Wonder why I can rejoice in a light breeze
but a single fallen leaf
turned in the wrong direction
can make it feel like
a storm
a hurricane
a monsoon?

Wonder why I can revel at my ease
but a single word so brief
aimed in the right direction
can make me feel like
a swarm
a bit insane
a baboon?

I would never be in the crowd
that killed Him
Or am I just blinded by my own self -righteousness

But then ...
looking down I see the hammer in my hands
I nailed him there
I notice the spear that I cling to with a death - grip
I pierced His side,

I can't count how many times
I've stabbed Him in the back with my actions
Whipped Him with my lies
Chose petty pleasures over
Everlasting love

I sold the only thing that was worth anything
Just to be comforted by cold, unfeeling metal
30 pieces - just 30
When He is worth so much more

It's not about how worthy we are,
But rather how amazing He is
How forgiving He is

So now with opened eyes,
I see
That He has taken the weapons out of my hands
He embraces me with his love,
Saying that
"It's alright, you didn't know what you were doing
I forgive you, I love you
I knew the cost and I still chose you.
I'll always choose you."

Fortunately
you are not my muse

I've worn out muses
by the dozens
cast them aside
like chaff
and cherished the sorrow
that ensued

Sadness was my calling card
my tragic handshake
a testament to a life
gone wrong

Age improved me
I survived the madness
came back to life
gasping for air

And so to your door
to spin the wheel
of language
to glory in its intricacy

Two poets alive
in the same century
two restless souls
under one uneasy roof

We will survive our families yet
raise a toast
when the day comes
to the dear
and thankfully departed

We'll leave poetry
like confetti in our wake
and touch the holy stone
once or twice yet
in our lives

I pray it will be so.

The right eye
is the window of hope
the left eye
the window of despair

And this proposition
is proven in my photograph
a portrait of a grizzled guy
taken just before
he stepped in front of a speeding car
while gesticulating wildly

Who knows what happened there?

Yet I will live!
gather fallen timbers
to form a stockade
against time

Because finally
I have discovered
that time is not my friend

It's a simple game she plays
time girl
trickster girl
but my ancient beams
will prevail

I swear it
by a handful of ash
and mark the moment
with a rune that exists
outside of time
and says simply

Be this.
You were forever thus.

It's a difficult rune to read
and a harder path
to follow.

Average guy tried to kick the snake, so it bit him
He could feel the venom
A similar incentive

Unnecessary villain
Made necessary by
The collective litter
Turning sweet fruit bitter

Let me repose
For a while
Beside
Your
Calm self.
You
See,
I
Am
The opposite,
I
Need
Composed.

Beside you I recline
Beside you I unwind
Settle with time...

YOU
Listen ,
You care
You
Hold me,
Stroke my hair, say, "There!"

This life
You know
At times, gives me the shakes.
The
Things that go on
Get
A bit too much to take.
Think
I'm going to break,
Shatter
Into space.

Then...
I think
Of you...

I come to you...and,

Beside
YOU
I recline,
Beside
YOU
I
Unwind...

Settle...

With
TIME.

I exist
in this very minute
as you read it

My love levitates above me,
begins to circle out
  heading to the silent softness
tucked beyond perception.

I have packed you
  with Milky way hopes,
  witnessed the slashing
    of stars make their way

bright against the purplish night.

I have known you to slip out from
the hidden human crevice
to perform secret plays
   with oceanic aches
       surpassing all words

threading impossible rich
   grasslands in a desert
     of a million scornful suns.

I felt you harpoon me
  pulling me back to the immense
  place beyond the curtain
  verifying every hope that kept me crawling for just one taste.

I heard you speak me into shelter
  every promise of your verse
riveted my skylines with the most delicious eclipse I've ever seen.

Your love moved me to another hidden Everest where The Golden Angel sang to me with a voice that bleeds my haunting.

I felt you craft a crystal ship, your freedom set it sail inside me.