We’ve all been crippled
in different ways
To hobble or stumble
alone in our pain
No one is reprieved
as years take their toll
Till that day we return
one body — one soul

(1st Book Of Prayers: March, 2024)

Disarmed

Bullets fall silent
against words
well chosen

Their caliber
muted
— the target on fire

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Stuck In Gear

Motion
not an absolute
The world
is never still

Inertia
tries to write the law
Where stop and start
are nil

History
at the speed of light
Consensus
in the math

But standing
here
While stuck in gear
— the notion leaves me flat

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Before The After

Don’t bog down
in research
Spontaneity
the thing
Truth
is most elusive
And joy
a passing Spring

In flashes
of an instant
What’s timeless
will appear
Thinking often
kills the goose
That lays
— both far and near

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Deafening Silence

Things most often named
before understood
Then never renamed
for the bad or the good

‘Particles of light’
we now know as waves
But ad infinitum
their reference stays

A ‘Tablet of Paper’
consisting of sheets
Two ‘Bolts’ of lightning
fused Franklin’s belief

A ‘Softball’s’ still deadly
meant to careen
And ‘Deafening Silence’
— spurs wonder indeed


(Villanova University: March, 2024)

My Father died at 63
I’m now 75
I remember the day
I turned 63
Thinking I would finally know
What he knew
Be able to feel what he felt
See what he saw
And to be who he was
But I wasn’t a decorated
World War 2 Marine
The last of his platoon
To survive
The Solomon Islands the graveyard
Of most of his friends
He died on a Thursday
But we were estranged
‘Another woman who was not my Mom’
Looking back I wonder
What could I have changed
What words would I have used
To say to him …

(To Edward F. Behm U.S.M.C.: March, 2024)

Answering The Past

I tell you what
you ask me why
Inside this ring
of time disguised
Two hundred reasons
passing go
Retracing steps
— of long ago

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Forever Now

Make your bed with today
no one’s promised tomorrow
The present is visceral
its moment at hand
Repeating itself
in joy and in sorrow
The instant eternal
— forever Divine

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Lost To Oneself

What do the years mean
when they come to an end
Their number a folly
if hearts cannot mend
A month or a decade
results but the same
‘With feeling abandoned
— a life spent in vain

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



The Moment Blessed

The future
can be avoided
the present cannot

The past but
a door prize
to what you have not

To live in
the moment’s  
eternal refrain

A blessing
self given
— again and again

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Calling Us Home

Drawn into the light
arms open wide
to hear
that song again

Which ushered
us here
replaying clear
— by Angels from within

(1st Book  Of Prayers: March, 2024)



A Choice

The grey winter
of dismal intention
recurs with a vengeance
— until you say NO

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

Speak of the devil
he will appear
Trailing your thoughts
relining your fears

Tail of the dragon
wages of sin
Your ninth life in ashes
— fire within

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

She believed in Astrology
he believed in her
Their White House chart in symbols strange
whose doctrine ebbed and flowed
She believed the stars made sense
her love had made him blind
To what his darkest fears had robbed
— a modern day Tom Joad

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Through the eye of the needle
Not to the left or the right
Dodging both on the comets tail

I streak into the light
My last wish out in front
As words melt in a fiery contrail

And with only one question
To weaken my heart
With only one thing to know

The seasons entwine
All beanstalks are felled
With the exit signs all aglow

I crash through the doubt
Releasing new hope
My affirmation now to reign

And look ever farther
Beyond my scope
As my senses become untrained

I feel the loose pieces
Start to come off
A new lightness here abounds

The last burden has lifted
Burning bright in my wake
Crossing over—turned around

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)