[Click on title to read poem]
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Below
Further and further down we spin
Stairwells winding out and in
Weaving cloth upon a loom,
A mansion has many rooms
Further and further down we climb
Musical notes descending in time
Weaving melody dark and handsome,
Lyrics haunt this ancient mansion
Further and further down we go
Into a room far below
Where dwells the soul singing rhymes,
Weaving space and sewing time
Abomination
I begin in praise of nature
Believing in her ancient way,
Certainly she has a plan just as grand
As the myriad of form she parades, but
How like her snaking circles
I shed my skin for change
I charge her, then, with the abomination
Of creating form for her own sake,
Nature has no plan to build up man
Beyond the circles she creates,
She simply loves to spin life's wheel
Fattening upon the next chanced meal
Always
Beyond the ease of happiness,
Beyond the light of reason,
Beyond the deed of pity,
Beyond the right of justice.
How meager seem these offerings
When wrapped in sweet-red lips
A gift was lit upon my cheek,
A kiss.
For happiness eases as reasons sway,
And pity ceases when justice fades,
But imprinted where you kissed me
Feelings remain, always
An Awakening
Sound asleep deep in a dream
I see myself smiling,
Then everyday I dream to wake
And forget the faith of questioning,
What is the dream?
If the dream is me asleep
Death is like a dreamless deep,
But if the dream is tomorrow morning
Death is but an awakening
Celeste
His spirit spoke with love's hope
To give her a name sprung
Sweet from the tongue when spoken
Like honeysuckle or lullaby,
But alas! those names were taken
To all of creation he then listened
From birds of song to humming crickets
When in his ear wind caressed,
What sound was whispered?
The name, Celeste
Charade
Rare indeed do humans come
As below so above
For such transparency belies
Fragile secrets deep inside.
One such secret I have spied
Is your casual outward nature
When really what failure,
You're not at all inside.
Twice as well I have observed
You seem to lack any interest
When really how absurd,
Touched blue eyes are so voracious.
But just once to my surprise
Truth flashed through and through
When darkest blue, almost black
Crept out your soul with a laugh.
Realized then is why you hide
Such wickedness eclipsed behind
Dull lies of a false veneer,
You have so much to fear
Columbus Through Today
Our yankee clipper sails whisper
A misty measure through stormy weather,
Occidental and humming faster
Our windy hymn leads further westward,
Further westward! cries the captain,
Further! Faster! we give answer,
To meet the east we head due west
So left we sail, always left
Completely Realized
I see I am so loved
Reflecting through your eyes,
And what a beautiful thing to be
Completely undisguised,
For I will always be your love
Reflecting through your eyes,
And what a beautiful thing to be
Completely realized
The Consciousness Of Flowers
How good flowers feel when sun cascades down
Unfolding leaves one by one until
Rain's silken gown covers those leaves
As clouds cover sun, but when
An overbearing heat beats down for days
How those leaves brown without rain, and
The flowers feel bad. One flower in my yard
Gladly faces the traveling sun
Every hour throughout the day.
Her refreshment becomes known when
It is time to rain
Daisy Today
A daisy today
Sways before my watchful eye
Bending in breeze
With such gentle ease
I'm tempted to twist, but
Her languid, lazy way
So declines to be picked
Drink of Me
Like the statue on the sands of an empty shore
There you stand straight as your gaze
Staring through the separation,
Though your face to me is foreign
How strangely familiar your words are spoken
As they easily flow through my veins,
Drink of me you say with slow winking eyes
Like sinking suns setting inside
The pink-green skies of an endless sea,
Leaning forward to diminish the chasm
Wanting lips deeply kiss
Beside a fathomless, ancient ocean
Easter Island
Oh! to go to Easter Island
Is a yearning in my life,
To see the labors languished
To feel the quarried anguish
To see the stars at night.
Who built these godly heads?
What fear could they have dread?
What can be said of human toil and task?
These questions I will ask
And express my answers in rhyme,
Only to have others ask
What do I mean?
And still others to ask
Why?
Echoes From The Past
A phantom from the past appears
Though no face can be seen
Her voice haunts my ear whispering,
"Love is a poison arrow that kills."
A silent pause...for what cause?
Her shrill laughter echoes a ghost
Slain from earth centuries ago
Every Day
Every day I feel a little more love
Somehow, for you. What reason do I need
When love's truth has no reason?
Nor is my love an accident
For most mistakes are easily made. No,
My love for you grows patient and slow
With a purpose all its own
Evolutionary Salvation
At times I feel ashamed to be alive
When I think of all the pain inside life,
Is any being really justified?
A river of tears is torrentially cried
For millions of years to be alive, and
We have no right to salvation
When treading upon the broken backs
Of wretched creatures long past
We so rightously walk upright
Fallen
Dead leaves lay all around
Like gravestones mark the sacred spot
Where life has fallen down to rest,
A gust of wind whirls them
Like snow in reverse toward heaven
Signing the secret merit of this autumn day
Garden Of Goodness Remembered
Butterfly haphazardly dips from bloom to bloom
As black-yellow wings flutter, it casually
Sips from cups of flowers whose perfume
Draws me near. The scent of flowers recalls
Belief in the goodness of things,
A hope I've grown to abandon, but
For two hours I roamed smelling roses so grown
In a garden of goodness remembered
Go Play
If the child I once was
Met the man I am today,
What would he say?
"Who is this strange man?
I think I better stay away."
If the man I am today
Met the child I once was,
What would I say?
"My boy, see those trees?
Go play."
Inward Ocean
A distant call to freedom sounds
From land as far away
As America across an ocean
Atlantic cold and gray,
Is not the soul just as far?
And the voyage just as hard?
An inward ocean sailed across
To freedom of the heart
Kind And Gentle Man
No matter the hardship or burden to bear
A kind and gentle man stands firm
And touches softly those around him,
Lines of resolution carved in skin
Yield to give sudden comfort when
An unexpected smile flashes,
His touches feel heavy as sea breezes
Salted strong but sweet somehow
Like a song to sing when work is done,
Through the efforts of his contemplation
Love and strength profoundly tempered
Together form a simple purpose,
No matter the hardship or burden to bear
A kind and gentle man stands firm
And touches softly those around him
Leaves Of Autumn
Something ordinary
As leaves falling from a tree
Beckons me to yield,
Caught up like a leaf
Wind catches my spirit
Sailing across a field,
No longer separate
I am swirling colors
Blown by an autumn bluster,
While back in my chair
Both here and there
I stare at leaves in wonder
Lifeless
Moon Walk
Riding rockets fueled with courage
Men have walked the lunar surface
Slow like underwater movements
Cast in basaltic moon green glow
If only I may be so bold
To walk the earth with courage so
To trust the care of where to go
To others and simple purpose
Mother Nature
Nature's law is to create in her own image
Forms transformed over and over, but
Are we not forsaken by our obedience?
Must we create at such wicked cost
Even if the cause is lost
When form is torn asunder?
What of all the suffering that came before?
The blindness, death and horror!
Poor, wretched and forgotten creatures
Slaughtered beneath the curvaceous features
Of a fertility idol we pretend is not our god.
What yields our propagation is the real fountain
From which our so called morality springs.
Religion, law and civilization believed
To be the godking's calling
Is really a pawn play for the queen, and
She creates for her own sake
Forsaking her tortured creations
Northern People
Half of life we live in winter,
Northern people, northern people.
From a dark October gray
Into March and freezing rain,
Half of life we live in winter
One third of life we silently sleep,
Quiet and deep, quiet and deep.
Half that time we're bundled under
Winter blankets completely covered,
One third of life we silently sleep
All of life we pass away,
Day to night, night to day.
For even in the waking summer
Drifts of winter sleep forever,
All of life we pass away
Ode To The Poet
Of the rings under our eyes
We're proud
For we've been living life hard,
And of our shoulders slouched
We're bound
To carry a heavy load,
And of our wrinkled faces
We've found
Pleasure at gazing into the sun,
And of our singing voices
We sound
So that the word can be heard,
And of our undying spirit
We're charged
To create in our great image
One Black Rose
One black rose to beware
Grows inside with despair
Blooming dark in the shadow
Whispering things immoral,
One black rose poisoning
Takes up root inside me
Naked as immodesty
Shamelessly whispering,
One black rose then destroys
All the hope I enjoy
When its form becomes my face
And mocking lips shockingly say,
You never may
Open Hand
An open hand is an empty hand
Ready for so much more,
Into the hands of emptiness
Riches may pour,
Clenched tight in a fist
Hands grip emptiness,
Open up your hands
And let it go
Pleasure Garden
My heart hurts from the pain of here
Where miserable hope and wretched fear
Fill the breast till no room is left
For soul inside to comfortably rest
Bitter thoughts from poisoned fruit
Consumed in such lonesome pursuit
Heavily weigh upon my chest
So much so, I struggle to take a breath
But today I spied while in my tree
Far away beyond the boundaries
Where you grow a blossomed garden
With ripened fruit so sweet to senses
A feast awaits with a leap of faith
Beyond the boundaries, pass the gate
Where fruitful thoughts aglow repose
In the pleasure of your garden
Promise
A rainbow arched across the sky,
It must have been a mile high,
So I climbed a roof to take it in,
Where I noticed it had a twin,
Two rainbows in concentric glory,
I sat atop the second story,
With just a trickle of rain still falling,
Sunshine slowly came crawling,
Out behind the clouds of darkness,
Tomorrow holds so much promise
Racing Home
Time and time and time again
I've heard you call and not come in
Pretending to hear the blowing wind
Without answering anything,
But when you trust to call again
Home I'll race like blowing wind
To rest my head below your chin
And hear the angels sing,
For there is where I must attend
Brokenness that needs to mend
Then love will heal the separate when
Home I come racing
Reflections
Drifting in a sea of error
We sing the songs of old
Searching ourselves with scrutiny
For the Word we wish to know,
But all our words are symbols
That mirror reality
With reflections far too many
And water oh! so deep
Smoke And Fire
The house is on fire
Being cries out
Flames are a pain
Deep in my heart,
Questioning why
Is fuel for the blaze
Because I don't know
Sparks into flames
Wandering lost
Being cries out
Forever we are
Lost from the start,
Questioning why
Is smoke for the haze
Because I don't know
Drifts far away
Spirit And Soul
A greater reality exists
Beyond our spirited clenched fists
Which grip flesh and time in their midst.
Such strength is the will to grasp
As long as flesh and time may last
Fleeting forms that flash out, but
Our soul is not that.
Soul is the will to be free from
Whatever spirit traps
The Abandonment of Love
Whereas love is like a flower
Fiercely colored but oh! so fragile,
She was just a child quick to handle
Whatever caught her foolish eye.
The child grew into a woman wise
Having learned from such destruction,
The flower crushed was left to die
The February Of You
The freeze of February thickens till thaw
Seems like a dream so far off,
The snow, the cold, the ice and frost,
Spring soundly sleeps beneath it all.
Is not love for you the same?
When will your snow change to rain?
The February of you remains
Long into the March of days
The Senses
Sound hidden deep like a water beat drum
Pounds beneath the fabric of things so quietly
We strain to hear,
Nectar mysteriously sweet like honeysuckle
Delicately laces matter so subtly
We long to taste,
Sight obscurely seen like vaporous steam
Rises from the breath of existence so vaguely
We search to see,
Odor uncertainly perceived like distant incense burned
Secretly perfumes the atmosphere so faintly
We struggle to smell,
Sensation radiantly received like warmth
Spreads from the soul so mysteriously close
We long to touch
The Wish To Be Alive
Life is the wish we dream asleep,
The secret we keep deep inside,
Soul desires stream of mind,
Life is the wish to be alive.
Soul asleep of life it dreams,
How long and strange dreams seem to be,
Evening time soul awakens,
Undivided no time passes.
Soul with morning falls to sleep,
Life is the secret we wish to dream,
Dreams fulfill desire realized,
Life is the wish to be alive
Understanding
When I'm at peace with myself
I'm wise to the ways I behave
And I understand my pain and others,
Then I'm at peace with myself
And everyone else
In my pleasant circle
But when I'm at war with myself
I'll forget what I've learned
And anxiety burns within me,
Then I'm at war with myself
And everyone else
In my vicious circle
Upon Giving You Poetry
How my spirit sparkled when to your lips
The poem was raised and kissed
For the word revealed there was me stripped bare,
And I saw that you could see
Then how like Magdalene I felt forgiven
When all the sin was washed away,
And how like Lazarus I was commanded
To rise up from my grave
Vision Of Age
With age comes vision
That sees far away,
Things up close fade
Like letters on a page,
So time fades too
For short is the day,
How quick is the year
With the vision of age
What Color Are You
Tonight may you show
The color of your sacred soul,
Emerald-green or ruby-rose?
Diamond-white or sapphire-blue?
What color are you?
What color will I view?
What Do Rivers Dream?
The riverbed is sleepless because
It's too dry to dream,
Fires burn down the forest died brown
From clouds too white to drink,
Hazy is the ash filled air
Choked thick with liquid heat,
The riverbed is sleepless because
It's too dry to dream, but
What do rivers dream?
Rivers dream of the sea
What Was Lost
What was lost is like a diamond
Buried deep beneath the surface
Where pressures mold it perfect
From continental courses traveled
By the body of life
The body of life is a closed gate
Waiting to be opened when
Continents collide into chasms
And what was lost rises
To sparkle sacred before the day
Where Do Earth And Sky Meet?
Blue stained glass of sky connected
To yellow fields of earth in question
Distantly set into a red-hot sun
Till all the other shades imagined
Brilliantly burst upon the horizon
Whirls Of Season
When autumn caressed my cheek today
The cooled summer air lingered there
Like a premonition of things to come,
July is here but soon gone,
For summer is like a dream so near
As it flashes by, the dream disappears
Till only the song of autumn falls
And the season is gone
Seasons whirl like autumn birds
Curl a bleak fall sky black
With beaks that call in prophetic drawls
Winter, here, will soon be back,
A humble prayer of hope I pray
Beyond a darkened winter day
May once again birds sing sound
When whirls of spring come drifting down
Wisdoms
The wisdom of youth is wise in a way
The wisdom of age denies,
The wisdom of youth knows a truth
The wisdom of age decries,
The wisdom of youth dares to dream
The wisdom of age confines
Without Misgiving
Before we reason all our words
Oh! so philosophically clear,
Let us save our precious time
By letting a tear fall.
Life is sad after all,
And a tear is more true
Than any reason for life's sadness
Perhaps we're in another mood
To hear how life is oh! so good?
Then let us save our precious time
By laughing for awhile.
Life is funny when we smile,
And a smile is more true
Than any reason for life's madness
We can talk if you like
All about the sadness of life,
All about the joys of living
We can talk throughout the night,
But a tear will suffice.
A smile is more right,
And both come without misgiving
With Pleasure
How my lips are swollen
Ripe with reddened color
From us kissing one another
Like blossoms in full bloom,
When upon my wounded lips
You press your kisses gently
Till passion overtakes with pleasure
The pain of what is living
Words
Is not a word a command
To stop, stand and listen?
We spin a spell with what we tell
So profound, such sensation.
The lines of force submerge below
The depth of any ocean
Where on the surface sirens sing out
Words that must be listened