The breastfed future
  stripped motherlode

The past untethered
  —back on the road

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Am I so entitled,
  is it there in my name

Is the water redemptive,
  my salvation proclaimed

Does the Rock Of All Ages
  line my river with stone

Are the words mine by birthright,
  not borrowed or loaned

Is all time but a servant,
  flowing inward to send

A beginning eternal,
  whilst slaying the end

Is my legacy written
  in the current redeemed

As the present rechristens
  —my baptismal name freed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2019)

The felony of language
  —its larceny of time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)

As a Poet,
  I don’t have to prove what I mean

Or reveal the pigmentation
  of colors that gleam

Or the height of an Angel,
  compared to a Man

Or whether the Devil,
  cannot or then can

As a Poet,
  I don’t even have to explain

The temperature of a sunrise,
  or a sorrow unplained

Or the width of my paper,
  the length of my pen

The fact that I’m sitting here,
  tautologies end

And thus as a Poet,
  I’m free to espouse

The beauty around me,
  without saying how

The magic that marvels,
  never revealing its trick

The hat with the rabbit,
  the joy in the mix

All Poetry a lens,
  through which others can view

Life’s focus e’er changing
  —each moment anew

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)

Deifying themselves,
  the scientists disprove
  with their tools
  the existence of God

To sit on a throne
  artificially made
  the Creator to them
  falsely shod

They loudly decry
  as their courtiers boast
  about how powerful
  their laws have become

While built into their structure
  a flaw starts to crack
  their self-glory
  —a darkening sun

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)

Is God to interpret,
  and religion the why

Is forever too heavy
  to pledge bye and bye

Does the Devil provide balance
  to a concept in stone

Is he laughing inside us,
  mocking all that we know

Is the Lord left to children
   and those purest of heart

Is all truth chained to symbols,
  has its lock come apart

Are the years there to change us,
  is each day meant to count

Are the scriptures worth hearing,
  if belief has to shout

To those fanatics among us,
   yes, you know who you are

A power looms distant,
  beyond testament’s scar

Its claim staked by no one,
  its icon’s unseen

And its reckoning comes
  —when you wake from this dream

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

My tongue inspired,
   words despised

The page on fire,
—ashes cry

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Do you seek protection
  from being alive

A turtle in its shell,
  a bee in its hive

Do you lust for new armor
  to cover your heart

To shield truth inflicted,
—life’s last poison dart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Its chain cut again…
   the demon is loose

Deep into the night,
  she hunts darker truths

The hallway’s back stairs,
  her favorite retreat

Pending daylight’s return,
  when her bite becomes weak

Then she staggers back wounded
  to shadows that call

Old blood trails lead silent  
  down that dark lonely hall

Where a door is rechained,
  and its lock fastened tight

Until a hacksaw appears
    —with the next moonless night

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

When your mind
   is free

How can you trap it
   with alternatives

(Strafford Pennsylvania: September, 1976)

Oh, to have one thing to start the day,
  a smile to greet the sun

Oh, to have toys as a child at play,
  a field to chase and run

Oh, to have someone to love me true,
  my faults on full display

Oh, to bow righteous before the Lord,
—with one verse left to pray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

Old by the numbers
  refusing to give in
  dying younger than the years prescribed

All feigned adulthood
  to others entrusted
  refusing life’s final goodbye

The music now was the music then
  with one great love to see
  me through

My body to the soil
  my mind in defiance
   —my soul in death renewed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2018)

All worth free of sanction
  its value beyond time

Our oath most revealing
   a memory divine

The Bard more prophetic…
  “To Thine Own Self Be True”

One meaning transcendent
   —that gift unto you

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

Starting out with belief
  all that’s left is regret

Starting out with hope
  every wish then denied

Starting out with love
  at the end only pain

Starting out with a welcome
   —one last final goodbye

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)

If I a man of simple mind
  and simple faith

Could hold your love within my heart
  for just an hour

On bended knees my arms would raise
  toward heaven’s gate

Like petals reaching out
  from a morning flower

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
             ‘To Kathryn’

Dangerous hunt,
  critical thoughts

Words set the trap,
—truth to be caught

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

To be judged by fools
—where Devils go to burn

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)

I think like a Buddhist,
  but pray like a nun

I see like the mountain,
  but reach like the sun

I stand like Gibraltar,
  but rage like the sea

And love like a child,
  reborn unto thee

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

Living as if already dead,
—his words new

That morning he first understood,
  the verse flew

The closer he got to the edge,
  the deeper his voice

That day he fell over himself,
—the ultimate choice

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)