Say what you will-vow to the almighty
Your faithfulness.  Will you keep to the
Narrow path when the whirlwind spins
You into the air-when the roiling seas
Turn you about like the merest flotsam
To be caste upon the strand fighting to
Hold the shore against swiftly retreating
Sands.  Pray do not say what you will
Do when passion comes upon you.  Did
David not know when he took his servant's
Wife and sent him away to die so he could
Have her.  Indeed it is a greater lesson than
Morality that is being told here.  It is belief
That you will always act righteously; that
Nothing can over rule your good intentions-
Make you fall into the stinking gutter where
The unworthy lie in their deserved place.
Greater indeed than the morality of plaster
Saints indeed is the lesson that there is  none
Good.  No not one.  Not one who may not
Be wracked by passion and so became
Anathema to all.  Indeed I am such a one
And wait still upon the lord for my salvation.

Of fools and wise men there is  this
The Ocean says: both go down, but
They are best with a pinch of salt.
For it makes liter that which can
Rise again but sinks the rock of
Pretentious certainty to the deep.

The Way to there-
Were on it.
If we only knew
Perhaps we do

Love and pain
Pain in Love is
Is here and there
And all  along it is
The Way...

It is a bet against   the world-the
Authority of its reality; and all of
Life leads to a final confrontation.
Standing up with the soul's last
Breath; standing up to pain and
Declaimed with hell heaped upon
Your grave for not repenting and
Yet you stand because you must
Saying in your being that : Do what
You will I will rise again from this
Earth and in it be.  Oh death be
Not proud.  My wager stands.
I was before and after will be.
Nor shall I brag of this for I am
The commonest of men and shall
Not speak more of it when I return.
I will not forget that I am always
When I come again my Father's
Child I will not remember death
Nor believe the world that it is so

Sometimes it's better to need to apologize
For an unjust ****** to wake up the sleep
Of anesthetized  conscience that is moves
Relentlessly towards doing grave hurt to
The public . That this strategy not  be too
Gratuitously deployed it must needs be
Paid for by a self wounding duly inflicted.

Let us not as holy men have said
Let  our dreams of another place
Be too small.  Let the future now
Be all.  How many bridges have I
Crossed?  How much water has
Passed under?  I speak of losses
Of the death of dear ones, friends
Lovers, Mother , Father, wife and
Children ; the joys of youth, of
Places that we have lived and left.
They were never all at once but are
All buried in  their separate crypts
Buried with our tears and our youth
So the years go by and still it is another
Now more diminished by the distance
By time traveled that has yet to bring
Us home  Can we not; must we
Not in great hope imagine Now
Again and take the quantum leap
Into that experience totally new
Imagine  the eternal commingling of
All our time in an unending eternity
An All alive and still unexpiring now
In that Kingdom where God has
Stored all our treasures and promised
They would there for us when we
Come home.  This future why not
Now.  Should our hearts not yearn
For this time to come not after death
But in this life - death now overcome
Are we not all time travelers and do
We not see we are at our door.  I see
My beloved and she comes out to
Greet me.  Oh blessed day and  hour.

People who have thought deeply
Often conclude that at the root
Reality is a paradox an absurdity
This can lead to a liberating sense
Of Freedom to be foolish that our
Children embrace.to an extent that
Laughs at at our ponderous dignity
It is enough to make one almost
Take offense that our hard earned
Wisdom seems to be their birth
Right.  Its enough to make you
Love them-this brashness that is
So much more wonderful to you
That it makes you crazy in Love
I love you. I love you. I love you

My father liked his beer but was
Sober in his soul.  He was brave
Fiercely loyal.  He was quiet but
Loved to laugh; worked hard for
His family.  Showed not all his
Cards but never bragged that he
Always won.  Loved dogs. cats and
All little animals including children
Loved to fish; to be near the water...
Was a  a volunteer life guard all thru
My early youth.  Suffered pain with
Little complaint.  Was a friend of many
But said when I commented on this that
One makes only a few real friends in this
Life.  He let me be excepting for sassing
My mom.  Apologized when he was wrong
Loved great writing but made no pretense of
Intellect,  I see him  now as a child, looking
Out over the Sound at the Westport Beach,
Compo where he lived as a young man....
He is Looking into the far distance at the far
Horizon seemingly searching for Forever
watching for, a drowning child perhaps
My eyesight has never been as keen as his
But as he would say a lot of water has passed
Under the bridge since those times-So many
Memories I cannot tell them all.  In my heart
It seems like it was only yesterday but I know
It was a long time ago but Dad I hope you still
Know I love you





 Till then...


I love you Dad  I hope you know

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

In my father there was the  greatness
Of poetry-the poetry of greatness.
About true greatness is that it never
Is just was but is and will be.  The
Same is true of true poetry when the
Cliche is someone will hear it again as
When it was brand new and it will be
The echo heard down the corridors of
Time.  No-one speaks to all men, the
Lone man is the universal man and love
Comes again to the despised overcoming
All injury.  Greater than the greatest dreams
Realized the sun is a candle to the Father
He is gone and I shall not see his like again.

We do not know what we do
Not know even that that we
Do not know it.  For might
Not some lost language
Of our infancy that we
Were born knowing but
Got covered up by disuse
Was forgot-Say a fluency
Of tonality akin to speaking
In tongues- a language of
Great power and subtlety
If we could hear it spoken
Telling us to Wake Up
We would then remember
And be transformed-cured
Of all diverse complaint
Healed of all injury.  I
Do but say such is my
Intuition that it is so and
Maybe so for all I know
A mysterious sleeping
Truth all but forgotten
May be revealed again
In its first pure light.
The beginning of All
Ever beginning, a glory
So new that it cannot be
Remembered but yet is
Always known to love.

Come
my little dreamer friend
I love you.  Do not let me
Dream alone.  Let us play
In the pleasant land and
Know all the joyful hours
that are ours.  Then let
Sleep come and take us
Weary to our bed till full
Of rest  we wake to dream
Again of our never ending
Love

It is the poets objective to make
The longest waits short; to sum up
History; the whole from its ending
To its beginning, distilling the truth
In its essence and to leave the  chaff
To fall away  So we can get on with it
Let the glory be, to go on and on. On earth
As it is in heaven  Praise and Joy without
End,  It is the least we can do for whom the
Bell tolls that we may tell God we know.
Know
That It is now Now that you are with us.

For a while we in a model seem to see
The whole-Then it is a fragment. a piece
Of ancient pottery, a bit of trash on its
Way to the dust from which it came.
Of such is the glory of poetry: A dancing
Girl-An old woman dying.  The bird of
Paradise that never was- the phoenix
Rising from the ashes so that we may
Know all is all.  Infinite is the pathos of
Our gladness no less glorious.  Slow ...
Time is our genius to be .  For a while.

The eloquence of the broken is
Incredibly eloquent; Hard men
Do cry when the truth is spoken
Time is once we were young; now
We are young still;  that is why we
Cry.  Then and now are One but are
Broken into past and present and our
Heart in two; our soul is given words
That pulse from our wounds like blood

For Barbara remembering you on one starry night; and
||PBS story about young people  going to Casa Susanna

In the terrible shadow
We made love; it was
Always our right but
Only now claimed as
Morality was disbarred
To ram the enemy's wall
Someday it would return
Proclaiming peace is re-
Stored.  Now peaceniks
beware your day is done.
Seems like only yesterday
It was them or us.  Time...

















Hidden charity

Perhaps some thought I never cared
But my tears were always there. Cry!
Cry them out!  ...and I did.  Long ago.
Now they are mostly gone and with
Them most those I loved most. Gone
To Him who is everywhere but is never
Seen.  My love and tears he keeps them
There where they are still.  Keeps them
My memories green like a velvet moss
That grows in the heart where all that's
Dear on earth graces the halls of heaven.
When all our tears are shed we will all be
Together with those we have loved again.

Scripture tells me that there shall be
No remembrance of things past.Yet
I seem to remember perhaps that is
Why God gives the old the gift of
Senility that they may roam for
Yet a while where their  treasures
Are  unremembered still bright as
New Ay Take  up your cross  old
Sojourner for it brings you closer to
The end of that unbearable wait so
Soon over now to all of suffering the
End but one to the pure joy of rising
Death overcome in  forgetfulness.The
Soul washed clean is truth innocent
Its fountains are the eternal springs.

As it was  in the beginning is now...
The foolishness of God is better than
The wisdom of man...

The last regret of unhappiness is that one is
Leaving that most familiar place that you
Gave your best to and failed, a first love and
You know you cannot go home again-last and
Enduring when all else is forgotten a thought
Of former times still dear not of this world are
Treasures stored in Heaven.  At the Zenith of
Life and knowing it you will have the same
Sorrow for a time and place that will never be
Again.  For you have  returned to that home
Of your youth that like all things sublime
Cannot be remembered to which you have
Returned and will return again and again till
All unknowing your journey takes you home
Forever and forever Love dying is being lost
Moment my moment Love is being reborn.
Now is a time like all times and we fellow-
Travelers are learners knowing these are the
Best and worst of times, a time like all times
We are coming to going from Love-Home

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

Her smile constant and genuine
As the sun.  Declared delight in
Being here just in being here.  
To be seen for this moment by
This most appreciative audience
Who seeing how lovely she is
Look happily on their child in
Fascination that such joyfulness
Should exist so unaware and so
Unaffected by the weary, sordid
World for our sake to be here.

All's well that ends well
We fail a hundred times
Blame it on each other
Yet each time I get up
It's because I believe
All's Well that ends well
I will believe it to the end
That it will be the Truth then
Either way if
I live and die believing it
I lived  the best life had to
Offer. The hope that Love
Will be the victor here and
In the Hereafter.  Who cannot
Say with me- my God - God of
Love Let it be Let it be. Let ...
Thy will that is done-though a
Hundred times  and more I
Tried  and failed to make it so -
An if  I die and if I wake I will
Rise because
All is wells well that ends well
And only Love that can make it so                


Make it so.  In all that passes  
Let there be at the end  Love
As a little child I  came to Love
As a little child I have. loved.
Have a little child Loved
There"s a grief yet if I wake  
I'll Rise because I believe
All that's been can be redeemed
It is a better dream than mine yet
It is my Father's gift,. My child
At the end  of life   ts Love only
Only Love -can it  be that it Is

Is and all the difference makes










m










For my mom who told me at the end
of her life she prayed before bed her
childhood prayer:  Now I lay me down
To sleep; I.f I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord  my soul to take.

Ah there are other dreams than this
Some better Some worse
We seek a place to settle but are only
Adventurers exploring the wilderness
Looking for that other place called
Home that seems we left so long ago
Forgotten  now is the way back to the
Long ago.  In dreams we seek to know
A Way that is neither good nor bad,  We
Would not if there was another better but
All we know is that we cannot stay in this
Flawed and mortal place forever.  Still we
Loved and cannot leave until all the golden
Links of all that was and will be are One and
Nothing is lost that is saved to us in heaven.
We cannot leave here yet and so we wake and
The devil we  know  will not let us go till we
Know this too is on the the beloved way.  So  
We wait upon the Lord  Soon we will be home
The journey is not over Some dreams are bad
Some dreams are good.   To each a purpose

Dear one perhaps tonight I may catch the golden
Ring and you will be with me in my last dream

At Last
Before death
Love life
Your life
With a love
Absolute-
The one who
Loves is greater
Than death.  You
Are that one.  Born
In mourning which
Is the prayer that
God always hears
And always answers

My life has been so  conditioned by
Absence a longed for presence that I
Know no other and so by forfeit this
Unworthy life has shamefully become
My wretched blanket that I cling to in
Like a child standing before the storm
What is dearest is the least,and the last

With  the sun overhead till in the dusk it
Descends and here is plenty good and fruitful
Are you are ready for your rest- now come
To the table of the family that you love.  Give
Thanks.  Then wake no more for the dream
You lost begins now again. You have come
Come home.
At last.   You could dream of flying but now
You have done that and other wonders too. So
Quickly the light fantastic loses it's attraction
But to have your love in your arms that is all
Of heaven.  Who could ask for anything more?
Wake no more.  Stay with me.  No need to travel
Higher  Dreams in search of dreams are done. The
Lord says now that you  are here "stay with me. Do
Not go.  Hear me" says the Lord of all that is
Stay don't you know there is no where better to be
I am the Western* wind that you have so long sought
  
Wake no more for I am with thee the alpha /omega
One Forever and eternity till the cows come home.
Hear me and wake no more. I pray to be where I am
Who I am and with who I love and who loves me
To  dream a better dream and wake no more.

Does the beauty in the distance
Beckon?  To what end the way?
What more is there to say?  Are
We not now in the its midst now
Awed?  Is there a wish for more
No it is that this first moment now
Now be sustained:  We are in the
Glory of the mist yet Beholding it-
Only moving on to keep it forever


This is how I remember you Lord

In the demon land you are weak
Cannot  stand; are overcome yet
Rising above this evil cannot fol-
Low.  It is not that you are strong
That you overcome but that in
This other space the devil cannot
Reach you where you are now.
How can it be that here the evil
Fingers can no longer shape the
Pliable clay.  It is fated that man
Shall fall in love and so be less
And less till be God's hand he
Be kneaded  as near as nothing
Is to one and like helium is be
Rising even as the son.  For the
Maker lifts up His clay.  His sod
He brings to life with each day.
He has promised that the meek
Shall inherit the earth and all
Shall be on earth as in heaven
As little children.the falling
Stars shall grace this place
That love may rise and fall
We know not all but rise and
Fall in love.  It is enough...

Something old some thing new
To thine own self be true is a not
A loud command but one evermore
Softly heard.  Do not crucify your
Self on the cross of authenticity
As if you heard some imperial
Command and that to die in pain
As if you never heard His burden
Is lite To all who hear His Call

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

That it be not so sayeth thou the Lord to my lord.  I knoweth not what I do stayeth my hand; permit me not all that I would do if man's in humanity to man were true.  That there be somethings I may not do that all that is good be true and all that is true be good.  How then shall my children be false to me.  
The ages are mine to wear away all that is not ever lasting and if nothing else remain:
Let  Love be all that's true; and what is ever so be so even now.

Never never forever
But for a little while
now  we do love, can
Love and that is all our
Forever is and what for
I would give every other
Forever for. To now love
You a little more.  Forever
Is only how long I will miss
you when you are far away.

For my daughter
I Love you

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

We were walking in a an enchanted place
A great Cathedral like Notre Dame in its midst a
A Renaissance fair played all about us.  Crafts
People were making beautiful artizan glassware
I wanted show her all the beauty of this world but
She kept disappearing and I feared I would not
Be able to finder her but then she would reappear
Again I would try to get her to take an interest in the
Magnificent creations.  But when she looked they all
Would turne to dross.  Then she would go again I knew
Not where and my heart ached so terrible was it to lose
Her.  Then she returned the final time and I pressed  her
Beneath me and breathlessly said I Love You-  It Was
Said without aforethought from the depths of my soul.
tt was thus  I understood that My Love,is the Lord my
God  was a jealous God who was saying show Me: Your
Love.  Put no treasures before m eand I will be yours -
But lest you misunderstand it was sweet and playful to
                               The End

If I could impart to you
The beauty of the glowing
Grass You would not ask
Me the meaning of the
Universe nor need to.


For Stanley

It is insatiable the desire to know
Nothingness; to comprehend it;
Taste it, smell it but it defies all
Frantic effort, voracious appetite.
For it is nothing; has already given
It's everything and has nothing left
To give.  It inhabits all things it is
Their holiness; and to know this
Is to let it be.  Walk hand in hand
Feel its closeness without and with
In.  To know paradise is ours is a gift
For where nothing is we need not yet
Have all by grace been given  Ojala!

I traveled through a wooded land
To a high suspension bridge that
Was only wide enough for one to
Pass.  the canyon at great depth
Above the river far below.  It was
almost freezingly cold.  I could
See a great range of misty peaks
Before me.  Then my feet seemed
No longer to completely touch the
Wood but as if being placed on a
Cushion of air compressed not
Completely down.  Then my
Aged companion said: It is the
Rising air that protect the child
Still in the womb.  Then I knew
The Truth, I should not take  the
Crown for it belonged to one not
Yet born but it was art to know.
And was for peace not for grief.

It is not what you think
It is a new dance,  It happens
In another place.  You see
Something you want but you
Are hurried on.  The song is
Mute, of memories made
No rhyme or reason.  Free.
It cannot be remembered
Grace and perfection are lost
Sought again.  I see a pouting
Face oh so cute-she is calling
Me - says  come you can-
Come and dance with me

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

You are on a short board that does not span the deep canyon
A mad crowd a murdererous horde is close -is chasing you.
You run to the
End of the board .
The pitiless mob are screaming
For your blood- are closing in
You see in the void  before
An angel beckoning you to
Come!  Leap into the empty
Space  You have never believed in
Angels.  Will  you  now?
What do you have to lose?  To gain?
But there  is no timet.to weigh things
For prudent measure You must act
Know  now with your whole heart
You choose!

"The Winter of Despair The Spring of Hope*
Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities"
Answer.

Just before departing my former foes
Came to me exacting my promises that
I would do them no harm and ... when
I agreed on my honor that it would be
So  they give me parting gifts, things
Long sought.  We entered a dark tunnel
My friends and my beloved dog also a
Farewell gift.  We were at last heading   
Home- after an indeterminate but brief time
We emerged and as if thru dark clouds we
Were at the end of the journey.  In the
Morning light a corner of my vision was
Lit and there was a shore where children
Were happily jumping up and down in the
Ocean and I knew I was home and that is
Where my memory ended in the place of
My Dreams, my long journey finally over

All I ever lost returned to me many fold...


For My Father

Peace is not as gaudy as a parrot
Not as baudy as a peacock...Not
As free as a happy child.  Not as
Beautiful as a rainbow in a clear
Blue sky.  Not as fierce as a storm
With the of flashes of lightening-
Booming bursts of thunder.  But
It is like Avalon seen through the
Mist and it is enough to wish for
For a long long time and when it
Is wished for it is always there.

It is madness to smell a
Rose for the first time
You wish you could but
You never can Still you
Try and it seems but oh
Its a glorious madness
Takes you down down
To the roots of your soul
Where you have hidden
Poetry.  a line or two the
Grace of God dropped to
Save you from dispsair-
Give you back what was
Lost The glorious madness
Sanctified for all time. The
Essence of all first love  A
Glorious madness to persu

To all i haved loved in my
youth we shall be together
Again when all is made new

turally imperiled

Who are you talking to
Mr Einstein?  To the little
Child; to this old man?  
So much hocus pocus-
When all you had to say
was Shazamm.  That I
Could understand.  Yes
Everything is; and I am-
In the blink of an-eye- one
Word.  How could it be
That it is so  Yes even as
A little child I knew that.
That there is magic here

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 *****

My love slips away.
Through my fingers
Around corners and
I do not see her.  Can
Not find her anymore
I cannot control my
Dreams but she will
Always be there to hear
Hear me say once again
I love you. Just things
You cannot control and
Things she cannot do Be
In the big world where she
Will always be my little
Girl.  She was there with
Me in my dream last night
Will she come again tonight
So I can tell her I love her still
I do not know but I know I will
Love her always. Till my dreaming
Stops and we are together again.


For Lis

May the Bell of Liberty Yet Ring
With its flaw still it tolls-Fear not
To fear the Lord as Solomon did
Saying though all else be a vanity.
I yet fear the Lord because my
Sin if it be that for as love can-
Not be checked it must be so
Like love I cannot decide it or
Discover its twin if there be one
That makes the other false so
Trembling I pray that all I love
Be true without righteousness
That I am without fault but as
One who knows there is One
Who can make my imperfection
Right.  if only for love' sake it
Does make whole all kindred.

Tells the story of the heart grown heavy
Knowing all this sweetness would not last
Soon would be memory.  The great hopes
We had would become a life long ago. Yes
We know always knew it would end but still
For that alone we threw our whole selves; all
Our youth into a sweet sad song of our time
As precious as it was mortal.  Famous long ago
Yes we knew still know it could not last..
Such a sweet refrain was our time Too beautiful
To be.  The best of times; the worst it was our
Time.  A time like all times a sweet sad song


For You My Beloved

When the victory is just to
Survive-no matter that the
Future beyond is realistically
Bleak.  That is not the question
Perhaps it never was-Still to
Be is the triumph always is.
The promise of better things
To come is to be still.