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atr Feb 2018
Amidst the smoke and light and laughter
Along the smiles and cheers thereafter

A sound is bled, wrung free from strings
It bounds and treads and wholly sings
Inside each song, a secret’s moved
Not right nor wrong or frequent proved
The message dances from bow to ear;
A coded trance of love and fear
From left to right the story rings
Of death and light the Cello brings
The covert tale engulfs the room
It vibrates truth to those who loom
The Cello knows for why it’s played
Its secret lost, both gone and stayed

In the smoke and light and laughter
Music lies and cries thereafter
atr Apr 28
Lost and free our love should be
Strength in 'we' are hopes and dreams
And if winds blew or when they do
On gusts, I’m ****** to write

A line or two in thought of you

And if it were that words fall short
Let them sail toward soulless ports
For ships are that, deprived of crew
And still I write

A line or two in thought of you

Lost adrift in search of land
You are my earth, you are my sand
And if we sink as boats will do
Then first I’ll write

A line or two in thought of you

If swept away, if drowned or swallowed
It’s here I say press down your sorrows
And when they swell as sorrows do
I’ve written words but far too few

A line or two, in thought of you:

Leap with me into the sea
Set sail, set sail...
atr Jul 2022
Like feathered tips of swooping sparrows
Our kinship cuts like that of arrows
A brother’s love has weakened me
I’ll take the slice, so brother be

Shivered dreams of days that past
Rivers gleam and drown mine fast
Our friendship sank and swept to sea
I’ll learn to swim, so brother be

A shadow cast to shade your head
A brother fights for light instead
Take care your eyes so you might see
I’ll pluck mine free, so brother be

Save your hunger or save your thirst
With food or drink so you eat first
Sicken now is Love’s decree
I’ll mend its rule, so brother be

With strife or passion
And life with ration

A brother’s love, I have for thee
I’ll leave this Earth, so brother be
atr Apr 12
A gentle breeze is flowing free
Among the leaves a robin sings

Her tune rings clear and floats with grace
Hewn down my fears the sound embraced

The sweetly sung and blended notes
Are neatly wrung with mended hopes

A robin’s song is better still
Than stories told which letters will

They lift me up and set me down
A gift of love that’s free from doubt

The nestled sound so ever perched
Settled now in forever search

Yet,

A robin’s song is never free
It’s bound by wind and
Lives in me…
This is dedicated to a very special person who never knew it.
atr Feb 2018
Pablo plays with toys
Some of them are his friends
Some of them are cars and some of them are guns
Vroom! Goes the police car
Watch out! says the cowboy
Pablo plays pretend
He always gets the bad guy
Stop right there! the hero says
You’ll never get me alive! yells the bandit
Pablo knows that good guys always win
The policeman and hero find the bandit
Bang Bang!
I’m dying, says the bad guy
Good job, the policeman tells the hero, you’ve saved the day
When no one watches, Pablo looks for more play things
In the closet on the shelf, in the back, he finds a very heavy toy
There is no water in this gun
He takes it to his room
Pablo plays pretend
In the end, the good guy always wins
Bang!
atr Dec 2023
On torrid winds from whence it came
A lurid light has taken aim
Bold and bright and dry it seeks
Cold and quiet eyes to pique

For change is that, a whipping wind
A blinding light that has no end
Curst and harsh and strong it burns
At worst it marks us with concern

When torrid light has gone or come
And horrid sights of change begun
It can admit a ranging chorus
Attending to what changes for us

And it's just that, the music notes
Of binding, tight, subduing hope
The skipping sounds of steps that pass
The winds of change that never last…

            walk with me a while
atr Oct 5
In the woods and by the stream there held this evening talk
It was there that sat a bear, ******, hare and hawk

Who is it then, asked the ******, that’s against this stream’s retention?
What is the charge against this friend that is so fair to mention?

If it were I, spoke the bear, I’d let the stream flow free
A ******’s dam, it stops the flow of fish for cubs and me

It was then the hare chimed in to plead against this case
A dam is fine, it isn’t wrong to stop the water in its place

A ******’s home requires that the stream is steadied so
To set a rule against their home is too hefty of a blow

This is true, said the ******, and I hope you all agree
I cannot choose another place to live amongst the trees

A ******’s life depends on water, branches, fish, and streams
A ban against this way of life is a prohibition too extreme

I fly high, squawked the hawk, and so have a better view
When a stream is blocked, the water stops, but this is nothing new

Who is it then that builds a home from which others do not need?
Is it you, the hare, that builds a home from others’ weeds?

It’s you, the bear, who digs a den from dirt where others live?
All of us make use of goods that another surely gives

A compromise is what's required for all our homes to stand
Without the give and take of nature it's all who will be ******

— The End —