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Keith Frantz Mar 2019
There lives a cricket in my kitchen.
He sings his tireless serenade from somewhere above the refrigerator, where no one goes.
I cannot see him.
I cannot find him.
He lives there though.
Of this, I am sure.
His song wrings an anthem of our miraculous and incidental reality.
We are both born of the same stardust and he knows this.
His tune to propagate goes unanswered, as far as I know.
His call to the universe is merely met by my slight annoyance when I return home every night.
My annoyance with him is not equal to the aggravation I have for the crow who owns the treetop in my yard.
The cricket sings his sweet song in an effort to get laid whereas the crow stays busy loudly bossing everyone around in the neighborhood and occasionally crapping on my car.
I secretly look forward to my late night return home and the song my kitchen mate brings.
I have become akin to my unseen friend, his melodies to our world, his need for another.
I imagine his songs are my songs, songs of our ancestors, songs of our deepest loves and longest days, songs of what happens to us after we die.
Relentless songs!
His courage and insight are unbridled in his telling.
He becomes silent as I near.
I turn out the light to signal my approval but he waits until I am safely away.
He has a story to tell.
I sit in the dark.
And listen.
Keith Frantz Feb 2019
How can I help but fear you?
You,
offering the light
from my darkness
Handing
Reaching
Trusting
Your torch…

Many before
have burned me
so badly.
Is yours the white light I seek?
O, how many
I have grabbed before
Only to fry my flesh
Too much heat
has melted this heart
I am frightened

Frightened of your flame
I seek its warmth
Its care
And love
How can I resist your love?
To protect my last heart...
Must I walk through fire
for promise of redemption
For comfort
And Love

I stir awake
while you slumber
I touch your fingertips
As I watch your breath
draw inside your chest
I wonder if you're real
How has grace arrived
In my life?
In my heart…?

As I ponder
my pity and fear,
I recognize
your unseeable wounds
Your cuts so deep
You,
too,
have been etched by
Lovepain's eternal flame
Soul grated scars
And your timeless terrors
Yet bravely offer your heart
Your trust
Your love

How?
How do you achieve
Such strength
After such despair?
Yet,
You are here
With me
Now
I cannot question love

I am commanded by it!
With unabashed resolve
To offer my own torch
To you
My light and love,
Faint and marred,
Of my last heart
Keith Frantz Dec 2018
As my evening dawn unfolds
I walk up my front home path
I see my Son on the porch
in his loving Mother’s arms
She's holding him
Teaching him
Loving him

He's blowing bubbles
I witness his Mother's delight
My Son is pleasing her
with his first bubbles
Pleasing me
Learning
Growing
Doing
So fast

Several bubbles now
Recent reflections
In each opaque sphere
As they waft
Toward me
Over me
Past me
In the twilight across
The seedling yard
of my young family

I watch countless bubbles
in a moment's time
Float by
Displaying
Declaring
Each of my new Son's feats
His unabashed trials
Attempts
Failures and successes

Bubbles popping
Popping popping
In each its place
Popping
Before
I can catch them
Watch them
Treasure each

The very bubble
revealing my Son
presently blowing bubbles
lands on my chest
near my heart
I want to freeze this bubble
I want to freeze
My Son's life
His purity
His innocence
I want to live in this moment
For more than this moment

I catch myself freezing
Freezing this bubble
Stopping it
I want to enjoy this
I want to enjoy all his bubbles
To love
To live
In this moment
I want it to last
I want his Mother to see
What I see
To share
This moment
Us three
Perfection
In a
Frozen Bubble
Keith Frantz Dec 2018
Every predawn morning,
under starry skies,
I pass between two trees
linked by an inevitable spiderweb.

It occurs to me,
on my way to work,
I have just undone
the spider's entire workday.

Like me, the spider
stays to its pattern.
He never strays.
And never learns.

Just like the spider,
my web will be there tomorrow...
For someone to unwittingly destroy.
Keith Frantz Nov 2018
I wake throughout my tired night
Passing painted panes
Of dreamed delight

Your image lust
haunts my visions now
Slumber’s rest
shall not allow

I think of you
under Full Moon glare
First kiss deep
A touch so rare
Bodies connect
Against cold night air
Chasing direct
Surging up
Pleasing dare

All night did I twist
Scenarios dreams
and wished romance
Urging to be kissed
Desire swept true
Reached here
This endless dance

Presently I wait
Hear to beckon me
Floating upon fate
Fear to race and see

Your call will calm my soul
So I may sleep again
Our silly Sandman stole
Not dreaming until then

I long to hear your voice
this early fresh
and raw daybreak
My first blush choice
Your kiss bewitched
My one keepsake

November 24th, 2018
Keith Frantz Nov 2018
If it were the last night of the world, would you come to me?
If you knew I were dying, would you come?

If I needed you
If I called
Would you save me?
Forgive me, hold me?
Would you brush my fears and tears away with your love?

Would you sacrifice comfort and divinity
For the love
To save me
To calm me
And create peace everlasting ?

Would we wed atop the Tower
and trek to the Falls
Make love with the last sunset
And fade with dying stars?

If night never ended
And darkness stopped time
If it all was ending
Would you come rest with me?

If it was the last night of the world, would you love me…?
Keith Frantz Nov 2018
Her slumbering substance
fills my space
with sequins of silver
and piping of lace

I long to touch
Her divine supple skin
Reaching and wanting
Driven lust and sin

She steps to the street
Knowing and fair
I follow drunkenly
To her night’s lair

Floating behind
Her wicked gait
Riding her waft
To my deadly fate

She owns me
You see
Despite desperate plea
I cannot resist
My beloved’s bait
I am nothing
Please nothing
If not her mate

I cry my story
So you may hear
Love’s fleeting glory
Never so clear
Barely she knows not
My desire so fraught
If so, I'll know
By nary a tear

Gone now
Off of the world
Sorrow held
Chances unfurled

Escaped my love
Chasing her deeper
Pale seeps vast
My efforts to keep her

Her darkness above
Now claims my restless soul
My tale true
Heart bloodied blue
Hath here my true love
Placed me in my earthly hole

Gone now am I
From follies light
Forever toward
My lover's night
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