Each day more treasured ...
enhanced by time
and season’s glow
As years grow shorter
feelings lengthen
inside my soul
Regret for others
who sleep away
their lives assumed
As dawn awaits me
to bask in thoughts of love
— and you

(Poems Of Love: October, 2025)

A canon fires
a man is deafened

But in memory
— the music plays

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Escaping the prose …
I hid in the verse
My mind to compose
instead of converse

Defying description
I sang through the notes
And placed my inscriptions
in lyrical rote

I chose to hear music
over reasons again
To dine with the mystics
where forever begins

But when forcing my pen
back to stories untold
The Muse through the darkness
— sets free the kobold

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

She is not
lonely
But makes all
who smile upon her
— lonely indeed

She is not
mournful
But makes all
who implore her
— cry like a child

She is not
boastful
But makes all
who look upon her
— beat on their chests

She is not
faithful
But makes all
who desire her
— pledge from the heart

She is not
vengeful
But to ever
betray her
— the gravest of sins

She is not
quiet
But from the depths
of her emptiness
— silence is born


(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Quirks
of fate
make nonsense
of us all
Shipwrecked
on a vain reality
we stand naked
— before the Queen

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Is the artist in me a liar
or the one who lives proscribed
Are my words and deeds in conflict
which to breathe and which to sigh

Would King Solomon have an answer
to this split I often feel
Would salvation hold my name in check
or today my soul to deal

Do excuses, like intentions
pave the way perdition shown
Do the reasons then abandon
idle hope when left alone

Can the spirit claim what time has lost
in its quest to stay inspired
Can the truth once lit inside my heart
— keep all kindled lies afire

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

Time
in the caldron  
the hour  
unstruck

Hands
reaching skyward
while boiling
amok

The wise men
among you
all wait
to proclaim

What criers
at midnight
hope to
— reclaim

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

One day beyond mourning, a new sun to shine
a promise remade — not a cloud in the sky

One day beyond mourning, your spirit still warm
your flesh now at rest — on the hill past the barn

One day beyond mourning, the bed sheets unfold
your shadow uncovered — a gift mine to hold

One day beyond mourning, the sun in my eyes
new words in my heart — a mockingbird cries

One day beyond mourning, my soul free to roam
your paintings surround me — among them I’m home

One day beyond mourning, I walk to the field
our blanket still hanging — the oak that concealed

One day beyond mourning, I reset my sights
the day I’ll rejoin you — that heavenly flight

One day beyond mourning, all grief broken free
my name on the wind — as you call out to me

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

At the far end of the casket
his girlfriend hugged his wife

And told her she was sorry
that she tried to steal her life

Their tears then ran in unison
for a man who loved them both

The years they shared now testament
to a choice he left unspoke

They never met before this day
and would never meet again

But each knew well the other
and they almost felt like friends

The mistress left, the children wept
the grandkids played outside

His wife’s last words: “Your hell has passed
sleep well my love — goodbye”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

It’s never what
but who

It’s never yes
or no

It’s never then
or when

It’s only here
— and now

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

We loiter in Winter
when it’s already Spring
Still hearing that Starling
with snow on its wings

We blanket our longing
as Tulips unfold
Transfixed by the fire
— of memories old

(The New Room: October, 2025)

Writing
the only suture…
when truth starts to bleed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

A victim
of words
and casualty
of what time
will avow  

Dylan
in white face
the old
and the new
— his music enclouds

(Highway 61: October, 2025)

A victim
of words
and casualty
of what time
will avow  

Dylan
in white face
the old
and the new
— his music enclouds

(Highway 61: October, 2025)

A pregnant Nun
in rural France
long cloistered
and alone

While crowned in light
from high above
she kneels before
the throne

Her vows intact
as rumors grow
she lives beyond
the fray

And hears a Voice
from deep
inside
  “Unto Thy Name They’ll Pray”

(1st Book Of Prayers: October, 2025)

How much prescience
did you leave behind
futures left unfelt

How much transience
were you denied
with aces left undealt
How many doors
stayed closed and shut
no matter how hard you knocked

How many chances
did you waste
— as you slaved before the clock

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Sentiment
is universal
Languages
proclaim

In many tongues
and voices
What lives within
— the same

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Time’s lone existence
made-up in the mind
Eon’s perspective
in moments to find

Minutes and hours
but chalk on the wall
The sun and the moon
— our present’s recalled

(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)

Ownership
will lead astray
the joy
of appreciation

And harbor
that best title free
in lost
depreciation

To claim its structure
not its form
resettled
on your shelf

With grand command
through sleight of hand
to only fool
— yourself

(Walk & Write: October, 2025)

Night a gift
where memories sleep
dreams unwrap
and words release

Blankness woven
connection spun
a poem born
— as darkness runs

(Villanova, Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Only the heartless
are blind to serenity
Lost in the darkness
away from the light

Only tomorrow
releases the past
The sins of the father
— yesterday’s blight

(Ronald McDonald House: October, 2025)

Some never hear
the past whisper goodbye

Till perfidy shouts
— and destiny cries

(The New Room: October, 2025)

“I wrote it ...
I didn’t have to say it
I questioned  
when answers tried to run and hide
I served
what time became and what it didn’t
I died
the way I lived — with no goodbye”


(Buried In Walden: September, 2025)

Not right versus left
(but)
right versus wrong

The truth standing firm
(both)
unlabeled and strong

Preying among us
(the evil)
inure

Till verity triumphs
(with)
— Forces Majeures

(The New Room: September, 2025)

KNOCK – KNOCK
evil resounds
the devil’s doorknob
to Hades impounds

POUND - POUND
the hasp in its dock
whose key to perdition
— in hand to unlock

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Life ...
an unending series
of crossroads

Take
the right turn
— and tomorrow befriends  

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Be a Poet ...
stop trying
to become one
give yourself up
to the sound

Within your lyrics
are so many
pleadings
feelings disjoint
and impound

Open the gate
and let out the dogs
the last fox
almost over
the hill

Scream
if you must
those whispers betrayed
until all that’s been empty
— is filled

(The New Room: September, 2025)

An unmarried girl
in the wilderness
Any hopes of a suitor
are slim
Her virtue unsold
forever braving the cold
She waits for the promise
of him

An unpublished poem
in the syllabus
Any pressure to edit
unmoved
The words as they lay
both hunter and prey
To become what the future
— will choose


(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Dying of boredom unchallenged
— the single worst kind of death

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Taking one step
past forever
To travel the pathway
inured

Escaping those moments
unsettled
At home there to wander
— secured

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

The consequence of discovery
is freedom
The circumstance of freedom
is leisure
The provenance of leisure
is vision
The assonance of vision
— is discovery

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Time
the unrivaled
arbiter
— of right and wrong

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Memory
is
tomorrow’s
filter
Straining our
history
distilling the
past

Each year
a screen
on what
becomes us
On what
eludes us
our fate
— recast

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Are they not
the chosen
who are blessed
unto Heaven’s recall

Are they not
resplendent
who hear past the din
to eternity’s fall

Are they not
emblazoned
with Majesty’s light
from a fire within

Are they not
unwelcome
when days are at end
— and the music begins

(1st Book Of Prayers: September, 2025)

Give me the poverty
that enjoys true wealth
And the joy in believing
— that nothing is free

(Dreamsleep With HDT: September, 2025)

As strength deserts
my body
the weights grow
hard to lift
Each rep I fake
four breaths I take
and atrophy
persists

Those muscles ripped
in times long past
but memory
to me now
An aging racehorse
on the hill
one step
— beyond the plow

(Anytime Fitness: September, 2025)

You can only change
what is
with what isn’t
Where you Christen
this moment
by choice
You can only bless
tomorrow
through memory
Where you choose
to be free
— and rejoice

(1st Book Of Prayers: September, 2025)

For yesterday
today
and tomorrow
There is
but only
one word
YES
to
the future
YES
to the past
YES
to the moment
— unheard

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Ten million people
killed by machete
The Congo a hemorrhage
of human despair

Ten million people
whose carcasses rotting
In jungles of torment
— and life’s disrepair

(The New Room: September, 2025)

The rivers of our persuasion
empty
into an ocean of solitude

Leading the swift current
over the rapid shoals
— to greater and greater depths

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

There was a time
when my vision was raw
but my words
were riper still

There was a time
before there was pain
with the weather
never chill

There was a time
when the wind called my name
zephyrs
fresh and new

There was a time
with my feelings in song
in love with the moment
— and you

(Perelman Center: September, 2025)

Leavened unleavened
risen and stayed
Lost when recovered
joyful dismay

Intrinsic extrinsic
the whole without parts
Tomorrow this moment
stopping to start

Benign and bedeviled
revealed yet unseen
A valid deception
blessed but obscene

The past and the future
hello and goodbye
Affirming rejection
— all truth to belie

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

The raw material
of America
intrinsically ******
Its nature
and character
lost out of hand

Divisive
vindictive
self-interest gone wild
A narcissists
graveyard
— misused to beguile

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Materializing
memory
photos on the wall
Immortalizing
tomorrow
vision to recall
Prescience
in the offing
feelings coming home
Sentience
remaking
— that forever known


(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Truth is an orphan
alone in the wind
License for others
who hide from within

Facing the storm
without fear or excuse
A guardian steps forward  
— with hope to infuse

(To Charlie Kirk: September, 2025)

Treating
the symptoms
ignoring
the cause
The outcome
redundant
all change
stuck on pause

The people
the problem
the root
of the pain
No law
or restriction
can change
DNA

Our values
on fire
from those
who are lost
They hate
with an ignorance
perdition
defrosts

You can’t make
an omelet
with eggs
that won’t fry
And you can’t save
the farm
feral pigs
— in the sty

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

A river of
redemption
waiting beyond
These shallows
of torment
and rocks devil spawned
With rapids
approaching
white water ahead
Their nature
and prophecy
fueling the dread
As speed
is increasing
its roar on the rise
The falls
of the Jordan
— to live or to die

(Snake River ‘Lunch Counter:’ September, 2020)

Short
is most sweet
when the sugar
is pure
Its message
like honey
when added
to lure
The Mime
as your server
with candy
implied
Truth
in the tasting
its richness
— to hide

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Wheelchairs
and walkers
in God’s
waiting room
Praying
abeyant
the end
coming soon

Front to
the back
they line
in the queue
Telling their
stories
from memory’s
askew

They wait
and they wonder
who’s next
to go
As all through
the lounge
great grandkids
in tow

New moments
like hen’s teeth
each minute
a year
As walkers
and wheelchairs
rust out
— in the tears

(Dunwoody Retirement Home: September, 2025)

Reimagine the future
honor the past
Live in the moment
first ever last

Change the perspective
fences destroyed
Polar invectives
cursed to employ

The baby and bathwater
image du jour
Becoming the instant
your lens is secured

Honor the future
reimagine the past
Live beyond either
— your essence recast

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)