Soft are the wings of the firefly princess
Twilight the scene of her flickering dance
Pine needle whispers aflutter of springtime
Alone on this evening in search of romance

Warm April breezes caressing her body
Slumbering daffodils, gold leaf embossed
Shining, her beacon illumines the valley
Twinkling sorrow of love she had lost

Wandering sadly neath evergreen niches  
Shadows and silhouettes bend at her glow
Hard to imagine her tiny heart broken
Far from the beauty this night she does show

When then she sees him alone on a hillside
A pen in his hand as he quietly writes
Silently floating, she lands on his shoulder
Kind is his face that her glow gently lights

Noticing teardrops upon his cheeks falling
“Why are you crying?” she asks him sincere
Startled, he looks at her, eyes wet and weary
“Oh little firefly, what has brought you here?”

He turned away gazing up at the moonlight
Then shook his head as more words he wrote down
“I miss her so much,” he said in a whisper
His mouth once he finished returned to a frown

She knew how he felt for her heart it was broken
One winter’s evening, a cold misty day
Taken from sleep by her jealous big sister
Evil her magic had whisked him away

Just then she noticed that things felt familiar
Something about him jarred her memory
It can not be, visions rambled within her
This can not be my love taken from me  

“If I may ask sir, please when did you lose her?”
She fluttered her wings so excited to hear
Her light now as bright as the full moon above them
Here on this hillside the skies ever clear

“It’s hard to remember, but sometime last winter,
a sorceress came on the solstice I think
From by her side I was suddenly taken,
found myself here just as quick as a wink”

“Since then I’ve cried on this hillside we frolicked,
writing her poetry, words how I feel
Sorrow and sadness in harmonic phrases,
verses my broken heart could not conceal”

“The saddest part is, it is merely a feeling,
only the love is what I can recall
I know she was real for my heart does remind me,
the rest is a blur, almost nothing at all”

She thought and she thought of her wicked old sibling
Remembering tears drops from lovers that fell
When mixed together might change what had happened
Glistening together, they could break the spell

She took one of hers that she saved since December
Flew to his cheek were a steady stream flowed
Placed her own teardrop within his now weeping
To her amazement, his body it glowed

Shimmering sparkles like fireworks bursting
A magical sheen filled the heavens above
A blink of her eye and he changed right before her
He now was a firefly, the one that she loved

His eyes grew as wide as a sunflower smiling
Flapping his wings like he’d never before
Looking at her, his light brightly was gleaming
He said, “I remember, you’re the one I adore”

He was so happy, he flew up and kissed her
“I missed you,” he said “never leave me again
We’ll fly and we’ll hide far away from your sister”
Then he looked down and he noticed his pen

He lifted it up and then flew to the paper
Flapping his wings he penned one final line
It read that they lived happily ever after
From now in this moment, till the end of time

.

Watching her board bathed in fog at the station
Spectacles slide down the bridge of his nose
Usually a blur, not in this situation
Smudges can’t hide every beauty she shows

Lugging a satchel in high heels and cotton
In her left hand rests a statue that grins
Such an odd sight, this her concrete companion
Never you mind as the journey begins

Timidly calling the glass doors to open
Counting his change spread of nickels and dimes
Gasping for breath on a curb painted yellow
Escaping the past, oh those horrible times

Filled every row, ‘cept a seat near the driver
All eyes affixed as the vinyl bench sighs
Kicking her shoes to abbreviate blisters
Freedom is felt in the footwear goodbyes

Nervous he waves from the corner still pacing
Climbing the steps of a Westminster bus
Pulled at his limbs by another intrusion
Faking his mood so she thinks there’s a fuss

Taking a seat between cement and flannel
Rolling his eyes that he don’t mean at all
Watching her lips as she inhales discretely
Feeling his library heart start to fall

She tugs his ear with her thin ringless fingers
Whispers a secret he hopes comes to share
Hides from the window, the vehicle moving
Nary a glance towards the morning sun’s glare

She holds her gnome like her life is depending
When all she needs fills the seat right next door
Porcelain dust on her clothes has her sneezing
Handkerchief offered he nicked at the store

Such is the dream of a bookworm delivered
Finding the chapter he’d thought long ago
Angels and demons and pretzel tan loafers
Potholes and clues juggled way down below

What is this trail winding out to the country
She gives a smile so much more than the fare
Holding on tight to a vested creation
Seeking adventure of those debonair

Here now we find such an unlikely duo
Still in their eyes shines reflections of grace
She has her man and her plan contemplated
He has his heart in the very same place
  
Exhaust fumes emit in a paisley frost pattern
Corduroy sidewalks bid all a farewell
Searching for love is the now destination
What will they find, only time it will tell

And as a western of popcorn persuasion
Into the sunset, they fade in the glow
What once was billed as a short presentation
Nowhere on this page will “The End” now show

-
*Lying alone on a mattress of caverns
Pillow sham dreams only cool on one side
Twin fitted sheets in a queen-less adventure
Beneath a blanket of tears drops I hide

Headboard illusions cast vacancy shadows
Along the place where the bed is still made
Unruffled covers are lost in translation
LED numbers past midnight displayed

Caught in the silence so loud it is deafening
Even the moon cranks its volume too high
Shouted my prayer though there won’t be an answer
Folding away endless questions of why

Soon every star in the sky will be leaving
Shimmers will fade without even a care
Space quickly made for a hopeless sun rising
Another morning I won’t find you there

Now that I’ve lost her,
I wish I could turn back the hands of time
to that point where I decided I wanted to live,
and change my mind

Not because of the pain I am feeling
but because of the pain
I caused her

I watch the sunset fade
beneath angry wintered seas
cresting furiously,
drowning possibilities
of another moonlit night
washing up on this
frostbitten shoreline

Fading reflections falter
atop a jet stream,
coerced from below,
chilled from above,
willing feats of great wandering
as sleet licks old wounds
and footprints
become yesterday puddles
of journeys ending

Castaways cling to ancient dreams,
their treasures sinking deeper
in the murky silt,
while I brace against a frigid wind,
traversing drifting dunes
and snow fence barriers,
heading towards the light

A lone flickering candle
left in the bay window,
the flame, a signal
that your love still awaits,
and my heart warms
as I approach the beauty
I have so longed,
on the other side of
a blue weathered door…

.

As we sit together

beneath a sprawling maple
amidst colorful leaves

floating to the ground
like painted snow flakes

I think that autumn
must be the season of my heart

because I am forever

falling for you

.

You pulled petals from a daisy

trying to keep track
but soon lost your place

and as you frowned,

I handed you a bouquet of daisies
and promised,

“He loves you”

.

*What ever happened to fairy tale endings
When did the sun bring the cold winter chill
Why are kind gesturers an act of  pretending
How did our heartbeats become ever still

Where is the joy that we found ourselves sharing
Happiness falling on much darker days
Meadows of flowers now weeds never caring
Blue skies are hidden behind sorrowed haze

Dreams slowly scattered on desolate oceans
Washed up on shore as the sandcastles die
Tossed overboard with the weakest emotions
Salt coated tears the horizon does cry

Once perfect mornings now afternoon weary
Gazing on edges cut sharp by the storm
Forecasts are sent in a poem that’s dreary
Standing afraid as the thunderclouds form

Hiding our eyes behind last April’s fashion
No cotton fabric for sale on the rack
Finding that drab is our lone source of passion
Marked down for clearance way out in the back

When did we give up on promises pending
Taking a place after push comes to shove
What ever happened to fairy tale endings
What ever happened to forever love

.

He sits on a hill
crying tears of rejection
Searching for love
but to chase it away

Calling the clouds
hanging low in the heavens
Blind to the light
in its abstract display

There all alone
hearing voices on breezes
Swears it is him
they are talking about

Recording echoes
on pages of reasons
Counting each one
on his fingers of doubt

Feeling the sweat
as it drips past his hairline
Filling the cracks
that have formed on his skin

Drowning the dreams
of the flooded temptations
Closing his eyes
just to try once again

Falling apart,
tiny pieces now crumble
Pebbles of life
cast to reaches below

Back to the earth
if the soil will have him
Maybe this time
something better will grow

.
*Longing, you gaze through the curtains
Lost in the moon’s glowing light
Stillness awash in the heavens
A hush on the whispers a’ flight

Promises echoed in stardust
Softly as wind on a wing
Smiles that form in the distance
Thoughts in the quiet now bring

Sighs of each breath ever taken
Affectionate phrases a’ flow
Desires agleam in the darkness
Peaceful horizons now show

Hearing his voice say I love you
Even though you are apart
Knowing this night as you listen
In silence, he speaks to your heart

Pianos cried

Sad, this lonely figure on a gloom ridden street,
head low, looking for diamonds in a dumpster
Chasing dreams in slow moving express lanes,
tracing graffiti on the edges of his skin,
following a blood trail hoping for orange juice

Once upstanding, a real community guy,
a giver, not a taker of sunrise gestures and hot coffee
Tossing an alarm clock no longer needed as
each day was something to look forward to,
slumber happily abandoned for the love of his life

Now duct taped shoes, silver on black scratched soles
worn from pacing in low signal zones, bad areas where hills
and valleys interrupted service, beeps meant voices straining
to hear over the high rise shadows,
while twenty dollars bought enough gas for two days

Fancied himself a poet a long time ago
Phrased emotions in sunny side up stanzas
Mornings and evenings reveled in inked harmonies
as two hearts sung a duet of rhymes in cursive cadence
so song like, pianos cried when left out

The only melodies these days are off key assumptions
stored behind locked doors of closed businesses,
offering desolate concrete steps for liquor bottles
with brown paper bag wrappings and unpaid receipts,
where he finally returns to sleep, to dream about her

Silence,
gifted in a synthetic quiver,
placed at the marble steps,
dead of dawn delivery,
horse drawn and cloaked,
shaded in black ash
and mortuary mosaics

A hazy mist clings
to porch lights and railings
as thunder roars in the distance
while street cars find *** holes
to be louder than the
steam engines out of sync
with creaking metal tracks

Air raid sirens tested,
weekly since the last great war
forty years ago, just in case
causing hairline fractures in
alabaster pillars standing tall,
hand carved and stamped,
fingerprint adorned
by a cranky neighbor’s kid
singing sesame street
at the top of his lungs

Wiping his nose on his sleeve,
his hands on his pants (and pillars)
peanut butter and maple syrup,
tossing rocks at the goldfish,
making the dog bark,
pestering the gardener
trimming topiaries,
chasing gophers and
killing aphids
with soapy water
left over from last Thursday’s mess

***** dishes,
banging pots and pans,
slamming cabinet doors,
dropping silverware and the like,
shear madness for a flower man
with two shadows
and many unruly hedges
demanding his attention
as the owner sleeps just above
enjoying his gift of
silence

.

I’m usually sad when it rains

and as I walk today

all alone

feeling it hit
my shoulders

like so many tear drops

I understand why

.

*Cross water stories
beckon with pictures of auras,
glowing symbols of that dream
cast aside long ago
on a wayward stone,
flushed of soft banks
and cattails swaying
in synchronized movements

Winding down some unforgotten stream
where rivers meet oceans
and waves conjure thoughts
of rhythmic bystanders
wishing you well
as you float to that island,
where days last forever
and heart shaped seashells
bloom amidst the sand

Where the footprints you follow
are hers leading toward you
beneath a Mardi Gras sun
beading sweat on glistening bodies,
sun tanned symphonies
wallow in the warm breezes
while aquamarine desires
coming with the tide,
drench you with love

.
In a destined voice I shall speak my heart
beyond waning sunsets with colorful smiles
and fields of dancing sunflowers,
waving at me in the breeze like they know me

Standing here above all else,
feeling taller than I should
builds a certain strength in my soul,
energizes this tired, once worn out man with new life

Breathing the altitude’s wintered air,
a rush of splendor entices a gleam in my eye
For whatever beauty I may see, there is always her
and I can truly look nowhere else

I have climbed this peak, fought the terrain, the cold,
clawed and scraped on this day
so that the world below, humming autumn tunes,
meandering like ants performing their duties

Would know what I am about to say,
in this moment of peaceful serenity,
eyes wide open, conquering my fears,
pulse racing in fevered flow as anticipation swells, is true

Taking a deeper breath burns my lungs, but in a good way
as I move two steps closer to the edge, gather my balance
and shout from this apex of the world,
“I love you more than anything”
in hopes my desperate echoes find her listening

.

White Cliffs of Dover now sponsored in daydreams
Reading each billboard that rusts on the sky
Checking a map though it’s for the wrong city
She sends a smile to the wink of his eye

Overhead cords hang to signal a stopping
Pulled like a kite that is fighting a breeze
Setting his watch as if time is most urgent
Tiny the gesture to put her at ease

Anxious she strums atop metal and leather
Songs in her head dance at half past the price
Suddenly yanks as the trees are enormous
Grabbing her bag she does not ask him twice

****, screams the brakes and some passengers flying
Coffee and biscuits collide in the aisle
Fixing her hair like a debutante princess
Waits on the door and then exits in style

A tip of his hat to the fatherly captain
Treading deliberate, the stairs leading down
Adjusting his jacket lapels till they’re even
Spun, is her skirt as a fine evening gown

Coughing a hairball, the old engine rumbles
Sigh, moan the bi-folds directed to close
Noticing now that her left hand is empty
Lifting a stone from the shoulder, she throws

Causing a crack in the bug spattered windshield
The bus driver digs for his insurance card
Grumbles a curse word, his bible forsaken
Just a small pebble and not tossed so hard

She stands at the portal awaiting admission
Watches each eye as she fumbles about
Cheers to herself when her fingers meet plaster
Knows all too well it is no time to shout

Apologies gifted like Christmas in August
Promising beer with a head made of foam
When she appears on the exit step lower
In her left hand she now clutches her gnome

Into the lobby of lemon cake ceilings
Chandeliers glisten like ***** champagne
A tap on the bell wakes the concierge sleeping
“That was my dream!” comes his groggy complain

Currency shoveled the counter of granite
Not yet a bride nor a non-shaven groom
Still it is felt like a pink feathered boa
Lovebirds want cages, these two need a room

Holding his hand as they shuffle the staircase
Ornate the copper reflecting her grace
Wearing a smile that is sheepish and woolen
What waits the night paints the look on her face

He calls the bed, fears his ankles are swollen
She shuts the door to their quarters superb
Then slightly opened for placard replacement
Written in English reads, Do Not Disturb

:

*Though sunny the days of cloudless expanse
in fields lowly rutted with fear
Down footprints of mud in a circular dance,
a garden now beckons my dear

A wood picket fence and a hedge overgrown
beyond an old gate bearing rust
That cringes and creaks near the wicked seeds sown
about northern winds once were ******

Vines cling an arbor in strangling grip,
creeping like worms neath your feet
Proud of their thorns and the flesh they do rip,
souring fruits ever sweet

Step into this realm where petals now bleed
with faces apart from the norm
On barbed wire stems of a nevermore need,
now cast of an unending storm

Awaits there child with a part in her hair
and roots tethered deep to the ground
A bouquet of pain offered up, if you dare,
in silence she speaks without sound

Come follow this path of a nightmarish dream,
where nothing that lives ever dies
But hold tight your tongue for she hates when you scream,
the girl with the blackberry eyes

Beware of prophets
with pencil and paper,
lower case amulets
worn like a charm,
dangling lures, shiny
nothing up their sleeves

Phrase-like indulgence
plastered on street lights,
counted and numbered,
scratched below the surface,
slight of hand gestures
tickling termites and maggots,
off shoots of decency

Dramatic detachments
re-glued and fastened,
revolving exits doors
spun out of control

Now you see me,
now you don’t
Abracadabra, like magic
in the hands of cheerleaders,
in the hearts of followers,
in the pockets of prophets,
in the end, the kool aid,
the cliff,
the disappearance

Hocus pocus
and they all fall down
into an abyss
of hypocrisy