for my heart -
Let your fire burn my strife
With resilience tonight;
Shine on with luster.
The sight of you is crisp -
Your wisdom is your silence;
I lay this up to heaven
And trust it upon your lips.