Thoughts inflame as feelings stir
Words simmering yet to boil
Unspoken sparks drift through the night
A pyre still to burn

Delphian in its natural form
The smoke a treacherous friend
Ink rekindles and lies cremate
The mind, its woods on fire

As heat restores the human soul
All prodigals return
With hope to melt the frozen dawn,
—and free the poet’s hand

The verses stack and dry of doubt
Their ignition up to you
As dark they wait for your next breath
To light the spoken air

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)

To live as an artist,
   but die as a man

Dust forever chasing
  —what heaven began

(Center City Philadelphia: January, 2015)

Every thought,
  a link in the chain

Every feeling,
  joy battling pain

Every moment,
  a dream set to fly

Every decision,
—to live or to die

(Car From New Hampshire: September, 2016)

The breastfed future
  stripped motherlode

The past untethered
  —back on the road

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

My road deeply potholed
  with those left behind

Resurfaced with pain
  all casualties mine

A road often fatal
  to family and friends

No roses to line it
  as it twisted and bent

When forced to look back,
  I see nothing but blood

From my hands to the cradle
  on those that I’ve loved

If you ask me my reason
  for acting this way

With eyes straight ahead,
  I’d have nothing to say

The road getting shorter
  compressed in the light

Behind me those bodies
  that questioned my flight

The deeper I travel
  newer endings begin

This toll mine to pay
—heading further within

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2017)

I carried you into my heart
But one arm was missing
As single wing and one handed
I pulled you inside
All the while, you pointing at
My lost absent limb
You told me you’d love me
If I could find that one missing part
The part that would then
Make me whole
I looked into tomorrow
And searched through the past
But my arm had reached out
For something beyond my ability to see
I could still feel the numbing sensation
Of pain
Where the arm had previously
Been attached
The vibration of loss
Now prosthetic for all that was missing
You pitied my deformity as I hid
My eyes
As best I could with only one hand
Telling me the fault was mine
For always reaching beyond what I
Could know or see
And with your final stroke of meanness
And my last ounce of blood
You left me further disabled
Climbing back outside a wish I knew
Was never to be mine
When you left you found the old world
Different than the one you thought you knew
A desert of frozen stone with a black sky
Surrounding the stillness of your abandoned love
As you hesitated to turn around and
Reenter my world
The one that just a moment ago you had
Admonished and left for good
A lone arm reached out and closed the door
Behind you
Leaving you alone in a sea of loneliness
And despair,
—to love no more

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)

I lifted you into my heart
But one arm was missing
As single wing and one handed
I carried you inside
All the while, you pointing at
My lost absent limb…
You told me you’d love me
If I could find that one misplaced part
The part that would then
Make me whole
I looked into tomorrow
And searched through the past
But my arm had reached out
For something beyond my ability to see
I could still feel the numbing sensation
Of pain
Where the arm had previously
Been attached
The vibration of loss
Now prosthetic for all that was severed
You pitied my deformity as I hid
My eyes
As best I could with only one hand
Telling me the fault was mine
For always reaching beyond what I
Could know or see…
And with your final stroke of malice
You left me further disabled
Climbing back outside a wish I knew
Was never to be mine…
When you left you found the old world
Different than the one you thought you knew
A desert of frozen stone with a black sky now
Surrounded the stillness of your abandoned love…
As you hesitated to turn around and
Reenter my world
The one that just a moment ago you had
Admonished and left for good
A lone arm reached out and closed the door
Behind you
Leaving you abandoned in a sea of loneliness
And despair
  —to love no more

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)
Dedicated To Lisa Wynn in the next AOP.

Poetry is to be given away
  and never ever sold

A gift beyond what time demands
   —and wrapped in leaves of gold

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2018)

Every man dies,
  but not every man lives

Embracing his passion
  —eternity bids

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)

Bubblewrapped children
  disparate hope

Spirits in limbo
  shortest of ropes

Control and protection
  their meaning belies

Tomorrow ill promised
—eternity cries

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2018)

A pound of silver,
  will never buy
  an ounce of hope

Its invoice blank,
  in memory
  of tomorrows dream

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

Keeping emotion inside
   the words go mute

Casting decision aside
  each choice less acute

New feelings unbirthed
  words fatherless stray

The future untold
  —tomorrow, today

(Villanova, Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

Your voice called out early
  when I needed it most

And you turned me around
  providing great hope

I was lost till you found me
  from the heavens beyond

And the love that you sent
  in my heart would grow strong

I knew it was you
  calling out to me clear

In the depths of my wandering
  your voice was so dear

You opened your heart
  and my spirit was yours

A life we now share
  with each day evermore

As the years have progressed
  our memories have grown

Through marriage and distance
  and grandchildren sewn

You rescued my spirit
  when I needed you most

From my depths of refusal
  you vanquished the ghost

I’ll never be able
  to thank you enough

For the light that you brought me
  your angelic touch

And I still need you now
  more than ever before

To love me and guide me
  to save me once more

From the future you called
  in those darkest of times

My heart yours to reign
—cherished daughter of mine

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May 2, 2018)

I store you inside me
  under a blanket of pearls

They lie strung together
  as my history unfurls

Each one to unstring
  when I need it the most

Your wisdom translucent
  your memory my host

You loved me before
  I ever knew who I was

My freedom you shepherd
  reaching down from above

Though years have grown distant
  they forever remind

Of your goodness and blessings
—Oh Catherine of mine

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

To my Grandchildren, those great and beyond,
  whom I will never meet

Know that I love you and have seen you in the
  eyes of your parents when they were very small
  
I’ve heard your voices in the trees, when the
  wind blows softly calling my name as I walk

I’ve seen your arms reaching out to me in my
  dreams, as you cry “Papa" and then drift away

Your spirit is mine, as my spirit is yours; and no
  lifetime can keep us apart

I watch over you now and will watch over you then,
  whenever the need is great

I’m that voice you hear when no one else listens, and 
  no one else understands

And the heart that feels what you will feel, when no
   one else seems to care

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

You no longer need any help from me,
  your path is free and clear

The mantle handed off, baton passed,
  my position in the rear

You don’t really need to ask my advice,
   but I’m thrilled each time you do

You’ve gone far beyond the trail I marked,
   to me—nothing left to prove

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2018)

The merry-go-round of each day slipped away,
   and memories were all that was left

Until the turning stopped and my spirit released,
  set free, but to never forget

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2018)

Too close to the flame …
—too far from the light

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Too close to the flame…
   too far from the light

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Too close to the flame…
   too far from the light

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Once the wolf is through the door
—it’s too late to turn the lock

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)