While we are in
Conversation here
So many humans
Have perished, I fear
 
Each moment brings
New life and new death
Final words spoken
And baby’s first breath
 
Life’s currents unbearable
Meand’ring through confluence
The sublime and the terrible
Don’t know their own consequence
 
The rush and the curve
Create oxbow crescents
The vim and‪ the verve
Ensure each one’s presence
 
And all we can do
Is react and observe
(Our own bent deeds too)
And endeavor to serve
 
Either ...the self
That glutton of grease
Or somebody else;
And attain inner peace

Or at least a brief break
From worry and strife
Hold on to the harness, take
Joy in this life

Funny how the feelings come
At once like surges in a storm
And how the flowers droop and wilt
From blocked-out sunlight, dust, and worm

Your face comes to my mind sometimes
Your words will sometimes follow
You taught me well despite my hell
(The habits in which I wallow)

How I long for your embrace
To sit a while and laugh and chat
To once again behold your face
But I can’t reach you where you’re at

Oh if there is a real way
From there behind the veil
I wish that you would reassure
As I lie here and wail

I barely cried the day you died
And now some years have passed
And tears burst forth from burning eyes
And down my head is cast

...Say “Hi” to FIRST & LAST

That guy took a life
How could he have done?
How could he have killed
Such a beautiful one

I study his eyes
Just trying to see
What makes this man different
From you or from me

But the truth is too dark
For me to consider
So hard to swallow
So ugly, so bitter

The truth is that he
Is no different than any
The paths that we choose
Are varied...and many

We’ll try to observe
Some tell in his manner
Some sign that we missed
Some twitch or some stammer

So we can say “ah!
I now see it clear!
I should have know from
That voice I now hear”

“The one in my head
That triggers alarm
So I can know how
To steer clear of harm”

But there is no voice
No feeling, no bell
This son to a mother
Is not spawned from hell

And yet here we are
His knife found its mark
And what should be done
Down here in the dark

Take his life away?
Redemption through violence
Won’t bring back one day
Or mute the loud silence