Escaping into verse,
  the base of the castle rumbled,
  the ground beneath was shaken
  with new cracks inside its walls

Escaping into verse,
  all towering deception crumbled,
  as the self-anointed jumped and fell
  landing prostrate and so small

Escaping into verse,
  the mime shouted out enabled,
  his silent thunder raining down
  with a message now to scald

Escaping into verse,
  a new steeple built and gabled
  its bell to ring a lyric toll  
    —new life to those recalled

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

I wish for tomorrow,
  as today slips away

Each moment more precious,
  the end drawing near

I pray for myself,
  in spite of myself

Hoping God is still listening
—my soul a deaf ear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

Refortifying myself…
I expected less and less
From you
My inner world unfolding
All window dressing cast aside
My spirit entrusted to
Those moments still to come
The truth now able to settle
And learn
My secret voice conscious of
What my curiosity and reflection
   —have yet to see

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

Stopping just short of judgment,
  his mind took a leap

Whose soul rose as substance,
  now ready to speak

Words before never uttered,
  or spoken in vain

This acknowledgement followed,
  crying out in refrain…

“The joy in the brotherhood
   all torment by choice

“To share in celebration,
   we alone can’t rejoice

“The critic inside us,
   the judger of sins

“Is best left in silence,
   till it targets within”

As time will remind us,
  and these words will recall

All biting reprisal
  —the coward’s downfall

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Laid with words
   the writers stone
A fortress was columned
  my only real home

The poetry safe
  as it stammered and tried
As my feelings unbridled
  from the outsiders lies

Each year added substance
  to this home of the verse
My thoughts never silenced
  or my feelings there terse

All that’s needed to go there
  blind captured belief
All that’s needed to know
  is that time is the thief

My vision unshaken
  from this chair with two wheels
The advice from the experts
  to wither and yield

But my place more than sacred
  an invincible throne
Independent of body
  times seed now unsown

And the moment before
  I take my last breath
I will enter forever
  where before I had left

The trumpets will sound
  as immortality calls
To that space then my refuge
  the sum of it all

As the memories chase reason
  the facts storm again
But the tents of my solitude
  keep out their wind

For generations that follow
  and their children that ask
This place I now dwell in
  is for all hard and fast

Just believe in its message
  and its fortune to change
Just believe in transcendence
  with all things the same

Until the day that that final
  trumpet may blow
And everything seen
  is all there’s to know

Your message then solid
  as the door opens wide
And those things that are yours
  to the heavens arrive

And the joy that you feel
  thinking back on it all
From that place deep inside
—where first destiny called

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Micromanaged children
  in a micromanaged world

The I’s all dotted, T’s all crossed
  lost within the swirl

Each cup seemed overflowing
  empty spaces void and null

All time and place for life’s surprise
  —now victim to its toll

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)

Our heads so deeply in the sand,
  we thought it wouldn’t come

And would never heed its warnings,
  our denial zero-sum

The result of our inaction,
   this swamp we dwell within

The wolf now shed of Grandma’s robe,
—Armageddon to begin

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

The weight dragged on,
  too heavy to carry

The weight dragged on,
  memories lost inside

The weight dragged on,
  questions without answers

Reasons in tatters
—the weight dragged on

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2013)

The Poet dilettante, pretty words,
—not much else

Your world falls apart, head buried,
  darkness felt

Shangi-la’s luxury, your dreams
  can’t afford

Rome’s pillars under siege, strong words
   must accord

Through hundreds of millenia what has been
  learned

“Freedom is won by blood when all cowardice
  spurned”

Unwilling to fight the enemies fire
  with fire

Your good intentions to burn,
  —your ashes bemired

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

The Doggie was white,
  and the Kitty was black,
  as they crouched at opposite ends of the floor

Their eyes never met,
  because the rules were set
  that the dog would chase the cat as before

At night came the darkness,
  and the Kitty stood up
  and headed right straight to the door

But the Doggie just lay there with his head
  on his paws, and thought….
    —today is quite different for sure

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
‘For Kiley, Hunter, Braden & Parker’
            My Grandchildren

It’s not about technique
  or style or genre

But something more…like a reflection
  or memory once known

Its light coming through
  a universe dark…undiscovered

Its message more a feeling than any genius
    —or logic grown

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 27th 2016)
  Watching Elton John’s Free Concert

There once was a time when women could cook,
  and men knew how to dance

Education was by the book
  no fuzzy math or creative finance

Parents visited their own parent’s homes,
  as the grandchildren came along

And life was so much better then
  new words to every song

There once was a time when women could cook,
  and men knew how to dance

Hearts were pure as dogs roamed free
  neighbors talked across the fence

Everyone shared those values true
  family mattering most of all

Because in the end, a community of friends
—let you rise and then stand tall

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Good feelings or bad...
  results the same
When a nerve is struck
  to start the game

The words can soften
  or strike with fear
Once through the surface
—the truth is near

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

I always felt
  when it was time to die

The Muse would know
  before you or I

The hours borrowed,
  the moments loaned

Return to feelings
  and verse unflown

With eyes never clearer,
  or heart so bold

I make my exit
  —with words untold

(Schuylkill Expressway: February, 2016)

A four year medallion
A lifetime of pain
The hours put in
Always fighting the strain

One hundredth of a second
Your dream crashes down
The spoils eluded
Someone else with the crown

No pictures or news clips
Today come your way
The prize to another
The trophy at bay

With pity now over
It’s time to begin
The reward in the training
New words to your hymn

So head back to the track
Or your pool or the court
The bar a bit higher
Your coach to retort:

“It’s all up to you
As you reweigh the cost
Never quitting—the magic
Until then nothing lost”

(Watching The Winter Olympics: February, 2014)

Standing for nothing….
  falling for everything

Time becomes your master
  each moment—zero sum

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2018)

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
The choice was like water,
  the choosing like stone

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
Magic reappeared,
  as truth became known

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
Age redeemed ageless,
  all years are reclaimed

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
The wind changed its course,
  the storm to rename

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
The entrance transformed,
  map burning unread  

Dying in the moment,
  reborn to eternity
Intention points inward
—new pathway ahead

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

Tearing through the sky
  of my intention

Flying toward the birth
  of my choice

Begging the gods for one chance
  to proclaim

Chasing the tail end
  of my voice

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

If you never loved me,
would life be easier
would life be better

If you never loved me,
would you have emptiness
instead of joy and pain

If you never loved me,
would moments vanish
as wishes drag through the years

If you never loved me,
would your heart be orphaned
  —by a choice never made

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2014)

The only winner in a war of attrition,
—is loss

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

My DNA lettered
My bloodstream in verse
My feelings in couplets
My last goes to first

My thinking in prose
My expression in rhyme
My horizons unwritten
My soul there to shine

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

In reference to nothing
Alone with itself
The truth burns in fury
Damnation to melt
Its legions are many
Believers so few
The stragglers all freezing
And lined in the queue
The mirror the liar
Death hiding within
The priest the deceiver
Who threatens with sin
But truth holds dominion
Setting fire to the throne
Rising above and beyond
What's self-righteously known
It calls to you silent
As it calls to you loud
Do you hide in the shadows
Or answer back proud
That thing that you reference
From your prison within
Those things done in deference
Now caught in the wind
You lie as you bargain
You cheat and defame
One voice now your jailer
And calling your name
Your back to the altar
You hide in the pew
Before robbing the poor box
A new low for you
Your history tarnished
And legacy shot
Your name ill-begotten
From all you are not
But truth has no time stamp
No ticket to claim
One choice will release it
Life starting again
Your mortal days finite
You have to act fast
Will you ask for redemption
—your soul to repast

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

Fortune Untold

Beyond the critics reach
  beyond the assassin’s grasp

A rainbow exists—with fortune untold
  refracting present, future, and past

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)


              Time Dissolved

Wringing the joy out of every moment
  catching those drops that fall

Time becomes septic draining into itself
  —the past and future dissolved

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2104)