With over forty
years apart
let’s pretend
it’s just a day
That time we’ve lost
and what it cost
to ignore
and look away

We can’t tunnel
through the heartache
but a bridge over
can be built
To put behind
those days unrhymed
with tomorrow
— yet unfelt

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Truth untangled
darkness shines
Terse in format
long on tone
Silence Christened
sin bemoans

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Said but once
forever chime
One breath frees
indentured words
Locked away
— in verse unheard

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

That gear to move forward
is often reverse
The best choice of words
fortune hides in a curse
Our holiest blessing
an omen that warns
And friendship most sacred
in traitor’s reborn
Today frees tomorrow
once yesterday’s gone
Each phrase that escapes us
new words to a song
The time of the season
Fall Winter and Spring
A Summer of angels
— new devils will bring

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

In the back
of my mind
there’s a shadow
Covering
what’s never
to be

In the back
of my mind
there’s a memory
Reminding
what’s dearest
to me

In the back
of my mind
there’s a longing
Driving
me constantly
on

In the back
of my mind
there’s a mantra
Repeating
its message
— in song

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

I learned many things from him ...

That the trackless path
is gifted
to those
who believe
That the distance
between thoughts
can only be connected
by words
That the idea itself
is worthless
without the thing
it expressed
That tomorrow
is no more important
than yesterday
or today
That the bullfighter
must never die
with the bull
still alive
That revolution
is the truest place
where death
is reborn
That real courage
is only measured
by the one
sorely lacking
That to love her once
is better
than to love
her again
That you must
when you must
until the bugles
have stopped
That worshipping
oneself
is life’s fatal
devotion
That the jungle
we chase
is the jungle
we live in
That the willingness
to say it
frees a willingness
to act
That each great new
adventure
begets a greater
new ending
That in the tears
of a stranger
bleeds the heart
— of a friend

(Key West: January, 1994)

The curse of the writer
woo’s angels and devils
Chasing the daylight
far into the night

Each phrasing an omen
of hope or foreboding
With lines that entangle
— in lost delight

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

There’s a lingering shadow
that follows us all
Counting each breath
each step till we fall

Its pall ever darkens
while just out of reach
Its voice heard to whisper
through mountain and beach

It sees every moment
both joyous and sad
Recording our journey
the good and the bad

And then on that day
when our fate meets the end
Its arms wrap around us
— our very last friend

(The New Room: June, 2025)