grass grows through the cracks in the asphalt
of what was once glass avenue.
flashes of grayed sunlight reveal blasted facades
offering a peek through the gauzy veil of
years both distant and near.
woe be unto those whose days are spent
looking backward, for the past holds naught but
the pail glimmer of souls lost
to all but thought and memory.
shade and spirit haunt this place.
the river rages unabated over the locks at TVA;
a reminder of the folly of all grand designs;
there is no power here.
gone are your craft beers and artisan pickles and
small plate miracles filled with
foraged mushrooms and
duck confit.
gone are your bike trails and long hikes and
nature walks
down around the ***, the pan and the handle.
appalachia has fallen.
the last stand lasted all of sixty seconds;
a minute too long.

When happiness and smiles you have within grasp
They’ll charge in with swords of pain and sadness
Raise your shield with a tighter clasp
Be strong, be strong against your demons!

As achievements and great success chimes
They’ll attempt to feed it with arrogance and pride
Keep watch and be aware at all times
Be strong, be strong against your demons!

While innocence and upright honesty comforts
They’ll rebel on with lies and sly deceits
Restrict them from ever passing forth
Be strong, be strong against your demons!

Among the midst of compassion and pure love
They’ll counter with anger and ugly hatred
Fend them off with all the might you have
Be strong, be strong against your demons!

They will be close your whole life
They will force themselves in
Do not let them win
Be strong, be strong against your demons!

The human heart
in metaphoric exclamation
teaches of presence
totality and wholeness
of Consciousness..
Each beating heart
stands as vibration
made simply of What is
infinite and transparent
joyful and frightening..
This is the true identity
of each of us..
Vibrations
as perceiving experience
appear as the
seeming and separate
mind body and universe..!

Path #1

Forgiveness is the sinking
head into heart..
The head dwelling in separation
concedes logic's demands
but confronting questions
time after time:
Why? and What?
Surrendering at last
to the sinking..
dissolving..
becoming..
the Heart...


Path #2

Forgiveness is downloading
of new software..
Our old software
employs the ego rampant
rendering forgiveness
a difficult dream
searching in forlorn places
finding only traces..
New software finds it all
Here and Now...!


Path #3

Real forgiveness is Now
not in time..
Events in the past
seeming in need of
forgiveness
are only known
Now..
and what of the Now..?
it's other name
our true identity:
Forgiveness...



Path #4

Chaos
is an iteration
of Forgiveness..
a shading and
concealment of
formulated light..
Our awaking brings
the repentance
the return
the feedback
to never absent
Forgiveness...


Path #5

A shock it is
to learn that
Forgiveness is not personal..
It is a realization
of a substance common
to all concerned
transparent and eternal
the real Self..
With that realization
duality of conflict
dissolves in the
Light...


Path #6

Quantum forgiveness
is the only
forgiveness..
A leap into
infinite non-locality..
The suddenness arrives
within painful progress
or perhaps
strangely enough
out of the blue...!


Path #7

Forgiveness
an experience of sealing
our separate brokenness..
It is mandatory..
Yet the sealing
can be accomplished
only by those who see
there is no need
for the sealing...


Path # 8

Immersed
in a separated
dualistic reality
seeking forgiveness
in thought and time
is not satisfying..
The lingering pain
from a fruitless search
for forgiveness in
all the wrong places...


Path #9

Forgiveness
is a restoration of
peace and happiness
with new clarity:
The Awareness of
peace and happiness
was never in need of
restoration...


Path #10

We need to see clearly
that all relationships
take place in
infinite Awareness..
But wait..
not in .. but as..
All those hurts
are constrictions
of Awareness
crying out their
illusory separation...

It's 5:30 in the morning
and the very memory of You
lingers
as the most bittersweet of aftertastes.

I'm quivering,
and this is what it feels like
to be *brimming with poetry;
to have only just woken up,
in restlessness,
full
of
words.

And I'm writing about You,
because I spend every sleeping hour
searching for You in That world,
and by the stars  I will find You.
I will always find you.

For when you disappeared
I lost a part of me that made me
more than whole;
You gave me happiness,
even as my vision grew bleak,
You have given me Love
in all its beauty
with each gentle caress
and long-missed embrace.

I confess;
I Love too deeply.
And You have given me
so much to cherish
that being in a world
without You in it
is unthinkable,
unbearable,
unfathomable;
Even emptier than before.

Your Love is bright as ever, even in the shadows~

You are beautiful.
And You will always be beautiful
even when your hair's white
and in a mess,
even when we're older and been through so much,
I will take one look at You
and let you know every single time
that I Love You
and that you really do mean a lot me.

My Love,
I miss you so;
I want you back in my arms.

and here I found myself
in complete radio silence.
You're the soft humming static,
the deafening silence
as soon as I close my car door.
There's a certain kind of peace here,
though what I have is emptiness;
what I have is nothing.
You're the cigarette in my fingers at 3 am,
if only I hadn't quit.
You're the portrait that I'd create in awe,
if only I knew how to draw.
You're every song and piece of poetry
that these hands will ever compose for months,
and even years,
and by the stars, sweetie,
do I know how to write.

Sometimes
you
get used
too much,
and you
confuse bloodstains
for watermarks.
It’d be easier
to pretend like
nothing’s happening,
rather than admitting
that, deep down,
You were hurting.
And you were always hurting.
One minute
everything’s going fine
and the next
you’re breaking down;
tears flowing from your eyes
uncontrollable,
unbearable,
unyielding.
You
look me straight
in the eye,
and I knew
the words
even as
they caught in your lungs,
“Am I okay?”
I shook my head
and said not a word,
as you leaned in close.
In the silence,
I wondered:
Who was consoling whom?
If I close these eyes,
it would feel like
all of those other nights,
or perhaps,
this was still the same night.
And all the heartache,
and truth,
and yearning,
were seeking moonlight
once again.

-D.C.