Gallivanting down the carpet steps,
Skidding across the dusty, aged floor,
Unable to grasp her safety even with forceps,
Slowness, as a rule, cats must abhor.
In sprint or dash, a feline must take flight,
Earth's slight pull too tenuous and faint
To capture padding paws that are not quite
As carefully and safely, with constraint,
Engaged. The fur and bones with energy move
In one direction then another goes
As if her zeal is something that I approve
Like a madness descending only upon her toes,
Trading all sense for motion so lithe, in space
Her hope to find a gift of settled grace.
Nov 25, 2025
Nov 25, 2025 at 1:56 PM UTC
And when I walked into the room of death
To greet you, breathless, struggling with the air,
Your stare was fixed, unchanged, as was your breath,
Your pain and thoughts opposed beyond a worldly care.
I thought of love and grace for you, a need,
A distant hope that God alone could grant;
A song to hear, a hopeful prayer to read,
That heaven, nearby, might give your foot, to plant,
A place, a fair and warm dominion sure
That Christ, all good, to you in peace might give
A trade of regret and sorrow for something pure,
A chance for life eternally to live
At last your breath, that you forgot to take,
Would give you peace and life so fair to make.
Nov 25, 2025
Nov 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM UTC
Trying to learn
Something from the
Past
Is a funny way to spend the
Future.
We look back
At the beauty,
Seeking the safety
Of our imaginations,
Knowing memories of
Other Lives
Can shield us
From the pain
Of our own
Biography.
You long to sit
In classrooms,
Captaining other minds
Through the fogs
And mists
That shroud memory.
The light you bring
Can illuminate
Or blind.
Sometimes, a dimmer light
Is better
To see through
The fog.
Glance backward,
Don't stare.
The future,
Glorious and clear
Awaits.
Jan 1, 2024
Jan 1, 2024 at 2:33 PM UTC
I am on my way to see
A quintessential American,
To walk where he did,
And where he lies.
As is our native wont,
He ended himself,
The final act of violence
In a peripatetic life
Full of action and
Faithlessness and
Self-doubt,
A quintessential American.
Even so,
He shared his gift
With us, with
The world.
Shared a vision
Sometimes violent
And stark, but true.
True, at least,
For a
Quintessential American.
Oct 17, 2023
Oct 17, 2023 at 5:27 PM UTC
You possess a crystal heart,
One I have admired
Many times,
It sits just out of reach
Inviting my gaze.
Like a boy at a store window
With iced frosting,
Blowing steamy breath
And rubbing it free of the grime
I have deposited on it,
I gaze at the prize,
A treasure to be had,
Like key fobs or
Combs;
You are the magi
Who carries the gift.
The window is dark
Except for the spotlit
Center,
The object of my desire
And hope,
The pearl of great price
I will give all to possess.
Oct 17, 2023
Oct 17, 2023 at 5:22 PM UTC
For Hannah
She's sitting at the
kitchen table,
Full of strep and forced
to read a book
by a mom who believes
the mind can continue to flourish
while its carrying case
suffers.
Forcing fluids,
killing biotic enemies
She sits silently
while I listen to the
Happiest Music I know,
Linus and Lucy;
She frowns,
more from pain
than distaste.
Mom cooks lasagna
and brother scouts the fridge.
Nothing looks good
She thinks.
She says.
She feels.
Oct 17, 2023
Oct 17, 2023 at 5:10 PM UTC
I daydream
Far more than the average
Soul,
Easily distracted
And lost
In a haze that invites
Visions of the future
While deadening the
Thump and Clang
Of the present.
I imagine
Springtime light
Through the windows,
Languid time entangled
With you,
Not a slave to time
Or work,
Or the impatient
Buzz-Buzz-Buzzing
Of my alarm.
I hope
I live long enough
To fulfill my promise
To you,
To share a life
Unburdened
By the cares
Of time,
Of work,
Or another man's
Demands.
Sep 9, 2023
Sep 9, 2023 at 5:34 PM UTC
Across the hall
We stand, greeting and
Pushing souls
Overcome by hormones
Toward their destinies,
Hopefully to find
Fifty-five minutes
Of knowledge.
I was out of my league,
Clearly,
Not a very good teacher,
Farther from home
Than you.
But there you were,
Beautiful,
Just naive enough
That I could steal a furtive glance
At you,
Tall, too slender, wearing
Your favorite blue
Paisley dress
A little too often
For coincidence.
In my poverty
You were all I saw,
The lovely
Pearl of great price.
10,000 days, more
Have passed
And I still steal those glances,
Furtive and longing,
Hoping that I can
Will you
Into my arms.
Even today, I see you,
The object of my
Desires,
My heart's goal,
Wrapped in blue paisley.
Aug 1, 2023
Aug 1, 2023 at 6:38 PM UTC
After a certain age,
One's death
Is rarely called untimely-
"He lived a full life"
or
"I'll be lucky if I live as long as she did"
Are the refrains of mourners
For the aged.
Yet when death comes,
It rarely enters
With good timing.
As the dead travel,
The living stand still,
Embracing the pain
Of Absence.
Life reckons death
Untimely, unfair,
An ill-conceived end.
Demise knows no
Convenient hour.
Aug 1, 2023
Aug 1, 2023 at 6:28 PM UTC
Someday when I'm aged
And my eyes are less bright,
My ears will hear
Only the voices of my past;
Memory will be
A series of doors opening
And closing
Randomly.
And I will seek out a guide,
The one who traveled with me
The longest,
My truest friend,
The one who,
Even when I was lost,
Was lost with me.
I know that one
Will be you;
Able to trace the map
Of our journey,
The all-important North
On the compass of my life.
When everyone is a stranger,
You will be
All that I remember.
Jun 19, 2021
Jun 19, 2021 at 10:12 PM UTC