I was traveling along a road at night.  Itt was in an area without street lights. An unidentified person was in in the passenger seat.  I felt like I was on familiar road from the past.  All at once we came on a a guest area it was brightly lit but more than that the light was a chromatic radiance gold firelike  and as if the diviseable spectrum was seen  I drove on into the darkness complaining to my companion that the brightness was too much.     After a little while we we came to another brightly lit roadside settlement, it was similarly lit and this time I noticed that as I passed the light did not fade but passed through the atmosphere undiminished by the distance-a bright  amber fire that was immediate even from miles away.  I said to my traveling companion that it was a new light  unlike any that I had known before.  Thinking I was complaining he said yes it was new.  Then I said that it is beautiful -the most beautiful light I have ever seen. He said: Thank you   It was then very early morning and I awoke feeling a sense that having seen the light even in a dream that I had been healed.  But  I remembered that it might be wiser  not to  hope.  
Mica is fools gold but it glitters not less for that; and the sea with diamonds sparkles with praise no less as it give its kisses back to the sun.  If a promise is not kept is a rose arose that promises less; can I then give up a  love that is too little? So I look back and forth upon a dream for  all that is yet  to be ..

And it is is mine that I
Speak of:  Once upon
A time a great truth I
Knew  great and good-
Know still its true and its.
No lie I tell but was a time
Apart and is not the same
The truth  I know it is
Great and Glorious from
Afar but not so much with-
In where  it fulled my heart
And soul.  Now I know but
I know less now than before
When twas a Glory that can
Not be remembered as the
Old woman said speaking
Of the Fall in mountains of
Her Youth -tiz but once
We know and must forget.
But as the poet said of our
Youth long is its memory
For this yearning sin I ask
Your forgetfulness and mine
That I may love you as myself

Sublime aspiration known suddenly
In falling.  Falling is easy; getting up
Can take effort-One says I will walk
And be content but temptation defies
Reason.   Eros will have its way you=
Sisyphus falls once again for the joy -
That does not last -It is so easy to fall
So hard to get up.  It is human to err...
But still we must grow up where to fly
We must fall; and Love have its  Way
Till the end that still we are children


Sweet bird of youth bird thou never wert...

Another word for Charity
Love, Forgiveness Mercy
I have heard it said some
Where that Grace is the
Last guest to arrive at the
Banquet.  All is in readiness
Lord come. Come quickly.

Never has the thin veil of maya seemed so obvious
Even as it enlarged itself in the omnipresent media
That in vain parade proclaims a total victory over
All beneath and above.  In this separated zone in
Which our lives are lived but are not the one ttruth
Is prohibited, crucified, buried and Love in the grave
Is proclaimed dead in the flesh, but from there rises
Again first in our hearts and minds where one looks
Out-  A child laughs and we know all is well at last.

Every day you fight to get out of a world you never made
Maybe there are no great victories so you celebrate the
Little ones.  Soon enough you realize This is your life; it is
A process and you are in it; and so you say with a laugh
You call this living well maybe the worst is over. This may
Be less than  repentance; this resignation but there is a charity
In having lost what you would not lose there is still a way
So what your dead you say there is still a way forward
Fever felled you rise again and again  in the in between-
Still in the process making a gesture on the Grecian urn
The lover ever chasing the green child that is and is not.
There is peace in doing what you do; anticipation in the
Constant;  in the moment before you will hold your love.
Is there a greater Joy than this then I do not know it...

If your purpose is to seek to disprove
The bad news go not into the darkness
Yet seek the twinkling star that comes
In your darkest hour-the truth does not
Needs proof but only to be itself known
The unknown declared is but our vanity
Discover humility and bless the darkness
That you may love the earth our mother

Only love in it's fullness...
Can caste out the grievances
Of the past; the anxieties about
The future.  All emptiness is prey
To unhappiness.  What can stop it?
Yet though we may know this-what
Good is this knowing?  Can we make
Love up; manufacture it; call it into
Being; find it in some desert place?
The seed of its being must already
Be in us,  The seed planted by our
Father and we must cherish  it as a
Gift given to the soil of  our soul.
Giving thanks for sun and rain in
Their proper measure; praying that
We are given the time to wait for
The ripening grain to be harvested in
The fullness of love. This tillage is our
Work from which we are given peace to
Rest.  To work and to rest  in faith and
In Hope we go forth learning patience
In the the contemplation of the now and
Rejoicing in the  fullness of the time
To come is our   life fearless= full of love.



ed




To  Love

First there is the Darkness
Nothingness in the beginning
Is not so great but soon it seems
Peaceful but rather dull but in
Little while one learns to dream
Learns he can create almost
anything, scary,beautiful
Funny-But it is a power too
Wonderful not seek the very
Best. But what is that. He
Asks who can tell me and
Hears a Great Voice Who
Says I am God and I can give
You what you seek Let me
Show you My Kingdom.
It is called Love and You
Can live there with me in
Perfect happiness forever
The little dreamer saw it all
Knew that what God said
Was True and knew too that
That he owed it all to the
Darkness.  It was then that
Little dreamer knew that
It was the darkness was
The Mother of the dreams
Of Love   that could not
Have been but for Her

Alas love conquers all
Even the longest night
Just at that moment the
Babe was born. He cried
Out.  
God's Kingdom was gone
It was terrible this helpless
Not  knowing anything
About this new place. But
The cry of the babe brought
Joy to the Mother for it means
The child is Alive and in her
Heart she praises God that
She had been given this Gift.

A pinch of heaven is enough  
To fuel a life and if life shouts:
Soon I shall be no more-then
I shall consign myself to the
Deathless dreams of youth
Saying if leave I must let me
Embark upon the ship of sleep
For I cannot say it is over but
That I endeavor to reach that
Farther shore  where lie the
Isles of eternal spring that once
Made glad my young heart...
That I yet might call them my
True home.  For when all that's
left:
proves itself mortal- what is not
Left was never left- shall be All
If fly we must to reach that Place-

On angel wings we shall

Fly like the seagull or frigate-

Bird.  We shall fly and  from

Earth


To sky  He shall show us ere we
Descend: Heaven.  For the small
Shall reign down, Can reign...

As my Dad used to say.  The Truth.  Thee.
So I made you  Lies you cannot be so can
Not long stand.  Who is great is not mortal.
Pretense will fall .  A brutal crash but is yet
A kindness not least to him who made of his
Self a fraud forfeiting his soul  for vanity,  A
Child of God no more that could not long be,

Only if you can forget  who you are can
You live forever.  Knowing who you are
Is to know your inevitable mortality.So
Would you rather live forever or know
Who you are?  There is no easy answer
Who has not asked to live a little longer.
But it says in scripture: There shall be no re-
membrance of things past- (or yet to come)  
To let go of all you have known and love!
Out out brief candle- dying forever is  not a
Life as we would like it.  We say Jesus lives
Is he among us and does  He know He will
Be crucified or is He yet an immortal unknown
Perhaps a Christmas baby born to a stranger on
on this day like we all  once were? To Life; To...-

With a nod to Mark Twain who gave us "The Mysterious
Stranger"and a wonderful life.

The perfection of every love
Is never truly known until it's
Passing...And in the shadows
Of the past are the beginning of
Tomorrow-are our bower where
All our labors are  offered up as
as  the not articulate prayers of
The untutored child telling  of his
Wish that love be known at last
For then is our life at an end but
Why should knowing be to die?

Starting from the beginning there
Where we knew not with every step
We do make the map; and of these
Many maps do our story tell.  What
What then should we make of it?
Something mythic and beautiful-
Universal but particular-the legend.
Disguised in the every today. From
The unknowing to the Unknown-
Something wonderful to behold.
         dvd...

The experts at what is right
Are Not Experts.  How many
Times does this need to be said:
They know not what they do
Forgive them-They know not.

Better there be liars than what
Liars say be true.  Why liars?
Because they claim to know
But they know not and they
Know they know not and ask
Not to be forgiven-shun it
Claiming righteousness.
Have they not heard that
There is none righteous-
No not one.  Of Lies
There are two kinds
the facts and the in-
Uendo of  assumed con-
Sensus which is by far the
Worse: :" He is a Jew" Fact
Unspoken- Untrustworthy
Person and Christ killer
One and same Christ the
Jew and the slayer-God
The son of man-man
Having no false gods
Before Him.  Man Alone
He know not and knows
He know not but still He
Says I am am that I am.

My arms hung limply at my side  until I sensed a heavy
Weight as  in my either hand denying me the right to raise
Them up.  Then it was that my will came to me and with
That other will against me I put my hands up.whether it was
In praise or surrender, one or both I do not know myself.

But it was by that odd gesture that my life was saved.


For Sue

Spring 1960
Teotihuacan Mexico
Morning

"Originales Patron" It was the voice of a boy
Not yet ten. It was an empty  dry plane as
I remember almost featureless and barren
Except for the pyramids dusty in shadow
No one around except for he boy and us.
I said what do you mean: Originales"?  He
Said:"Hechsos yo mismo este manana."( I made
them myself this morning) without even a
Smile as he showed us the little clay figures.
They was not a pre columbian relics we were
Being offered for three pesos, about a quarter
We laughed but he was not joking.   They were
Truly rare, a remembrance of the heart of Mexico
A boy outside of an ancient and storied place
Place now abandoned telling the truth that
Mattered: I made them myself this morning.


For Francisco & His Family With Love

On the verge of sleep and waking
An understanding came to me of
The novelty of a great evil   that I
Could write-I could write!  The joy
Shear Joy of it.  Nothing else was
There that I cared about-treasures
That I had lost, where I was in time
In space all these faded out.  Joy-
Joy Joy of all joys better than wealth
Better than Eros -pure health itself.
I knew it as I said it again and again
I can write   She will help me the
One I loved , my muse; and I will
win her.  Then nothing else will
Matter   Our love will be forever.

I Love You  Oh
Light in darkness
Beauty glimmers
Interior while all
About is shadow
Booming bursting
Hidden the girl I
Love.  This is but
The announcing
Fan fare of the child
Coming golden and
Pristine Promising
Out of Mourning
Stormy I love you
Promise of better
Days to come from
The loss in that city
By the Bay where
One must leave his
Heart to love again.

Like a bellow pulsating anxiety fans
the fires of love for only what is lost
Can tell the full story of what is priceless
While Love itself be  stable it  only when
It is wrenched away- when the whale that
Is in the seas leaps from the them that its
Self  is fully felt as the heart of life itself

The courage to be is in
Our hope that our love
Will prevail.  The One
That hears our sincere
Prayers that speaks our
Deepest truest need;.Has
The power of clemency
Make yield every heart
Or despair of it's own
This is the truth that we
Shall love one another
The One that saves us is
The One who spoke it: All
In their heart of hearts do
Know it.  Of such it comes:
The courage of our hope is
That we know  that in Love
We shall over come all in a
Joyful victory that is Love's
Reward; and that Love  is to
Us given who yearned to for
It. We wait now upon the Lord
In joyful hope for the fullness
His Coming-.Coming quickly

In her youth I thought my daughter
Elizabeth was the most beautiful girl
I had ever seen.  Indeed she was and
I loved her more than words can tell.
She was born 9 months after my dad
Passed and her middle name Rae was
In his memory and I believed she had
His mortal soul left for her with all my
Love that I should not grieve more for
Him who had gone to a far better place.
So this is for Rae born on the 10th of the
Month of June in the year of our Lord
1966.  Liz be well and know that I still
Love you and always will when I think
Of that beautiful young girl given to
Me in remembrance of my father, Ray
A belated Happy Birthday greeting with
Love,David

Like a ribbon of sunlit emeralde caligraphy
In arabic I held it close to my eyes.  Only a few
lines in black ink but all I could see was how
Green the grass is.  I cannot remember the

Words only that they were true not why.


For Stanley Godluski

When for the world-the currency of
Gold and fashion love is denied and
The lover told go to hell I say it is to
Heaven you will be called.  In either
Case there is death and regret.  God
Will decide the kinder and which of
Us is compassionate.  Was it not He
Who said He would tear like paper the
Universe, earth and sky if love's truth
Not be told;and not in vain is it meant
Take it   to heart and deny not the one
Who loves you oh child of my heart
I would not even have death divide us.
But in heaven  our better angels.are.

A man may do wrong and think
He is right; but in the crucible he
Learns otherwise.  He may do evil
Knowing he is evil but in the trying
Of the crucible he learns otherwise.
There is a truth beneath even the
ost grime ridden soul that none can
See that even wisdom knows not.
For we are players who are not what
We seem even to ourselves but in the
Crucible there is a way that may save
Even the most godless soul who never
Learned His Grace.  For none no not
One is good but all do play and it is
the child that catches the conscience
Of the King who understands what
We must learn that we are but poor
Players who are yet worth His love.

We are pleasing To God
For God has chosen us
To be His children to
Give Him joy and;  that
Joy He gives to us.  In the
Lightness of joy darkness
Is forgotten; sorrow is not
Remembered. In the serene
Light of His contemplations
There are the times of peace


Remembering David

I am still changing;  learning the obvious-
The truth long believed but misunderstood
Because the circumstances from which it
Arises was yet unknown so the sentiment
Could not be spoken from the heart still
Untutored by time.  So much that we hear
That is bold strong and brave comes only
From the broken hearted; the meek seeking
Peace who have learned the vital lesson that
If you cannot love here on earth as it is in
Heaven; fearing to forgive but seek to avenge
For wrongs  wept for.  Calling for justice on the
Poor in spirit who have already suffered much
Subordinating love to worldly pride.Then it is
A better more loving judgement to be taken up
That from your higher post you may at last know
Mercy that is Love triumphant.  Your Lover will
Follow you who you would not leave me behind.
I Would be with you always where your Love  is
If it cannot be here then to the hereafter call me.
Yet it is not my choice it is you who would leave
Me unloved - Harden not your heart hear my cry

When alternate and mutually
Exclusive realities are constantly
Coincident in our mind it has the
Strange is it not  effect that the
This miracle comes to be seen as
Most normal and ordinary...

In the Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain
Said (paraphrase) Of the world he had
Seen the "dream marks" were apparent
To those ready to see them everywhere
Then he knew that that that the dream
Was his and he was the dreamer of it
Alone forever and that it would ever
Be up to him to dream better dreams.


It has been reported in a scientific
Journal that at Ypsilanti State, a
Mental hospital that there were
Two inmates that had identical
Delusions that they were Jesus
Christ.  So in the cause of science
Deciiide in much the same manner
As boy who throw the cat by the
Tail to see what will happen put
The two patients together in the
Same room.  They were waiting
To see if there would be a bang
And were surprised, disappointed
No doubt that nothing happened
Except that the men got along.
So at least at a mental hospital in
Michigan it seems possible for at
Least two crazy men to have the
Same dream neither claiming
Exclusive possession for himself/

It is not this yet this is on the path.  There is the coincidenceof two worlds each the antithesis of the other, mutually excvlusive; yet each is an affirmation of the other.  Like a double negative they cancel each other out.  This is the nothingness that cannot be known; the mystery that can never be solved .  The Nothingness preceedes all.  All is contained  in it yet it is unbound.  It is not a question  to be persued.  .  The child stands before it not understanding .  This is its the final reality- the non object- forever unknowable.  Yet this can be accepted  the permanent paradox , the dark and the light that is neither.  The One.  The One  accepts all, lets all otherness enter into  Being; and knowing not one knows: the grandeur,  that great peace which surpasseth understanding is knowing the  unknowable God.  He says I am that I am and we are fulled with joy that the Truth is in us and it is the gift of eternal being Unknown.

I ask where is my wonder I wonder
The greatest riddle there is If truly
Asked is always found; the search
For meaning, the reason for the
Quest is to know the wonder of
Wondering, the wonder of it all
To wonder peacefully, tirelessly
To know then the peace that is
Beyond understanding of such
Is Heaven and it can be known  
Here on earth in a child's eyes.

There is a story about St. Theresa of
Avila t5hat on her death bed, in great
Anguish she spoke to the Lord saying:
Lord I have given up everything for
You.  All I have left is my faith; then
The Lord answered her saying: Sister
Give up our Faith.  Hard words but
The reward was so much greater and
More wondrous than the sacrifice it
Could not be known.  Even so it the
Same for everyone as for the saint.

for the poet it is his words.  For if
We would see God face to face is
Our dream we must sacrifice the
Dream to have the dream come
True.  in the end to give up our
Labor to experience the glories of
The harvest.  Give up the dream
To make it actual.  This is the all in
All where the destination does not
Lose the Way. The Hope of Love .
Love itself are one in the rapture.
The promises of Spring find their
Fulfillment of Summer.  With each
New season we must have given up
Ita memory.  As an old New England
Woman when asked if she did not get
Bored by the autumn having seen now
Near a hundred times?  Her answer:
It is a glory and cannot be remembered.
Yet as it is revealed it is also resonant.
We must have a dream to have a dream
Come true-So we must forget the dream
To have the dream be realized  God has
Said He Makes All things New.Have we
Carried a treasured burden give it up.
So I lay down these words that they
May be given u pas lost children that
Will be restored to me as in Heaven.

The Chinese Sage Hang In said: If
You believe there is a state of mind
That if you had it All would be well
Then believe it is Now then travel to
Jt again.  There is no in between-stay
On that road for as far as it goes-there
Is no alternative route-enjoy the journey
There is no hurry,  Perhaps we will meet
Along the way.  All is Well  All is well

Love does encompass error
One thinking he loves but
Loves not. The fault is very
Inward intimate to the per-
Son who's self searching
Discovers it not but still
The core of truth is one
And so brings to repent
The proud soul- the small
Shrouded light within and
The great light without do
Meet forever in the eternity
That is the combustion of the
Wrongful if unconscious pride
That separates man from man.
In perfect love  God's glory over-
Coming all lesser knowings that
Christ shall be to us the everyman

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

...hope



uncertain debating with itself
seeing defeat around every
corner but then again its
counterpoint again the theme
with variations but not purely
this but with questions of
what to wear to Milly's party
and what to feed the kids
then weariness restless so
much left to do to find
resolve a wish for quietness
that will not come until:
Love until love is forgot...

There are many beautiful things here
On earth.  Places and persons we may
Visit, never going far from home.  It
Is our choice.  In nature there are what
Is called  "Acts of God"that we have no
Choice about but must get thru them
As best we can.  But for much of life
We go to places we would not by an
Act of choice.  To be fair there are to
Be sure reasons: to prepare against an
Evil foreseen; to learn from- so to avoid
A next time.  We go to war to defend
The peace-afraid to do otherwise would
Be cowardly and invite aggression. There
Is no end of rationales for our sorties near
To the bad place we would not go-whole
Segment of our society and many of our
"Finest"have it in their job description,
Are duty bind to look deeply into hell.
Is there something wrong with this?
Almost certainly.  Should we rather be
Like ostriches burying our heads in
The sand.  Be liked the three monkeys
That see no evil; hear no evil; speak no
Evil.  We should at least be allowed to
Doubt bad news-Knowing Satan is a
Liar.  We should doubt the benefit of
Being warned about evil as it so often
Lead to self fulfilling prophecies and
Errors of judgement repugnant to our
Conscience.  It is a morass.  A world we
Would not and it is all too much for us.
Our world is not as we would have it.  If
It is the truth we say unto our God: Let it
Not be so.   I give up; it is up to you to make
It better.  For my part let me do my best
To contemplate your Grandeur-Oh and
Thank you God for all the dappled things.



Acknowledging my debt to Gerard Manley.
Hopkins and his two famous poems

Just before the sun fires of the
Day are turned low--when the
Bright Summer sky is still pure
Blue the Little League Park is
Full of children and older folks.
The children play games of no
Names that are as old as the hills
It is liked a revival meeting with
No tent or preacher only people
Come as  to some long ago Druid
Holy place.  I say to myself
Come my heart to me on this
Bench of former times; let my
Soul recline and be at peace
All is well is it not though I do
Not belong and am only a
****** incognito and alone.
Just beyond the field is the
River and across the river the
Church my parents married in.
There also the old high school
their alma mater in that quaint






Old time that was just before
The war.  I had stopped here
For reasons I cannot explain
I had roots of conception in
This town but not by birth
All was to me as Willoughby
My home in a wishful dream.

Certainty and Uncertainty.  How can I be so sure of myself even sure that I am unsure.  Is there not somewhere in me my certainty and that in contention with my uncertainty and why should one prevail over the other?  Yet to say both maybe true ; and so co mingle them seems a muddy solution that may not be so easily  clarified.  Let us say that Iwe separate them in a still and then condense the purer vapor from the residue what then do we have not one but two  back where we started from.  Yet from this perplexity in time may not a pearl of great price grow; and in the constancy of the conundrum may not an enduring peace ensue-In the night a starry beacon winking seems to fall into the summer darkness  declaring heaven near and it is so.  So so beautiful being here with you

{tale of the mouse famous long ago}

Little me said to big me: You may
Be Big but i am the One who first
Imagined you-you really are but a
Small part of me.  Big me grinned
Like a cheshire cat and said: You,
You imagined me!  Now that is a
Joke.  You aren" worth a purr back
A small bite and showed him his big
Teeth like a king looking at   a cat.
But I was not chagrined but said if
You will please step aside I can open
A tin of your favorite fish, what will it
Be tuna or
salmon what ever you say
He sniffed the air as if uncertain and
I not to be out done said say what you
Will I am your servant but the choice
Is mine to believe what I believe... and
You are my beloved cat,my Jezabel;
And low she purred for little me so the
End came to our meaningless dispute.

Of poetry there is no end
from out of the heart the soul the mind
It is mined by the grace of God quickened
Always there is much never heard never
written.  All the libraries of the world can
not hold it.  It is silence that casts a spell
that no word can ere express.  It is eternity
In a moment and a moment in eternity-
the light in the darkness the darkness in the
Light.  The Savior who saves us for another
Day Who is every where and no where ......

O  imperfect lover put your love to
Work.  The burden is lite.  It is a bit
Of a campaign where to win is to lose
And to lose is to win.  Give it your best-
Knowing it is a matter of life and death
So be passionate.  For to love and be loved
Is the victory and when with love you are
Allied what greater power has there ever
On Earth or Heaven been.  You will plead
Innocent and will be innocent by the grace
Of God who knows all hearts are seeking
Him.  Seeking forgiveness knowing only
He who is able will answer the cry.  Say to
The heart broken : Come unto me, my child
Here where I am is love- your eternal home

One door closes
Another door opens
You go in but you but
You
Can't get out

I've been there
I am still here
So is my daughter
So is Mark Twain
So are all I have loved
All whom have loved me
With God all things are\
Possible
When
One door closes
Another door opens

Oh
Eros how great thou art
Thou who serve  our God
You command us to fall
From our little pedestals
Of righteousness that for
Him are as naught-Fall in
A wilderness of darkness
Where we know no more
And doubt claims our soul
By right; where only Love
Love most merciful in grace
Does lift us back to the light
He remembers not our sins
For we knew not but were
As children as children still
To Him who always Loves
Let us with joy and thanks
Praise Him who cleansed our
Hearts of imagining evil.

I have not peace with death
Though it may be the peace
I do not now know will come
But to live shunned by love-
What sort of life is that-It is
War and a divided house can
Not stand-One side is for the
Union the for the other against
Love divided is not Love but if
For Love I stand I must also go
To war and cannot agree to die
Whilst yet we are divided my
Love.  Love is not Love that is
Not whole.  Love is One. As a
Nation so unto each of us- Love
Conquers all even death-  To
Death I say it is not with you
I have an argument-  For all
I know I might have come to
You sooner but for the War
For the sake of Love I had
To press on;  For Love is not
Love that would not be as
One   Let the war be over
Then Lord, I will know that
Love everlasting is the end
For which we fought and died
Won for all the ages to come
Come! With Charity for All
And malice towards none.  



For Abraham

I slander and belittled the Truth
Join the crowd that stones the
Saint uknown.  I do what I would
Not.  Love not when I would love.
I am not in control.  How can it be
That I am losing my soul.  Lord,
Make me good again as I know
That I am as I choose to be.
It is not the wrecklessness of this
False freedom that I seek; to be
The crazed actor who thinks it
Virtuosity to strut and fret hap-
Hazardly to every random cue.
But to be true .  Hear the noble
Call to yield to Heaven' Truth
That beckons me to all that is
Good, and True.  Oh God of
Mercy restore my soul I will
Obey.  Oh God of grace hear
My cry while yet I profane thee
Know that I am not proud but
Dying except thou Claim me.

Two men were talking to God you might even say they were  praying both askeded for the same gift; vulgarly known as filth lucre-money.  Gods told them that they each could have their prayer answered but   they would have to decide whether they would put their faith in luck or merit.  The First said I am a democratic man I hardly can bear to to think I am better than any other so my choice is luck.  The second said well it hardly seems right that an undeserving man should be disproportionately rewarded,no that is not at all just.  I will put my faith in merit.  The gift was given to each and each retained his own conceits but when the wind from God blew and  nothing remained of either of their fortunes  All is Vanity- Nevertheless for Love' sake I shall fear the  Lord who gives me peace.

All unconscious in our time
We loved what we knew not
Love is love and in its fullness
Knows not itself for that we need
Art and memory but in our time
All we had was the moment and
If we only knew how precious it
Was we could not have loved it
More; we would have loved it less
That  is what makes it so poignant.
We pass thru time in a sleep.  We
Do not see its passing until it is no
Longer but is changed into another
Time. Our time is particular and a
Peculiar dream.  Quaint our lives
Now seem. The music, the town.
The neighborhood. the people we
Knew. the people we were.  We pass
into another  time unaware.  Remember
The penny candy store. An old man. the
Single glass counter in one small room
In an old wooden building all long gone
Seems like only yesterday I used to stop
In there on the way home from elementary
School but it was long ago and all is changed
Now is a mystery and we still love it more
Than we can ever know in the magic moment.
Those Amber times seen thru the dusty glass

Cry with me a little my friend for times gone
You were innocent then and did not know it
And   will be again when  you wake from this
Long dream  it will be true that it too was loved
By you and  that you too were loved. in the gold
Of His memory  Held  in the psalms of His hands

"And ever has it been that love knows not its own
depth until the hour of separation,"  Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet

"You paved paradise and put up a parking lot
You don't know what you've got till its gone..."
Joni Mitchell Blue Album