Their footsteps returned
as a shroud fell around me
Hiding me from the heels
of their jackened boots
Direction was lost
escape but a memory
Shouting their curses
re-echoing the past

(Shadows Of Anne Frank: November, 2023)

The gray areas of conscience
those depths of confusion
That’s where we find ourselves
—that’s where we thrive

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)

Reality’s made
of what
it is
Not what
it might
have been

The apple
landing
on my head
Bespeaks
of now
not then

All abstract
nature
Plato drawn
To live
behind
the mask

What’s real
in substance
real in form
No future
and
—no past

(Strafford Pennsylvania: November, 2023)

Dancing through
the mine field
deftness parlayed
Destruction incumbent
the future
in play
Each step risks a lifetime
if right
turns to wrong
Tomorrow uncertain
when short
—calls for long

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)

Words are the enemy
till sparingly used

And weighted with meaning
beyond p’s and q’s

They serve to release us
with imagery plain

Expanding the message
—in pointed refrain

(Bryn Mawr College: November, 2023)

Armed with the same knowledge
we’re still not conjoined
Intention the difference
no flip of the coin

Our substance a mirror
but essences framed
by choices defining
—the praise or the blame

(The New Room: November, 2023)

My heart and mind have thought and felt together
with soul and spirit intertwined as one
And shaken from this sleep of dying embers
the words regifted wrapped in morning sun

Days both long and short have etched their meaning
onto the pages time does not subscribe
Each rise and fall the tide of love remaining
as seasons change—when fire and ice collide

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)