Where now is the ancient volcano that
Towered above the land belching fire?
Ir is an atoll with a lagoon wreathed in
Coral Its depths the inverted mountain

The past is still with us changed  Time
A wonder that cannot be remembered
Freed by its dying to be reborn again
Everything has its season and when it
Comes anew its character is gilded in
The aura of before that is its splendor

What is poetry?   It is a mystery
It is a desire to live forever; to Love
Forever; To write Forever.  It is accessible
For who can say what it i and what it is not
Aspire to be something  you can be a poet
A poet is somebody with possibilities for
That alone ****** deserves to be respected
Poets are ever threatened to be called out
As charlatans but the greatest danher comes
From within their .own  Jealous,paranoia are
Ever on the horizon and all they to counter it
With is their poetry a tenuous thing hanging
Upon inspiration which is given and and then
No  one knows when or if it shall come back
The complex must be made simple without a
Vital truth being lost But then what is truth as
A judge once said of ******* I may not
Be able to define it but I know it when I see it
Might he not have been wiser and just said I do
Not know.  But that peace prevail we must have
Arbiters and we pay them well very well then
Change our minds that we have put in chains-
The poet is eminently human flawed and in
Need of  love and forgiveness to go on Love
Divine and human and to give it back in all
Ways but poetry is his chosen way the gift that
Is asked for To know God's mind and work out
Words thaat can be understood by all who  have
Ears to hear as Jesus said of His parables ; and
That some would hear and remember and only
Later understand.  Are their amongsts us some
Pretenders it not mine to say but to have a wish
To be is enough and God may is His wisdom or
Foolishness grant it-Let us love one another even
Unto folly and the lord thy God as One. Amen


For Brendan

We are like two climbers  on the side of a
Mountain trying separately to reach the
Summit.  We shout back and forth but do
Not really hear.  She says You are not good
I shout back you are not kind.  Failing the love.
That calls us to be together. The kind and the
Good.  Dear Lord show us the  Way that we may
Help each other - that our two broken hearts yet
Be joined with Thine to rise again on the
Mountain that Your will be done on earth as in
Heaven Thy Kingdom where our love now is



For Elizabeth

Once there was a war
No one won a nightmare
From which I am still
Waking up and when I do
It will be forgotten but still
I seek to sleep perchance to
Dream a better dream.


Xmas Morning 1919

It is simple if you are young you
Will make mistakes some will seem
To you very bad and burden you if
You do not believe you are forgiven
Youth is not wise and seeks wisdom
That it may keep from erring again
But this is not to be for we are to
God always children.  Think on this
He was already before the beginning.
He asked Job: Where you when I did
Create the leviathan?  Love forgives
His children  If we  arenot believe
We are forgiven we cannot be His
Children and not being His children
We will not be able to accept the gift
Of our eternal youth that comes to all
Believe God's has  a boundless Love
For His children because as long as
They live they will  always need it and
To who asks believing it shall be given

The only wisdom that is without conceit is
Knowing you are not wise but loved;
Have no conceit of knowing why but
Instead be kind as God is kind to you

There are two ways of looking at things
That roughly correspond to the  Platonic
And the Aristotelian.  There is the actual
Truth . the truth   that things are as they
Are
Commonly perceived and there is the
Ideal truth  that speaks of the enduring
Essential that is  behind the presenting
Illusion.  All men ae good because God
Has made them good Then there is News
That tells another story about who we are
Which is The Truth?/ What is reality?  In
Eastern religion the world is maya  meaning
Illusion that we will escape from when we
Are ultimately enlightened and perceive the
Truth.  Do we have a choice?  Do we dare
Speak for one way or another.  We all hedge
Our bets until there is a choice that must be
Made. In our hearts we would always rather
Believe God but as Churchill said:"Americans
Always make the right choice.  After they have
Made every other "    its funny yes but I am sure
It is equally true of all peoples. Faced with death
Almighty versus the hope of eternal life there is
Only one choice and all men do therefore make
wholehearted the choice of who they are and have
Always been after life lolly gogging  compromise
Men just are not gay and devil may care, Before
Throne of God nor were they ever if truth be told
Let us humbly come before our God seeking the
Joy that the world never gave us except in  the
Glory of long long ago memories of our youth
Then shall we say let it be Thy kingdom Come
Thus the two way converge in the Lord thy  God

I am loyal to my life because it is all
I have Who I am.  So therefore despite
Its' many short comings which I have
Railed against and still will rage against  
Yet I would not sever the vital cord ever.

It is the same with my church and my country
They are my world and my universe-despite
All Vesuviuses; despite all black holes- all that
Is imagined or real that threatens the good life.
I can never say I do not wish thee anymore and
Mean it.  Such I believe is not my idea alone but
All are loyal to the same and it is rooted in the
Common love that is most plain and unadorned
By pretense and humbug sham theatrics of flag
Natives are we of that land which  is of our God
This Love it is which commands my allegiance
To this is my loyalty which I l never voluntarily
Surrender.  But not my will but thy will be done