How many thing have I left undone
I do not know,  Let me not count the
Ways I have not told you that I love
You.   Faith hope and love all shall
Be understood even without  words
Words in stillness not spoken unheard
Then

I will know that you know I  do
I will know I am there with you

All along the way is the way
Some times unseen some times
Dimly as through a window as at
Dawn or  dusk  Day by day is forever
Forever is a long long time but I will
Be coming as long as your kingdom is
Day by day till the end of time

That truth abound
The truth about the
Human soul is always
Tenderer than we
Suppose.  Be not
Roughly disposed
That the truth new
Born not be disguised
A gargoyle where there
Be a flower unseen


Happy New Year all

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

As a child I earnestly asked my father
Is it true that no matter how much one
Knows; how many ways we try we or
How hard we cannot get to heaven or
Realize the greatest good without he;p
Help that must come from God.  We, my
Mom and dad were sitting around a table
It was nearly dark as before a storm or 6pm
On a winter's eve.  Before he could speak
Suddenly some strange foreigners came to
Our table babbling questions seeking for
directions completely interrupting my hope
Of an answer to my question.  My father did
Not get to answer me.  I guess I really only
Wanted confirmation but it left me feeling in-
Complete.  Later much later he told me to
Write it all down and I would understand.

the present is almost over.  Always
But the past just keeps on keeping on
You have to have to have a few years
Under your belt when decades more than
A few can seem like only yesterday and
You know a lot of water has past under the
Old bridge...
  Little children have grown up
Their children too but their play stays in
Your mind long after they have left home
In life's great theater passions we have known
Tears have been shed and so many things and so
Many curtains have come down and we have been
Left alone to know always knowng it was yesterday
Only yesterday we were on the stage in a gay
Charade or a stranger walking alone in the rain
We knew and didn't know that it would all go away
Like water under the old bridge  to come again to
Wake up our hearts  like a long lost love-kismet

Play is the animating Spirit of creation where it ends
No body knows but God has called it good....
.

There is a saying who's source I forget
"Justice delayed is not justice."  Justice
Is swift.  Swift to repent for it is at it's
Source close to  the Divine; as Love  is
Outraged at cruelty  So it is equally swift
To recognize none is righteous but all
Fall short and the judge offends in a way
Like to  him whom gave offense -lacking
Understanding and compassion; failing
In the commandment that we love one
Another even as we love  ourselves; and
So obeying God.  Our better angels know
Repentance and are swift to obey that the
Peace that is heaven's be for us'on earth.

Love is like a fire
It know no shame
Its fuel is dried out
Virtue.  Yet let us not
Cry for they  shall
Come again sweeter
More tenderly than
Before.  From out
The charred ground
Sweetened by the ash
Of what was burned
The loveliness of God
Restored to its origins

Though she is young she is beautiful
It cannot be a sin to love and I love her
But I can say nothing and there is only
That one time that one moment that was
Ours when our gazes locked in the yard. 
Not a hundred feet  Yet  it is some sixty-
Plus years now  and still I know its true
That I love her still, will desire her forever.  
And never be able to let her go.  Yet I cannot
Say her name for she is not her name.  She
Who is forever is too beautiful for a name
That  i can say for feat this love   be shamed
It was close to where the old apple tree stood



Suncrest Memories

Too long  have been obsessed with  this
Riddle.  I must let it go that things are
Not as they seem .neiher this nor that..
I cannot sing my song and think about
This riddle that is not a riddle at all but
Simply the way things are and are not

The accuser gets snuffed out in death
For he had no roots in life is not one in
Our birth but appears unbidden from
Nothingness rejected and then abhorred.
How canst thou repent of  thy innocence
Tell me is it for vain glory we seek to know
When unknowing is the counterpoint of all
The sheltering caress that cradles our youth
To which we  must return to renew our life

Well all have fallen short  of the glory
Of God as it says in scripture  But is that
To be man's  epitaph to define us as we are?

Sin is to be false to God and ourselves
So it stands to reason that we really are
Not sinners but pseudo sinners acting a
Part that is not who we really are.. We are
Rather the children of God who forgot
That we are playing a part Poor fools who
Struggle and fret...Such things children do.

I will not argue which comes first Repentance
Or Redemption except to say God does not of
His original Being repent of Love or His own.
But perhaps it is wrong to stay His hand when
It comes to the perverseness of human nature.
His children consider not -to not to know His will
That they should live and rejoice therein though
It be their true desire-So would have Him choose
For them and to make known to them His Will
That from gross deception they should be saved=
Such is the pride of play that it forgets it plays  As
Babes up past the   bed time order run rampant when
Most in need of sleep.  There is His rod He makes
Us rest- to dream and wake again: To be who we
Truly are not all knowing- But still His children
Creation begins with an act of love so let it end.

There is a meaning so high and pure that
Who here below can say it true: I love you.
Yet I have said it so many times to you I do
Not count the times and ways daring not to
Question my heart knowing that all hearts are
Unknowable and desperately evil-yet the psamist
Says to lift them but I have never stood upon this
Formality of authentication but pleased myself and
Made myself less if only aspiration could be heard
As truth I could ne'er wait to tell you,  Be that is it
May and granting you your higher  ethic Before I
Go I would count it a kindness from Him above if
Before I go you would say I love you too forever

Quite a long time ago I was invited to a picnic on the
Deleware River.  I do not remember the circumstances
I was a guest of another family--and it was an unusual
Excursion for me at some distance from my  place and
I was the guest of people not well known to me.  The
Site was a rural park on the river, a river flowing well
through woods with some sandy shoreline. There were
Few amenities but there was a canoe rental and I rented
One and proceeded down river.  After going perhaps a
Quarter mile I came upon a man who seemed to be adrift
I waved to him but he did not wave back and I paddled on
a ways but something struck me as odd and I turned my
Head and yelled back-"Are you all right?"  He said:" I am
Drowning"  I quickly went back and allowed him to grab
On and I took him to shore-a very short distance.  I do not
Remember if we exchanged any words and I never told a
Person about my strange experience.  Now all these years
Later the question I asked myself back then :why did not he
Cry out for help when I first passed him and not declare his
Need until I by some vague premonition called back to him.
By such a slender thread does life hang that a man might let
Go by- his salvation in the balcance and wait upon God or
Whim of fate to intervene  the balanced scales weighing-
Whether it is better to live or to die .  To be or not to be?
I do not now know the answer but see more clearly  the ?

In the wondrous ocean of the
Universe so little is known let
Us not be limited in Truth so-
Spacious and that a Metaphor
For anything. at all for anything may
Be-the good; the bad;or  the merely
Different.  As a man's years mount
His reason tells him his time grows
Nigh but is it a reason confined to a
Time gone  by that was not so tried
By time that as it must needs now take
Wonder into  account or embrace the
Grave.  Well with so little left to  gain-
To lose- it is no big thing I think to take
A chance and seek a grander Truth.  To
Take a chance in the mind's.e and  land
Upon foreign shores never  hither been
Explored.  Why do you twinkle little star
All alone in the night the last before I wake...

A whiff of of something desired
That cannot be cannot be  mine
Of desired realized in some other
Clime that       i can only observe
As one apart looking upon a fae-
Land.  It is so quaint and beloved
Of my heart-I say oh why o not me
I would be one with you children so
Wild and free-so beautiful to me-yet
I cannot and still be me.  So  as I must
I travel on but I  will not forget thee.



For the chilrdren  en of Cornwall Bridge who
Danced in the sunny fields for me in the early

Morning of my departure..Are they no more
Yet there is a bridge between then and now.

Where always is I would be...
Always faithful always true
Where always is I would  be
I have not always. been faithful
I have not always been true.  How
Can I expect you to believe me...
When I say I will always love you?
My love has been less than it should
Be.  I am an imperfect man .  Who
Am I judge the sinner.  This then
Is my repentance that I must plea for
Charity for myself and all mankind.
If I were king it would be of kindness
Undeserved born of joyful gratitude
From my cup overflowing.  My flaws
Forgotten then could you believe me:
When I tell you I will love you always


For Old Abe:"With charity for all and malice
towards none..."and David who slew Goliath
And stole Bathsheba

When you have heard the whistle blow
Begins its long silence perhaps you will
Nevers hear it again; so it is with with all
Our precious moments they live in our
Long goodby  that they may be reborn

Till then  sweet nepenthe that makes not
The memory but as one we have yet  to
Know. nor  shall I ever love you more

In our broken places we are made stronger

For Papa   and the one tat got away

Sometimes you have to travel to
The underworld to know what is-
What is ordinarily  not believable.

Early in 1974 I found myself in the
Tenderloin district of San Francisco.
This is the down and out area akin
To New York's  City's  Bowery yet
It has its own distinct character.  I
Belonged there as one of it's newest
Misabthropes.  I had checked into the Y
On Turk Street.  Early in the evening
I went out to look  ove rthe neigborhood
I went down Turk toward Market
Think it was Lyric St  that i turned on-it
Was early dark and about midway down
I came across a man going through a
Trash can.  He seemed to know what
He was doing as he kept pulling out
Sandwiches  cleanly wrapped and uneaten.
It was  as though they had been   just
Left for him.and I thought at the time well
Ar
Least I shall not starve as he offered
me one and so we got to talk a little -then
We went back to my room.as  he said
He was going to show me something
When we got there
He pulled a small transistor radio out-
It was bare of its plastic cover; and then
He turned it on and deployed a tool, I
Think a small ***** driver and began
To change the stations with it -changing
Them rapidly.  At first I could not under-
Stand but then I began to hear a sequence
A story.  It was my life with great detail.
It was fully coherent and as I listened I
Do not know how long I understood a
Deep truth that there was indeed more
Much more to the universe than was
Comprehended by my little philosophy.
My friend got up and left my room as
Soon as he had seen I understood what
He had  to shown me; I never saw him again
But-Somehow I knew the Universe had a
Secret auditor of my thoughts and knew
All I had ever done.  Magical was Reality
I knew then that life was strange and I
Was a stranger in the land and given
The gift of knowing it.  Suddenly all the
Miracles of Jesus, all that He did and what

Was done to Him seemed so much easier
To believe-even His death and His rising


But I do not want to say then my life became
Easy  A gift from the underworld has to be
Paid back Just ask the god father or President
Trump.for that matter.  It is not a panacea- that
Is a small town in Florida on the gulf.   I went
Through it once. along the coastal route  
From the  causeway the setting sun
Seemed to speak of a peace that is forever
I wanted to=
Stay but thought I had appointments to keep
-maybe I should have thought better but...
That is life sometimes it shows you somethings-
You can't understand nor the reason why- when
You cannot make proper use of them-  You get
The winning lottery ticket then you lose it.
I guess the Good Book said it best: Lean not
Unto your own understanding but trust  in  God

With your whole heart.. mind and soul an if that
Don't work you can always Give UP but that is
Not so easy either....................God Bess Us
For Still Our Advocate Lives

In the beginning is nothing 'n might have been
Are the same, the origins.of everything.  Like
A locomotive coming down the track in the
Night- before you can hear it makes no sound
Then you hear the whistle and the great thunder
As it goes by till you can't hear it again.  The
Greatness of what is is less than what only migtht
Have been In the beginning.  Everything God
Let be came nothing and like lonely traveler who
Yearns to be home again returns to nothing.  Before
The big bang there was silence and there is its joy
Not forgotten  is what might have been. Something
Tells us not get above our raisin.  What is there to
Have if I cannot have you and I still think about
What might have been when it all seemed possible
So I am not sad to be going back to my beginnings
Long times ago but it seems like only yesterday

What truly should be  actually Is
If we love one another what is war?
The grand illusion that is  defeated .
For men and nations.It shall  not long

Endure.The greater truth is with us
Even now though still it seems so far
Away. For we ever live more by faith
Than we do  know and walk in the
Light of hope when we cannot see-
Towards and in the mystery of love
It is thus our prayers are answered:
Thy Kingdom Come on Earth as it is in
Heaven  That Thy Will be done,  Then
Shall we say it is now and  was always

Have you ever felt that in living
You had failed in some irredeemable
Way  Clinging to  some fundamental
Failure of body and soul-Blame God
That you have not been loved by the
One you loved with all your heart and
Still were not worthy.  Blame God.an'
Die  For He made you and in the end


You are God's failure too It is He who
Abandoned me He must not be left
Uncharged nor can He be denied justice
If He is accused He must be tried for
His crimes against humanity before
He can be sentenced to be abandoned
Too
An abandoned soul an abandoned God
God its His choice at the end of the
Road we will travel together as One
The Way of knowing Love 'n joy; or not
Knowing why we live at all.  I do not
Know if I should curse God and die or
Why I should not. if you  see me 'n not
Help me  in the troubles that drag me
To the grave with  no one I loved caring
And the One who could -doing nothing to
Change things but gave me these words 
I am telling Him I am sorry but it is how I
Feel and how He left me feeling alone,
If I speak wrongly I stand as Job and say to
God I spoke as I did because I knew not.



For Barbara My wife who first led me to Job's story
It  was Job's wife who tired of his lamenting unrelenting
tribulations  told him to: "Curse God and die"  May she
Be in Heaven where as Jesus told us none do marry...
There still we Love as we did en our better dreams

Though our love be uninformed
It is yet the best prayer we have
To offer when seeking gifts from
One greater than ourselves- Are
Our prayers but a child's way of
Speaking- a wish that dares to be
Sincere.  A pleading not of our
Merit but of our desire: offered
Without regard to  imperfections
Of the little petitioner who only
Knows to speak the heart's truth
That is pleasing to the beloved
Even as a baby"s babel is to the
Mother hearing one  that is loved

My spirit ascending higher and Higher
Till knowing there is no death hilariously
Knowing an ecstacy far above sorrow No
Reason to cry. My soul on a rope of light
Lifting Me above myself to the happiness
Of knowing -  Knowing  with certainty that
This was the Truth That to laugh was to
Leave this mourning earth for heaven
Laughter was invitation-an irresistible
Invitation   I would leave none behind

It was a wonderful conceit  It seemed so
Invincible till I heard you cry.  You did
Not stop but kept on crying.  I knew then
That you did not understand and did not
Want me to leave you to go where you
Could not go.  My fantasy deflated in the
Knowledge that it was but a dream .  To
Leave you beloved child I could never
Do.  I said do not cry Love where you are
I will be.  I will not leave you not ever.

You are gone now for so long and do not
Remember or cannot care.  Now it is I who
Cry and cry that you have left me.  I go on
A slow march to the grave that knows no
Laughter to easy the pain.  Alone. Are you
Now laughing some place and cannot hear
Me cry saying over and over: Do not leave me
Hear my crying .  Say you love me before I die.

Now I like all kinds of rain but
One the best when o a fair day
Clear  and the Sun bright in the
Heavens is like a maiden that is
Veiled letting her tears fall for
The beauty of it all that soon will
Begone  Nnoto long but only for a
Moment but long enough that you
Know that it was real and can not
Doubt it was true that she felt it as
A gentle child without meaness or  
Pose but only the poignant passing
Of a time of beauty -joy and sorrow
Comingled in one time-It is her time
Her childhood passing that is meant
Passing before her eyes.  God's Grace
You were given notice it was raining

Let us be quick about  this To love is to
Serve That is how you know it is love the
Willingness wholehearted willing-passion
To be the servant of another as a god unto
Your heart.  Such euphoria it is to know the
Gift has been accepted and understood for
What it is -that you have been conquered by
Love willingly and joyfully without pride
Without reservation, without change.  So
Is God unto you; loving without shame is to
Know that you are made in His image

To the one who knows it i
Come quickly

As the path  less traveled ls so
Truth makes all the difference.
It is not open to dispute, does
Not permit liberties but Is. Not
A question for our free will to
Navigate its own course upon
Did not Christ say not my  will
But Thine be done-So what the
Lord command we cannot go
Against though we may think
Otherwise and think our selves
Great sinners and make show of
Our learning by punishment to
Ourselves and others for having
Learned too late the biter fruit of
Disobedience.  God did command
That in the Garden of Eden  to our
Oldest kin, Adam and Eve that they
Should enjoy every fruit of the garden
But must not eat of the tree  known as
The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Note He did not say you may but you
Should not.  It was a Command-So  a
Truth.  and of course as children Adam
Persuaded by Eve whom he loved
Imagined that for love"s sake he
Could disobey and Eve persuaded
By the evil serpent that she could
Did
Indeed in their imagination trangress
Such is the imagination of children
Fairytale of  misbelief piled upon
Generation after generation until we
Have the Grand Illusion that is the world
Of sorrow that we know as real but is not
Yes there is the pride that we could know
Good and evil and make wise judgments-
There on and so be masters of justice. God
Laughs and forgives this foolishness and
For our sakes tries to let us know that it is
Not so Not- the real real that we are playing.
A make believe tragedy and we do not know it
So suffer   over and over for Imagined sins





Keep on




Till the  
Resurrection at the last syllable of
Recorded time
Makes it a tale told by an idiot


Keep on


Then

Still innocent as babes-
of good and evil knowing
Nothing but our travails of imagination.
Having seen the dream signs know that
You dream.  Now Imagine the Truth
I know you will say: I always knew it.


For that is God's Command:  The Truth.

Blessed Be Our God fount  of all Goodness
That is known for all time forever and ever

If there be two who do not love
They are not alone only lonely.
The great Poet who Made the
Universe who said He made us
In His likeness knowing He is
One comprehended that all His
Children would be little ones
We  all have that in common
We are all one like our Father
And like God our essence is
Love.  To Love is our being
So doing we magnify His Being
The knowledge of His Goodness
When we love one another we
Experience His sweetness. Two
Are one -three are one; All are
One.  If we experience loneliness
As each does it is a knowing that
Our love is still incomplete Calling
Us to love more for our peace is not
Complete-to experience the greater
Oneness we are capable of....

This is not work but for His Children
Their burden is lite-it is called Play
Play on children.  Play is the Way to
The perfect.  The God of Love will
Forgive your mistakes as we are all
Still learning, practicing to know. He
Will be with you to the end of the world
Claim you at the gates Heaven as His
Own forever and the fullness of Your
Love for all the children will be like
His.  A play where our better dreams  
Are realized; and We are the Dreamer-
All the One who because wel are  one  in
Another in a time that never ends.
Except at night when we sleep the
Sleep that is the Peace  of Innocense
He looked at His Creation and saw
That it was good a'n said: I Love You



For Lissa &Bren

And for all  Chidren.:"I Love You"

If there be two who do not love
They are not alone only lonely.
The great Poet who Made the
Universe who said He made us
In His likeness knowing He is
One comprehended that all His
Children would be little ones
We  all have that in common
We are all one like our Father
And like God our essence is
Love.  To Love is our being
So doing we magnify His being
The knowledge of His goodness
When we love one another we
Experience His goodness. Two
Are one -three are one; All are
One.  If we experience loneliness
As each does it is a knowing that
Our love is still incomplete calling
Us to love more for our peace is not
Complete-to experience the greater
Oneness we are capable of....

This is not work but for His children
Their burden is lite-it is called Play
Play on children.  Play is the Way to
The perfect.  The God of Love will
Forgive your mistakes as we are all
Still learning, practicing to know. He
Will be with you to the end of the world
Claim you at the gates Heaven as His
Own forever and the fullness of Your
Love for all the children will be like
His.  A play where our better dreams  
Are realized and We are the Dreamer-
All the One because we love  one
Another in a time that never ends.
Except at night when we sleep the
Sleep that is the Peace  of Innocense
He looked and sawt His Creationc Saw
That it was good and said I Love you.

The rock speaks!  Big mistake
Everybody knows rocks knows
Nothing so have nothing to say
If they did speak it would be  a

Miracle like God speaking thru
Em.  but people would still doubt
And those that belived would be
Asking for stuff and when nothing
Happened would be laughed at
So I don't think rocks speak But
What I am trying to get at is
I am not a know it all but am some-
Times accused of being one for the
Reason of speaking authoritatively:
That there is so much I don't know-
I suppose if I could be a little less
Certain-Well perhaps the rock knows
Nothing cause there is nothing  known
And being savy it know it's smart to
Keep silent like God mostly does cept
When he speaks to the saints and such
Probably we should all imitate the rock
So humble and yet so proud that it may-
Be  itknows nothing and maybe knows all
Never betraying its glory even to itself.
Well to quote were all equal here but some
Are more equal than others and I am here
Now just trying to tell you I an't one of
Them know it alls nor as humble as a rock
May the Lord save a middlin sinner like me
Who sometimes talks too much bout nothing.


Wthh Love
to  my
Sister Sue &        
My Daughter Elizabeth







c



'

What is grief but a love of
Some yesterday that did
Not die a a natural death
That has been for thirty-
Forty-fifty years and more
Out there clear as a bell in
Another you that ne'r has
Departed but wait upon a
Tomorrow that does not
Come- that stays the same
Waiting for its part to play
That never comes...
While all about is not the
Same.  If we only knew the
Sorrows  time would bring
How we would have greeted
Life as the long missed lover
Such a joy would not be lost

What ever is made of  loss
It is not the equal thereof-
Who would not excahange
Even immortal words to Un-
Know the broken heart that
Insired them. The shattered
Dreams that were as bread
That do not mend but break
Again to ptoclaim their cost
As waves do break upon the
Shore saying forget  me not
.

Still there comes a time when
All stands in ghostly equipose
The empty stage late at night
Tells the oldest tale of all that
There is a peace that abideth in
The soul.  As one lying upon the
Earth looking up sees in the night
Sky that it is good- that in the starry
Heavens there is a place where the
Heart can rest after all's been done

I tried and tried to make my
Children understand-make my
Self clear but still they did not
Understand  They were on info-
Overload and I was too old to
Understand- so much on them.
Made me a little crazy mostly
Protest and just to be let alone-
A reaction to the way they said
The world is -so must be obeyed.  

Doctors  were called in and I was
Diagrosed: Early onset senescence
Senility.  Now no one is to blame
Everything is still the same- but  is
Just a mystery and cannot be cured

That we no longer love enough or the
Time to give  to the old folks at home
Never wanted to be a burden anyway
Plenty of immigrants glad to do it.
The children thank the care givers hold
Them to the standard of the holy good
Course its not so but makes them feel
Better about themselves.  We are all vested
In our delusions.  Have you heard the one
About hell being filled with execrem,ment and
There is a hmingm sound but when yout close
Enough you will hear the words: No waves...
Please do not make waves were in this stuff
Up tp our chins and you must not make waves.

When things end too soon
Before you are ready-
You learn their true value
Count them your greatest
Treasures-How much they
Meant to you by their loss
By this measure I  have been
Rich though I rarely knew it

I live now mostly with memories
Of those I loved. the colorful friends
And those belonging to scenes and
Places I passed  so swiftly thru but
Still in their echoes call...
Do I wish they were all with me now

No life needs time and space; another
Life time would be needed, then  again
Another after that.  No if I could ask it
Would be that soon we could visit again
Like when you go to school know you will
See your parents for supper so do not miss-
That we could always visit for a while and
Would soon-be dropping in to talk a bit of
The past and what is new--an I love you and
Aways will Don"t be a stranger now See
You soon  Your always welcome ya hear
Does that seem too much to ask of God
When memories  are  just not enough?
Its not too late late but  seems so long.

The most ancient and intransigent of
Sins-it doubles down on itself-is un-
Relenting in its perverseness deter-
Mined to prevail; gains its greatest
Strength from its opposition; in its
Persecution it is the defiant martyr
As Christ upon the cross  proclaims
Injustice is and in this world abides.
Indeed there is more  here more
Than a verisimilitude but an injustice
That it is and does prevail where Love
Has not.  Who are you who say it is not
I but thou who has transgressed.  Look
How your Love has saved me.  Love is
Not of this world.  Hated am I because
I have not conformed - Do you love the
Sinner but hate the sin.  I am one and
Both.  Let Love not be intimidated by
My inconsistency for then it is in vain
Nor tremble between right and wrong
What is love if cannot save a man like
Me.  Is it not pride that makes you say
Even Love cannot this do-See we are
A a lot alike  I and thou -who know it
Seems at times that Love has failed us
Love does- must comprehend this too
Then shall we know the end of our tears .

Hot hot hot
Oh stop complaining
It is rhe Summer of  Love
The earth is warm.
Know ye not that it is our
Sin that is burning, for  the
Very fuel of it Love is our sin
All  stolen treasure
You must give back.  Your
Beloved has charged you with
Imperfection which first you
Charged   You must make up
Make it right Love deserves no
Less- so you give and give again
Till all your dark sin be cleared
Your beloved restored of doubts
Her perfection not taken from her
She sees  it  is charity of your eyes
Till in fusion the two be one in love

What a ***** this dying is
When you go she won"t
Be anymore-There's that
A satisfaction in it; then
You remember the little
Girl so dearly loved. Can
Not something of this yet
Remain =like the last star
In the night sky to be seen
Before the new dawn-my wish
To know my child's soul -so
Bright. so beautiful so loving
Would be mine again but she says
Go go who cares -So I stay.   I am
Nothing if not perverse and may
Be its true that in heaven- I hate you
Means I love you and  silence there
Means I am yours and you should
Know it.  But I don't  and Its a *****

Fickle as all pssions are

We must descend there-
From to live.  Here in the
Valley  of the  Shadow
We pass our uncertain days
Regaling our selves with the
Remembrance of derring do
Of forrner times but for all our
Boasting would not returm
Except there were an Everest
Of enduring passion that could
Survive.  Such is the quest of old
Age to know Love that  alters not
Nor need we ever depart from

To live is first to know
Not to be known
What is it to be read
Even famous long ago
After you are gone-It
Is not Immortality.

Rather let us endeavor
To know and ever to know
Call it self love but who
Can love another who is
Not alive-If we have any
Community the We begins
With I.  Be fierce to live. It
Is your country even if alone
Then if you sleep you will
Rise from every dream even
Death- as Christ did Knowing
He was still in His Fatherland

A frail fragrance leads us-
The wonderful odor of the long
Gone
Carried on a vagrant breezes that
Leads us but we cannot trace them
We only know they are true; and are
Heartfelt.  They did not grow old
With us but are always in their Spring
.  Did they depart because of a
Misunderstanding; something that
Was said or unsaid?  I grieve to
Think the consequences of such
Whimsy maybe sovereign in our
Lives but then memories are such
Fragile things and still we seek on

Every breeze the scents of hope-


That we yet may follow where our
Heart leads us.  I Am ever on the  
Way to our being  together again
If there be love this is no vanity


For Rumi and Emily Who visited with me
this morn

I wish to say something about the nothing
That I know when nothing is all I know
Still I want to say it right -so I can let it
Go  I Call it good.  God be with you I
Say that I may sleep the  dreamless
Sleep of the blessed .Till  I may wake
Again  My very breath   full of desire
I will whisper to  you sweet nothings
About where I have been with you and
Where you went my love I  followed

How wonderful -becoming stronger
Soon I will forget all my care...
Yet as thru mist .a fog horn warns
It is your watch.  Be vigilant!
Some needful duty
Some charity owed to
The one I love -that I leave
Alone in pain.   Know then
You are priceless.  Let my
Lost Bliss give testament to
That Love conquers all
Nor counts heavy the cost

But speak to  again  little
One If it offend you
I will write no more
It was more than bliss
That I could  know you