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Tom D Jun 2023
As the sun peeks over the edge of night
he slowly opens his eyes
and wakes not with an eagerness of spirit
He grows weary of battle
For this love and hate of himself
is always at war
and if there is any lacking in his resolve
victory for love will be hard-won
if won at all
Fatigue will plague his every moment
until the darkness grants his leave
It is then he can close his eyes to sleep once more
Tom D Jun 7
Stuck in patterns
that are damning to repeat
because vows to do better
don’t last
How does one be
who one wants to be
without healing
from an imperfect past?
Tom D Jul 2021
It feels I've been awake since forever
Lying here bartering for my share of some sleep
I don't know when
I'll be dreaming again
or how many the Sandman
will take of my sheep
Tom D Dec 2019
Back to dreamland
Again I fell
Now I feel
Like *******
Why did I
Not stay awake
And face the day
For my own sake
Now I can’t
Lift my head
Or peel myself
Off this bed
I must stop
This sleep and slumber
Or my room
Will fill with lumber!
Tom D May 8
Here lately the Sandman mocks me
with his calls to sleep that are nothing more than brutal sarcasm
To report to my bed at night
is the highest level of futility
Even the sheep are laughing
I’m here all week
Tom D Oct 2024
Whether seeking pleasure
or running from pain
At the root of addiction
is trauma
Most find it easier
to blame it on genes
than expose
the family drama
Tom D Aug 2020
He no longer sits in the park
until after dark
looking for blue birds
perched on a lily white shoulder
For the hope of the chance
at such surreal romance
Fell broken
as the wind in the park grew colder
So
Tom D Apr 2022
So
Nothing seems
so heavy
to a fragile heart
so broken
than thoughts
so unhappy
they go
so unspoken
Tom D Jun 1
Along with creating our own
personal philosophical views of life
comes the distinct possibility that we will become disillusioned by them
Because, if we had some answers,
we wouldn’t have so many **** questions
Tom D May 2020
There are times
I don't dance
I but hobble
to the words of old songs
that seem all out of tune
It's when I could ban
the pen from my hand
Stand alone in the darkness
and just howl at the moon
Tom D May 2019
Amidst the curse
Of my mortal sleep
I walked the border
of life and death
Others carried my sins
And defended my honor

Today
I ride into battle
Beneath a shower
of glorious apple blossoms
With this song in my heart
Worthy of both knight and king:

As swords cross
And wounds run deep
I pray to Avalon
My soul to keep
To see my foe
Know well his face
His dying breath
His last embrace
Tom D Nov 2024
A swath of denim
in a frame of leather
On top of which lies
A cross of feathers
Cries this collage
of my personal
Abstract Expressionism
Tom D Mar 30
Picture lying
in a lush green field
cradled within an ancient glen
Boundless is your imagination
of where the gods lived back then
Tom D Aug 2023
He walked the hill into the evening
until he reached the top
The moon was serenading him
so he took the time to stop
to look upon a lonesome tree
that had not been there before
Neath the light
of a starry night
like the painting
he so adored
He whispered a tiny heartfelt prayer
for those in town below
that had likely lived their lives
never having seen the show
Tom D Sep 2020
I'm one of those
who when stubs his toes
upon life's uneven path
Blames his woes
on make-believe foes
or God's unlikely wrath
Tom D Apr 19
While the puppeteer sleeps
how divine the dream
that frees the marionette to dance

Before the terrible tyrant wakes
Pops the dream
and spoils it's chance
Tom D Aug 2022
Imagine lying
in a lush green field
cradled within an ancient glen
Timeless is
the still life portrait
of what the gods
were like back then
Tom D Oct 2024
His is the face
of a heavy obligation to stay alive
For he carries the weight
of the dead
and they call to him
from their unmarked graves
Tom D Dec 2020
Find a way
to justify
a day of doing nothing

You don't owe the world a thing
But, maybe,
it owes you something
Tom D Mar 9
To feel the ache of suffering
is to to look no further than
the space between the lines
It is where the godless echoes live
and they try to convince us
that faith will not get us through
this long, arduous trip from home
Tom D Jul 2021
When that big dark cloud
floats above your head
standing like a vulture
over unclaimed dead
When it casts it's long shadow
And troubles your sky
Insist that it move
to let the sun by
Tom D May 2021
Cry in the rain
And the world cries with you
Tom D Mar 2019
Sometimes I feel the Reaper
Winking at me
He wants to come over
For a chat and some tea
He’ll tell me that I am nothing
But an echo from the past
My future behind me
That I’m fading fast
He’ll score some very clever points
To weaken my resolve
Then sincerely assure me
There’s no problem he can’t solve
But like my neighbor’s crazy dog
Who barks up an empty tree
He and I
Won’t see eye to eye
And he may not enjoy his tea
Tom D Oct 2021
May I rest against a tree
To part from this tired world
And like Fall leaves
That once set free
Fly like wings unfurled

May it be an Autumn wind
Warmed by the breath of God
That brings my soul home again
As they bury me ‘neath the sod
Tom D May 2022
Silly hearts
****** toons
and goofballs
make light of all that is heavy
for us
and won't leave
a bucket of tears
without a barrel full of laughs
for balance
Tom D Nov 2019
As I step through
a small patch of woods
this fine morning
I feel the cold breath
of Winter on my neck
I catch a glimpse
of a rabbit's white tail
bobbing in and out of my sight
It's Thanksgiving
and this moment of near silence
is not lost on me
As I head back
I pretend to be a woodsman
following the last of Autumn's
long shadows
to a warm house
that will soon fill of family and friends
and I am grateful for it
Tom D Nov 2024
Geez Louise
I’ve been brought to my knees
Gripped by some evil
besieged by fried cheese
Enduring the upset
as best as I can
If only the stuff
had stayed stuck in the pan!
Tom D Nov 2020
It happens every Thanksgiving day
Because I do not think ahead
I do not think about the pie
Until I 've eaten too much bread
I do not think about the bread
'til I've eaten too much dressing
And I'm usually on my second plate
Before I've heard the blessing
Tom D Nov 2020
Every afternoon
from the window of an abandoned building
a young boy plays a weathered guitar
his voice is sweet and enchanting
his message is one of love and hope
all that hear him are swept away
in a flood of euphoria and bliss
eventually he stops and disappears
all color drains from the street
there is no sound
the people go back to sleep
dreaming in a silent movie that is their lives
Tom D Jan 2023
Such simplicity
yet magnanimous in its undertaking
One marvels at the whole of it
in awe of the glorious painstaking detail
Colors calm and easy
leaving no part of it's aura unappeasing
It's nature so sincere and moving
the stricken feel the need to bow
Tom D Dec 2019
Sometimes, we can be such geniuses
Caught in the lies
Of what we think we know
It's just part of the show
Trading truth
For a clever disguise
Tom D Nov 2020
Handpicked from of the street
they sat at his dinner table
stuffing themselves with free food and drink
laughing at all his stories
while he made his notes
Later, he would sketch
exaggerations
of his uglier observations
People were unmasked and revealed
for what they were
Fine profiles of the grotesque
in the ever growing catalogue raisonne.
Tom D May 2024
Never one
to hold his tongue
the devil child within me
transforms the light breeze of peace
into a tempest of chaos
blowing storms over
my sea of tranquility
I need to give him
a warm loving embrace
of understanding
but all I want to do
is slap the brat’s face
Tom D Feb 2020
Tiny blue ballerina
Dancing in a storm
Chaos all about her
As she tries to hold her form
The dreary sets seem out of place
And the music isn't right
The cellos have been fighting
With flutes all blasted night
Remember tiny dancer
You are following your bliss
So, take that ever graceful bow
And blow the audience a kiss
Tom D Mar 2020
Tiny blue ballerina
Dancing in a storm
Chaos all about her
As she tries to hold her form
The dreary sets seem out of place
And the music isn't right
The cellos have been fighting
With the flutes throughout the night
Remember tiny dancer
You are following your bliss
So, take that ever graceful bow
And blow the audience a kiss
Tom D Apr 27
The silence of the woods
quieted the noise in his soul
As he walked the sacred trail
he felt the spirit of the wind
rustle through him
as if he were high in the trees
He bathed in the cool water
at the base of the silver falls
and prayed that his body
be cleansed of his ***** life
and that he be given the strength
to cope with the stress of adversity
For to conquer that
is to conquer the temptation
to soil oneself with sin
Tom D Jan 2019
Dreams - the very marrow of hope
May be the lifeline to the living
Destroy one’s dreams
And the hate
Of their dead weight
May be unforgiving

Smashing dreams or smashing bones
It matters not
Both acts of ******
Stirred from the same ***
Tom D Dec 2018
“I have to look for your father”
We’d hear our poor mother say
When he had little fear
Standing on the great pier
During a storm on the bay

When father had the Black Irish
We’d hear our poor mother pray
"God, keep him off the **** pier"
When bad weather is near
So the sea can’t wash him away
Tom D Feb 2023
“I have to look for your father”
we’d hear our poor mother say
for he had little fear
standing on the great pier
during a storm on the bay

When father had the Black Irish
we’d hear hear our poor mother pray
“Keep him off that **** pier”
when bad weather was near
so the sea couldn’t wash him away
Tom D Jun 2023
Unhappy
are those
who mean to collect debts
from those
not indebted to pay
It’s an odd little game
that nobody wins
yet, people
seem willing to play.
Sometimes people think that others are responsible for their happiness
Tom D 2d
Three yellow birds
have died in a cage
Canaries in the coal mine
kept miners from their wage
“Got to get down there
I’ve got a family to feed
That’s more important to me
than the air that I need
I don’t care about the danger
It’s too late for me
In another year
I won’t be around to see
more birds dying
on account of me
Just open up the mine
and let me be”



And put Vincent’s drawings
where all can see
Tom D May 2022
Fear and Rage
Brother to brother
Whenever they awaken
One says to the other
What kind of suffering
can we cause today?
That’s when one hears
the other one say
I just love the smell of ******
in the morning
Tom D Oct 2021
Blessed are the butterflies
that brighten ugly walls
They bring a little sunshine
to where there’s none at all
The flutter of their spacious wings
chase the clouds away
that prey upon the innocence
of an unsuspecting day
Tom D Aug 2019
I make faces
At my cat
And she doesn’t know
What to think of that
I stick out my tongue
And wave my hands
And I don’t think
She understands
I do a little dance
And sing a song
But, she’s too stubborn
To play along
She just winks at me
And turns her head
I think I’ll try
The dog instead
Tom D Nov 2023
Frozen there
by a tundra stare
No one really truly cares
what his reasons
for this careless wandering
All are not hospitable
for they are but miserable
in the throes of squandering


another precious day
Tom D Nov 2024
Thou shall not ****
until enemies prove worthy
the satisfaction of our revenge
May we be ever watchful
of all who would stain our honor
so as to punish with prejudice
And in the aftermath of such exactment
ignore that tiny place in our hearts
that carries the forgiveness of Jesus
so that we be not ashamed
Tom D May 29
Careful now
make not a mistake
It’s only your hide
the skinner wants to take
Ready to pounce
it won’t think twice
to be all over you
like white on rice
Tom D Oct 2019
Crows in a wheat field
Just before a storm
Bearing dark omens
Of the future yet to come
They came to me in mourning
Inside my dreams at night
Before too long Pop took ill
And chased God into the light
Crows in a wheat field
Soaking in the rain
Waiting for my head to nod
And for me to sleep again
Tom D Jan 2020
Thou shall not ****
Until enemies prove worthy
The satisfaction of our lustful revenge
May we be ever watchful
Of all who would stain our honor
So as to punish with impunity
And in the aftermath of such exactment
Recall that tiny place in the heart
That carries the forgiveness of Jesus
And be then ashamed
Tom D Sep 2023
This simple act
has become a pact
I have with the kitchen floor
I sweep it several times a day
because it’s keeping score
It knows when I sweep it often
It knows when I sweep it not
And when it feels neglected
it gets slippery in spots
I have many other things to do
than Tango with the broom
but, my floor would rather see us dance
all across the room
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