Like a Siren calling me
Relentlessly to death,
The Liquor in my cabinet
haunted my every breath.

It started out quite innocent-
A dram sipped here and there-
Progressing ounce by ounce into
a sordid love affair.

A beer or three drunk at the game-
I was good company.
But drinking in the parking lot
made me disorderly.

Cold winter evenings lost their gloom
once my pints had been consumed.
I lost my wife and family
And live in rented rooms.

I had to get myself some help
To rise from my despair-
I sat in meetings at my Church
On a folding metal chair.

I have a mentor guiding me
He’s been to Hell and back.
He always takes my phone calls
when Johnnie Walker wants me back..

And so I will not drink tonight
Two weeks now I’ve been sober.
I spilled the drink into the sink-
I think, I hope, it’s over.

In a far land known as Pakistan,
in the little town of Prym
Impiety was criminal,
And blasphemy a sin

A Christian woman stood accused
Of impious words and deed-
Did her words insult the Prophet?
Or did her neighbors hate her creed?

Tried and condemned for Blasphemy
in the little town of Prym,
The Christian woman waited,
for the stoning to begin.

The townspeople all gathered round,
pious Moslems one and all.
They chose their weapons from the ground
and awaited Imam’s call.

When suddenly the sky grew dark
The Sun obscured from view
A Nickel Iron stone from space
One, without sin, just threw.

In the place where Prym once stood
is a crater deep and wide.
There is no more impiety.
and no more fratricide.

Take to heart the lesson
Let hatred be unknown
Or next time He who is without sin
may cast a larger stone.

A caterpillar had the feeling
That change was coming
That time was stealing.
To embrace the metamorphosis
It wove a cocoon around its chest
And choose our wall to take its rest.

The young are thoughtless, often cruel
And I was no exception.
I would have destroyed it but
for Frankie’s intervention.
Frankie lived in the corner house
He was older and quite wise.
He taught me that this green cocoon
would change into a butterfly.
He bade me watch, he had me wait
to see the wonder taking shape.
We saw the Monarch first take wing
once caterpillar, now a King.

Several summers passed us by.
I still lived but Frankie died-
He was nineteen, Young and brave
A landmine put him in his grave.
He died just before Saigon’s fall
His name’s inscribed upon the Wall
Corporal Frank Evangelista Junior,
beloved by mother and mourned by sister.
He was too good, too young to die.
He would have been a butterfly.

“Let no man write my epitaph.”
The defiant rebel said.
'Let no woman eulogize me
After I am dead.'

'I give my life for Ireland-
An Ireland strong and free
An Ireland that‘s united,
One free of tyranny.'

'When my country takes its rightful place
Among nations of the world.
That day I will not live to see
When our banner is unfurled.'

'On that day, and only then
Let my suffering be recalled-
and that I died for Liberty-
The sweetest death of all.'

Her husbands’ death had come upon him quick.
He’d always been so full of life and song.
She’d had no warning that her Tom was sick.
until he crumpled to the sidewalk and was gone.

The very day they put her husband in the ground,
a Jet black Lab with no collar or license
that she took to calling “Pepper” came around.
“He must belong to someone.” was her sense.

She put up signs and Ads and asked around.
She made inquiries to find the owner of the Lab.
No one in town had seen the dog before
the day they placed her man beneath the sod.

Pepper stayed faithfully at his mistress’ side
They took long walks down Beachcomber Way
Only Pepper heard the tears she cried
and stayed by her till the sadness passed away

Three winters they passed in that little town,
a town that made its living from the sea.
Eventually she felt strong enough to work
and re acclimate to life and company

As Spring’s warmth dissipates the winter gloom,
Sadness cannot forever shadow hearts
The heart is a perennial and so will bloom
as soon as the snows of sorrow will depart.

Then, on the anniversary of the date
the day they placed her husband in the ground,
She called and called but Pepper didn’t come-
The Jet black Lab was nowhere to be found.

She put up signs and Ads and asked around.
She made inquiries to find her dog again.
but no one ever saw the Lab in town.
The stray will go where he is taken in.

And there I go again
Wanting you to notice me
Jealousy will begin

I just don’t know
What to expect
I’m not sure
Where my heart is to direct.

The Lord has it all
But could I share it with you
I would if you wanted me to.

I fear that you
Only used me for awhile
I made you feel for a moment
Like you were alive
I remember your smile.

Even then
It is always easier to be friends
But that is what I pray for
To be the “best of” through the end.

The Lord has it all
Cradled in his hands
My life, my love, my heart, my hurt
Yet here on earth I am alone in this land.

Winters eventual end will see you near
I am giving the Lord
All of my fear
And cut like a sword
All my doubts will soon disappear.

Temptation tangles tearing tendrils teasing
Thoughts think through thickening thunder
Lips lying like losers lifted lungs
Loud like lighted lamps

Follow fairly for fainting faces
Friends fight for feeling free
Eat education entirely
Energy eases enemies
Daring dear defend

Take the loving Lord
Fight eternally to the end.

If you’d ever leave
I wouldn’t know who to be
I wouldn’t know where to turn
I’d have all these bridges to burn

If you’d ever leave
The sun wouldn’t be as bright to me
If you’d ever leave me
My heart would be missing a beat

And if you ever leave
I just wouldn’t know how to see
Even though you would be free
I would never forget that memory

And if you’d ever leave me
I would look out on our seas
In a different way
I would wish you’d stay
If you’d ever leave.

For the way we treat eachother
There is no way
To say how we do these crazy things
Yet we’ll change our minds
For nothing more than diamond rings and earthly kings.

One day we love how we talk
And sing and walk
The next we try to look away
And walk on to another day

If we have a soul how does it know when to stop and to go
But if we never burn or glow
Then what are we then?
We are simply nothing and no one wins.

We are so afraid of how we feel
That suddenly we can no longer be real.
We’re turned into something, someone else
until the tension softens and melts.

So now we feel fine or
Ok
Or alright
And then eventually we begin
To fall
Because we feel nothing at all.

All just for the way we treat eachother
Maybe we forget we are all sisters and brothers
Yet brothers hurt sisters and sisters hurt brothers
We are so worried about our own hearts beat
We loose ourselves in our own tension and heat.

We should look outside ourselves and let the feelings flow.
Unless we want our souls to fade
Let’s show each other a better way.

Baptism…Foreward

I prayed and hoped
I lost and wept
I was found by a boat
I, by the Lord’s waves, have been swept.


Baptism…Afterward

I pray and hope
I loose and weep
I am found by a boat that helps me cope
I, with the Lord’s waves, will sweep.

I need to let it be
with the strength He’s given me
This way it seems
is struggling
To be free

This covering crawls
With thoughts less worthy
Each time every try
Stumbles and falls
And then He asks, “but haven’t you heard me?”

Then grace falls down
Pouring slow like fresh dipped honey
Heavy lifting this frown
And I wonder aloud “now am I worthy?”

I need to let it be
With the strength He’s given me
This way it seems
Is struggling to be free.

Tell me what happens when lonely lights burn out
when right turns wrong
and people study your clout.

Tell me what happens when steady streams run dry
when slow means fast
and people see you cry.

Tell me what happens when cars crumple
when steel is weak and
people begin to stumble.

Tell me what happens when real does not belong with rules
when happy is distant
and people want to fix tender hearts with tools.

Then tell me what happens when you hear the wind whisper
when a man’s flushed cheek frown becomes a smile
and people know he missed her.

Because the soul is not a body of water or hard as steel or ruled by ruling
because I have believed this so
and it was only myself I was fooling.

Instead a soul needs a comfort zone, a home, a feeling to believe in
and if you are willing to trust in Him
He is always here to help you begin.

Now tell me what will happen….

My soul's shifting of tides
is ever more
real
changing
and true
as the running river does flow
to a sea

The difference here is the route taken and
the way
my soul
finds me.

To meet my soul swimming against currents and tides
Is always
a difficult
and challenging
ride,
but to be greeted into deeper oceans
after riding through narrow rock ways and rapids
is a much more comforting notion.

This is so because after
the quick
bumpy
ride
through a
narrow water path flowing;
I am sure to find
the end
and a deeper way of knowing.

So even though the tide
of my soul
is still
shifting and true

I choose to take my soul
the narrow way
of a river running quickly towards a deeper soulful You.