All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

Elan that lifts me above the clouds
into pure space, timeless, yea eternal
Breath transmuted into words
                Transmuted back to breath
        in one hundred two hundred years
nearly Immortal, Sappho's 26 centuries
of cadenced breathing -- beyond time, clocks, empires, bodies, cars,
chariots, rocket ships skyscrapers, Nation empires
brass walls, polished marble, Inca Artwork
of the mind -- but where's it come from?
Inspiration?  The muses drawing breath for you?  God?
Nah, don't believe it, you'll get entangled in Heaven or Hell --
Guilt power, that makes the heart beat wake all night
flooding mind with space, echoing through future cities, Megalopolis or
Cretan village, Zeus' birth cave Lassithi Plains -- Otsego County
        farmhouse, Kansas front porch?
Buddha's a help, promises ordinary mind no nirvana --
coffee, alcohol, *******, mushrooms, marijuana, laughing gas?
Nope, too heavy for this lightness lifts the brain into blue sky
at May dawn when birds start singing on East 12th street --
Where does it come from, where does it go forever?

                                                May 1996

When I met her
She set fire to my cold
December soul
She made me

Feel

Something

I never
Have before.

I fell in love with
Her.
But
She fell in love with the
Idea
of me.

So here I am listening
To the song
That played
that day
I knew I loved her.
We were lost,
Yet I felt found.
I was home
She was my
Home.

It's 2am and i'm  
Walking around this campus
lighting a cigarette
Reminiscing on that day we took the wrong train
To Central Park
And how I kissed you in the station
without a care of who was watching
for in that moment it was just
you and I
Perfect.

I can't help but
Keep you
Alive,
Every kiss
Every touch
Every moment.

And I know you never really loved me
But I know I’m going to search for you in
Everyone I meet.

I thought if i held her tight enough
That maybe, just maybe
in that moment
I would be able to scrape the splinters, the shards, the shredded, severed pieces
And cram them together in my arms
That maybe, just maybe, I could stop her falling apart.

I was wrong.

I fell asleep before I was born
I fell asleep after I died