~
Violet moons
in lavender skies
Whispers on raindrops
and twilight kissed sighs
Buttercup daydreams
in rose petal white
Define my thoughts
of you on this night

Pine cone aromas,
and cool morning dew
Mountain top moments,
a beautiful view
Snow flurry sonnets
and orchids at play
Define my love
for you on this day

Butterfly wishes,
blue oceans a' dance
Porcelain passions
and springtime romance
Sweet chocolate visions
of everything new
Define this man
*the day he found you

~

I have stood on aging avenues
watching walls crumble
while destiny’s debris
collects
at my feet

pieces of the past?

I have heard the laughter of babies
and the wail of the homeless,
opposites in a
straight line of
what is
and what might be

voices of the future?

I have stared into the portals of
left over meanings,
methodically
laid out to rest
on long tables
of bad intents

visions cast of shadows?

I have knelt before a dream,
clutching my chest
with indecision,
the pain
a reminder of my
fragile heart-
opened

memories of lost love?

I have cried
without a witness,
empty streams of
dense forgiveness,
requested of no one
and answered by the same

and nothing remains?

Soft as a feather
your kiss comes to me
Here ever after
I long it to be
Tight on my lips
so perfect and pure
Yours is the kiss
I've come to adore

Warm as the springtime
your touch I can feel
Holding me close
I know it is real
Constant like tides
caressing the shore
Yours is the touch
I've come to adore

This side of heaven
your love calls my name
Eternal my dream
igniting the flame
A beautiful light
to shine evermore
Yours is the love
I love to adore

~

Fly Away


“Seagull, you fly across the horizon”

Parallel dreams and sifted thoughts
on an amber thread, thin as the beliefs
once found as hope, now falling
beneath sorrowed wings, gliding


“Into the misty morning sun”

Through hazy eyes and broken hearts,
tarnished memories flow within this dawn
as you fade off in the distance,
soaring ever higher, disappearing into the east


“Nobody asks you where you are going”

Silence fills the maze that is your mind, leaving you
staring at dead ends and fractured turns,
as the realization that you didn’t matter
forms on clouds of whispering truths…no one cares


“Nobody knows where you're from”

And in the end, you are not sure yourself
from where you once came, a blotted image
on empty shorelines of tangle debris
which you easily have forgotten, as you as well will be


“And you fly away…”

~


How is it I think I find what’s real within your eyes
But from your mouth comes words comprised of endless counted lies
Falling at my feet just like a charm without a chain
Tarnishing the wisdom that shall never be the same
Whisperings of darkness slowly selling off the proof
Scribbles on a sidewalk as a chalk line alters truth
There upon a billboard with its message loud and clear
Written in graffiti is a clue that you are near
Still you fight the reason that our worlds have come to be
Hidden in the sentences your voice it sends to me
Tell me if you kindly will, what I have done to you
That brings about this wrath I feel has jumbled up the view
When all I really needed was directions to your heart
And now I see that hell is at the place you said to start
Once I did believe in every tear drop that you cried
Sitting on the cushion fighting off your fears inside
Now I wonder if your ears can hear this slamming door
Because my ears have heard enough, can’t listen anymore

To the poets on HP,

I wanted to use this space to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on HP. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, we all have many things to be thankful for if we just take the time to look. I personally am thankful for each and every one of you who share your poetry with me and read and enjoy my work.  I am very thankful for all of the kindness I have been shown on this site. I appreciate it so very much.

I hope your day is filled with family, friends, happiness and many things to be thankful for.

Jack

~

Towards the tree line

I stare towards the tree line,
misshapen and abstract on my eyes
Fading in autumn’s chill and leafless
emptiness that I still cannot see

Oh it is there, screaming at me,
waving in the wind, calling in birdsong
But my eyes travel more…
a distance well beyond any footpath I’ve taken

Shelved on the high land vistas
now filled with charcoal persuasions
So very far, miles on scaled dotted lines,
asphalt tearing at my soles, untied laces drag

Still I gaze, following my heart into loneliness
Reaching for but a hint of a smile,
a fix-all for that broken heart,
a mosaic sponge to catch your tears…I find none

Tossing a stone, it bounces on fielded diaries,
words of pain scribbled before even a thought
Collections of wishes in a four leaf clover pockets,
brushed of life’s unfairness

If only I could hold you,
safely beneath that frown,
gently with the touch of every meaning,
building a wall to turn back the sorrow

Ivy covered in green temptations
breathing of trust and love,
lingering at locked doors to secure peace
And yet, I can only stare towards the tree line…blind and worthless

~

That barren branch
high above this desolate space
Crooked shade designs on a dying earth
Bent and twisted of past sunlight reach
Naked to the green-less world
Rough hewed collections
Of ant trail pathways
And rot of all that was good

Once filled with life, happy on the breeze
Summer fashions of leaf pattern wishes
Colors of blissful post card greetings
Bearing fruit of friendlier times

Now rests in solitude’s wicked grip
Knotted and splintered bark winding
to a tapered end of winter’s calling
Cold fingers on gray-cast skylines
Dying of desperate missings
Fading into a bleak sunset
Disappearing somewhere beyond the dark
That barren branch…is me

~


Changing directions
In a forestalled motion,
balanced on the side of truth while practicing losing my step
in the rushing waters of life…
I slip

Clinging to a lone branch
I find it blocking the sky, pulling shadows from mist
and teetering on the edge of someone’s sacred sanity

My eyes,
stern and fashioned of blinded occurrences that swallow
the light of day and the masks of sympathetic stares,
focus

For in the distance,
tapestries woven of heartbeats glisten on the ripples of a naked moon beam,
motioning to me in pleasing movements a’ dance on its reflections

Passionately in syncopated volumes she whispers,
louder than the hope now swirling in the rising swells
and broken slivers of drastic wastelands which
sit vacant in my mind

“Float to me”,
I hear as the cool waters so elegantly gather about her perfect feet
Her toes grip the rocky floor in such beauty that I fall helplessly,
allowing nature’s crest to take me, singing me sweetly to this pristine dream

Disbelief churns in fountains of doubt fed wishes and desires
as I submerge in the beauty that is her
Engulfed by white capped rapids beating faster…only my heart

She, with silken fingers plucks me from the surf,
her fragrance, lilac and magnolia, intoxicate me

We stand, shades of the deep sky and starlight beacons illume her face
As fireflies play in the trees and
our lips meet, my pulse floods with fever

Her desperate thoughts invade my elated mind and I agree
Together we plunge to the depths of forever and I slowly drown in her love

~




“Well she's walking through the clouds”

Little wings keep her upright
as she strolls through the sunrise
now brightly glowing within my heart,
blind to my feelings

“With a circus mind that's running wild”

Beneath azure tents of atmosphere,
smiling at another perfect day in her world
While tame white tigers
roar on cue

“Butterflies and zebras”

Watercolor happiness fills her eyes
as she chases the beauty that is her nature,
caressing all that she touches
with the wonder that is her essence

“And moonbeams and fairy tales”

Moonbeam, something I have not called her
and once upon a times, when poppies and dandelions sing
the saddest of songs for my desires
flood in a downpour of dreams not realized

“That's all she ever thinks about”

While frolicking childlike atop cotton candy visions
never once looking my way,
finding this love I hold so gently,
only for her

“Riding with the wind”

On whispered zephyrs she disappears
as day drinks of twilight
and weary eyes find star light harsh…I sleep,
waiting for the new day, waiting for her…once again

Frozen in layers of lemon drop frosting
Running for love on the snow covered lawn
Interest in all that this morning does offer
Entering each as if only a song

Dancing to dreams on the edge of tomorrow
Asking a question I hope will be true
Pausing a moment to smile your direction
Writing this poem while thinking of you

Scars run deep
Sliced by those
Disguised as friends

Tearing flesh
One touch at a time
With false smiles

Ripping names
From headline bold print
Stored in their pockets

Where the trusting sit
Scattered among the lint
Of past pleasures

Victims of masks
Worn behind the scenes
Leprechaun images

Lucky charms
Magically delicious
Forced to consume

Though nothing more
Than evil
To start your day

~

I shall go there with my love

There’s a meadow in the distance
Golden grains upon the land
Such an effervescent morning
As we walk there hand in hand

In the trees the birds are singing
Sunny skies play up above
There’s a meadow in the distance
I shall go there with my love

There’s a river by a mountain
Waters blue and crystal clear
So refreshing is its beauty
O’ the sound we love to hear

Upon it glistens soft reflections
Of the bluest skies above
There’s a river by a mountain
I shall go there with my love

There are horses in the pasture
Frolicking this perfect day
So majestic in their stature
As they run the fields at play

In the air their manes are flowing
Cool the breezes from above
There are horses in the pasture
I shall go there with my love

There’s a garden filled with flowers
O’ the fragrance soft and pure
Perfect blossoms for the picking
Where we could not ask for more

All the colors of a rainbow
Streaming through the sky above
There’s a garden filled with flowers
I shall go there with my love

There’s a future that is waiting
Where the days are ever bright
And forever it is springtime
Every scene a perfect sight

Where the nights are heaven's answer
Neath the wondrous moon above
There’s a future that is waiting
I shall go there with my love

~

Passion’d Mountain Top

The air is so much thinner here
Miles find my eyes gazing,
valleys wave in gardenia gestures
and foot prints form in seeking patterns

Smooth stone of rain drop kisses
falls steep in overwhelming beauty
as I reach for a few more steps
of overlooking apex in snowcapped dreams

From this height far above
the sleeping village and sunset ribbons
I can see, more than the mind can imagine
yet not father than my soul can reach

As heart beats in mosaic designs
echo from peak to peak,
they flow on zephyrs of silver clouded beauty,
settling upon your tender skin

Always when twilight horizons form in the east
and starlight canopies unfold
my love soars on breathless whispers
from this passion’d  mountain top…endlessly to you

~

A crescent moon now overhead
As I come rising from my bed
Remembering the words I said
A few short hours ago
~
Like linens hanging on the line
The clouds a comfort for my eyes
In secrets whispered on the skies
Along with breezes flow
~
I wonder of this time apart
As longings cling so tight my heart
In gilded frame like precious art
The sun comes into view
~
When then my open eyes can see
The man that I can surely be
If only you would come to me
Whatever I must do
~
With endless trees and hills to climb
My aches, my pains on borrowed time
The distant church bells set to chime
The miles in between
~
I follow on in destined task
Is it too much for me to ask
Within your arms I long to bask
If you know what I mean
~
To stumble on the crooked path
And weep these tears of aftermath
For comes the heat of summer wrath
In everything so new
~
I wander here and wander there
In hopes to show you that I care
With you my dreams I long to share
Until my days are through

~

Draped in dreams of liquid tides
Shallow waters cool the breeze
Toes drenched of vast believing
From grassy banks, soft and pure
Ripples of time pass slowly
Blue sky desires paint our thoughts
Soothing sunlight sparkles
Glistening on the surface
A butterfly lands on your shoulder
Attracted by the rose bud in your hair
Happiness touches softly
As you brush its tiny wings
It flutters…as does your beauty

“And you are happy”
  
Your smile enchants me
Indigo reflects in your eyes
Skin glowing iridescent
In warmth felt deeply
Beneath this shade tree
I imagine us…always
Sweet lips beckon
Aromatic Jasmine scent
Tingles my senses
Euphoria in this wildflower meadow
Harmonic blooms sway melodically
Nature’s symphonic movements
And as we kiss…my heart sings

“And I am happy”

Night time brings a silence,
a loneliness that drags hours
through the mind's corridors

Winding past words shared
during the day, earlier promises,
affectionate offerings found my eyes,
longing for merely a touch from
far away wishes, rubbing brass lamps,
picking four leaf clovers...

I was asked, " Is there anything you can't do?"

What I can't do hurts more than what I can
and what I can do doesn't matter
because of what I can't

So here I sit on Valentine's night alone,
dreaming of you, wondering where you are,
imagining us...hoping you are too,
in this silence and loneliness that
night time brings

~

Ensorcelled in effervescent lingerings
sifting through moonlit seams
Soft flavored drippings of ecstasy
melting slowly within the fever
dancing across my skin
as your fingers trace
the outline of my deepest secrets,
mysteries lodged in seductive breaths

Your love my ******, addictive enchantment
Stimulated senses heightened
Sundrenched moans, silver lined
adrift on satin sighs
Floating delirious within
hallucinogenic eyes,
seducing my mind in eternal desires

Trance infused emotions
cling to each nuance of mesmeric longings
Swirling smoke ringlets
penetrate whispering decolletage,
culminating in lustful motives
atop gilded sheets
drenched of our rapture,
etched in euphoria
Two silhouettes saturated
*in this dream called passion

Like block shaped wheels our lives stumble at the chapters we write
Corners seem dark and teeming with doubt,
alleyways call in echoes of our name,
as if tempting us to crawl when we cannot walk

                “Fear begins the parade at our fragile hearts”

Shades are drawn and slotted with eyes watching,
voices ring the halls of the buildings looming large,
rumors of pointed fingers find our ears in colander fashion,
dripping fear at our feet

                “Waves conduct sound, crashing vividly as we hear”

We cry,
hoping these tears will somehow wash the pain,
fill the gutters and move out to sea,
casting waves upon unsuspecting shores

                “Wishes…more waste than want…at least of these eyes”

When of the shadows a touch,
softly at first, then strong upon our shoulders fall…
comfort leaps to our hearts in sing song praise,
wishes become goals and finish line adventures

                “What is this light, soft yet sure, found within”

We are not alone, darkness hints at light
and butterflies fill our air with prism’d colors and soft breezes
collecting on our damp cheeks and drying the aftermath
of our understanding of reality

                “Dreams of these nightmares fade into happiness”

We find footprints in the dirt…two which are not our own,
closely, yet affectionately following our way and bringing direction
to our dreams, yet the nightmares still flourish
but we do not feel so alone

                “Fences built may keep us in yet… may keep us out”

For this hand, from a distance,
climbing mountains and fording rivers
leads our hearts to the safety of love just beyond the bricked wall,
the ivy covered monolith, the chain link disaster
which once stood locked

                “Finding that a breath may exhale peace…again”

Now stands open of the arbor of hibiscus
blooms and teapot pourings fore our eyes…open and hopeful of the coming truth
once lost beyond our dreams…and we breathe
for it feels right to breathe while standing in the darkness…not alone

Like Morse code on dampened glass,
raindrops form a weathered phrase
interpreting this broken heart now
dripping in endless sorrow
of un-breathing days wasted
on paned emotions

Even the midday sun
briefly pushing away clustered clouds
can not erase the stains
streaked of weeping moments,
salted in so many fears
and wonderings…

Shattered, lying in pieces,
transparent mosaics of jagged will
cut deep and wide on this tired skin,
bleeding out in pools of disgrace
as I translate the moistened dots and dashes
to find that they merely ask…why?

Not alone


Like block shaped wheels our lives stumble at the chapters we write
Corners seem dark and teeming with doubt,
alleyways call in echoes of our name,
as if tempting us to crawl when we cannot walk

                “Fear begins the parade at our fragile hearts”

Shades are drawn and slotted with eyes watching,
voices ring the halls of the buildings looming large,
rumors of pointed fingers find our ears in colander fashion,
dripping fear at our feet

                “Waves conduct sound, crashing vividly as we hear”

We cry,
hoping these tears will somehow wash the pain,
fill the gutters and move out to sea,
casting waves upon unsuspecting shores

                “Wishes…more waste than want…at least of these eyes”

When of the shadows a touch,
softly at first, then strong upon our shoulders fall…
comfort leaps to our hearts in sing song praise,
wishes become goals and finish line adventures

                “What is this light, soft yet sure, found within”

We are not alone, darkness hints at light
and butterflies fill our air with prism’d colors and soft breezes
collecting on our damp cheeks and drying the aftermath
of our understanding of reality

                “Dreams of these nightmares fade into happiness”

We find footprints in the dirt…two which are not our own,
closely, yet affectionately following our way and bringing direction
to our dreams, yet the nightmares still flourish
but we do not feel so alone

                “Fences built may keep us in yet… may keep us out”

For this hand, from a distance,
climbing mountains and fording rivers
leads our hearts to the safety of love just beyond the bricked wall,
the ivy covered monolith, the chain link disaster
which once stood locked

                “Finding that a breath may exhale peace…again”

Now stands open of the arbor of hibiscus
blooms and teapot pourings fore our eyes…open and hopeful of the coming truth
once lost beyond our dreams…and we breathe
for it feels right to breathe while standing in the darkness…not alone

What was free now carries a cost
and I have no money to pay,
that account dried up a long time ago,
the last time I thought I was young

Now grandfather clocks know me by name,
chiming in their opinion,
pointing fingers in every direction,
signaling each passing hour like it is a celebration

Waking me from a peaceful moment
while an insulting dawn
hidden behind dark raspberry clouds
sings, “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone”

I see sunflowers staring through shutters
wondering why as
tear drops collect on their seeded faces,
salting their very existence

So I write out the reason
in the dust on this end table
Finger marks cutting through the dirt
that has gathered, forgotten and reminded

No poetry in those words, that has left me too,
my pen now passed on to someone “younger”
playing hopscotch and drinking cherry cola
stealing her heart as I

Fall into the unmade bed
where pillows are my only friends
Covering up...trying to hide from
the truth that scares me so..........who I am

Knocking down this broken fence,
I wander through the fields
Headed for a line of trees
to find what all it yields

Foot prints in the fresh plowed earth,
my mind so longs to see
What the world does have in store,
now offered up for me

The sun sits shining over head,
so bright its warming rays
Hanging from a sky of blue,
a beacon on display

Still I see horizon’s faire
of shadows on the wall
Wandering, I take a breath
and wonder of it all

I travel on my journey still
when there before my eyes
A flower like a special song
averts my lonely cries

Beautifully it stares at me
with hope for all to share
Bending down upon my knee,
this flower waiting there

Loveliness within I find
of petal'd smiling touch
For my dreams have found a truth
desires felt so much

Many were the days I lived
with nothing much so true
Until the sun did shine its light
and lead me here to you

I shall build a wondrous wall
to shelter you from harm
Tend you now and everyday,
protect you from the storm

Nourish you and keep you safe
for this eternity
So I may keep forever more
this joy you bring to me

Never more shall this man roam
beyond this valley view
For I accept you as my own,
my perfect flower, you

So still, the air this night does sing,
beyond a truthful stare
A symphony on silent wing,
sweet lyrics on the air

Of every word my heart does find
in rhythmic tapestries
These choruses shall make you mine,
so soft upon the breeze

O’ wind come take this tender heart
and to the sky now lift
In solitude now weave the dark
in dreams of endless kiss

Imagine there are only two,
affectionate thy voice
In melodies of passion new
O’ starry night rejoice

I call upon this springtime moon,
bright sentry high above
Please sing aloud a wondrous tune
within the key of love

So that her ears may come to know
how sweet this world can be
When hand in hand through life we go
in perfect harmony