What
Is eternity
But the
Disruption
Of all
I’ve worked
So long for,
In vain
?

I have
Only just recovered

Waking
To the splash
Of cold water

A shivering gasp
Some hours
Before dawn



My heart
Is wary;

Weary;

Worried;

What comes now?

After this
Long forsaken
Childlike awe?

I love you.

I only wish

I could teach my younger self

I didn’t only want you;

I loved you.



If I could do that,

Perhaps tonight,

I could breathe that honest truth

Into your ears

And not spill it on paper.

Glorious morning;
The fog has lifted, and now
Fishing boats are out.

A heady brew of espresso

Mingles with the dewy air,

Buttery pain au chocolat

Makes for quite a pair;

The morning warms to the songs

Of the chipper moineau,

And lovers beneath the columns

Of Parc Monceau.

Don’t resurrect my sins
To torment me

I’ve burned down
All my hopes and dreams;



I tremble in the dark
With weary heart and heavy sighs

For one day soon I must see
Either mercy, or justice, in your eyes;



I have failed
From my very first breath

And eternity looms
Just beyond my death.

You have left me,
My love,
With naught but words of scorn,
As your every step
Draws you further from me.

How far will you go,
Before you realize
Your tears have been falling?
Before you feel
The ache of this abandonment?

But I know you,
And I know
You chase perfection as a shooting star.
It lives but a moment
And burns into your heart;
And you dream more than I can give.

Now we are separated
By towering mountain ranges
That shimmer bright
From a hundred seasons of snow.
But even then
The lilies there are never silent;
They whisper in the winter night.

I still see your prints
Not yet buried under new snow.
You have gone
So very far away.
Though my heart
Never ceases its call,
I cannot you through the storm
Anymore.

A smile of innocence

Is a most dangerous thing

It astounds the heart with joy

And makes the soul sing

Dozens of scars

Laid upon her arm;

Her smile

Sudden as dawn;

A fractured heart

Recovering;

A song that

Ever goes on.

Goodbye,
July.
See you again,
After June
Has been back in.

Oregon in winter

With patchwork fields

Of green and gold.

Woodsmoke lingers;

Memory bursts in;

And maybe it’s okay

To be growing old.

Seasons, optional

Summer, endless

Laying out on golden fields

Holding on to the sunset

As a matchless fire opal

For eons in my mind

Every Sunday afternoon

I curl up in this half empty bed;

I replay the memories

I’ve rewritten in my head

And sometimes whisper

Unheard prayers of shame.

Maybe I’ll eventually reconcile

You’ll never again speak my name.

How long now has it been

Since we met up, just to end?


How many months passed

Since last I brought you flowers?


But second chances now belong

To the moments long since gone.


Memories raised up on false hope

Remain bittersweet, and hold no power.

How I long to
Savor a moment with you,
Of crème brûlée and coffee,
On the edge of a waking summer,
Beneath the shimmering stars
Of the final days of spring.



Saint Mary’s water
Is the envy of Glacier:
Icy blue, and
Scattered nearby,
Sunny wildflowers
As firecrackers frozen
Just as they burst.



We stopped our song short
Unable to hear the harmony
Of our notes combined



As a moth
I am drawn to the street lamp.
On a hazy cold night
I see a faint echo
Of ten million celestial lights
Humbled,
So my eyes may endure
Such singular wonder.



It is good to be unknown,
Sometimes.
I may sit silent at the corner of the bar
Secretly sipping chilled Lipton’s;
Pay my tab, and
Walk quietly away,
Without a single word.



I never knew the word
Desire
Until I discovered
The ways I could kiss her
I never knew the word
Famished
Until I learned
My plate was only empty
I never knew the word
Dead
Until I was invited
Into the arms of Love

Honestly,

I broke apart last night.

I broke

Over broken promises,
Failed friendships,
Innocence undone.

I broke
Over this last lost year
With all its fear.

I broke
After losing you,
And learning
Where you now are.

I broke.
I simply broke
Apart.

Sunday night

After dinner and impromptu dancing

My hand strayed over the zipper

At the back of her yellow summer dress.

Her eyes fixed on me

As I gingerly drew it down.

She pressed close to me when

My hand slid onto the small of her back;

Her skin as smooth as butter

As pretty and perilous as whisky.

She laid a tender smile on my cheek

Whispering ‘hurry up and kiss me.’

Spring takes an age to bloom

Summer fades in an afternoon

Autumn lingers in brown and gold

Winter steals in and never grows old

Of all my regrets,
For Man is granted
Not a few;

Of all my regret:
My deepest wound,
My keenest loss,
Has settled there upon
You.

About the age of ten

My eyes ceded innocence

And have thus been

Blind ever since

My heart strives

This wistful day;

For all these things

I long to say

Ought be said

Behind closed door,

And simply stay

With whom I adore.

I have ears...


God!


Please let me hear.

By her smile

She’s adorned in such a way

That silks and gems and

Polished gold

Have little left to say

Her voice is lush,

Appetizing to my ear.

By it I blush, and

Discern my true fears.

I find every hour or so

Words bursting in my head

As corn kernels agitated;

And greedily

I scoop up all I can,

Though the result is often

A mess of burned buttery bunk.

Five years
I’ve been begging
To forget;

Each night
Restores the gravity
Of my regret.

The only difference

Between you and me

Is are you less

Or more lonely?

I catch her modest glance
As she scans for mistletoe.

And upon its discovery
She quietly strays below;

Gentle eyes fall on me, and,
Drawn by that coy smile,

We meet beneath the greenery
To linger there a while.

The man I am and

The one I should have been

Often meet

At a broken mirror.

Wine no longer makes heart glad

Bread does not satisfy

Here alone in darkened room

I sit and wonder why