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)

To let other Poets into your kitchen
  —a true recipe for disaster

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)

Asking life to meet half way,
  you always lag behind

The focus on the things you lack,
  not the gold you mine

All compromise and copping out,
  your table left half bare

The brass ring distant and remote,
—your reach too short to dare

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

Becoming irrelevant
  at last to yourself

The choices have narrowed
   the joy seldom felt

The present redundant
  what’s left in the end

The fodder of memory
  —and you to pretend

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2015)

A muzzle
  on a werewolf

Will never tame
  its bite

Whose jaws retract,
  with fangs intact

Enraged
—to prowl the night

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

My pen constrained and kidnapped
   as ink bleeds evermore

Voices cry: “Something More Be Done”
  —fury to rage and roar

(Villanova Pennsylvania: Dreamsleep-February, 2016)

My pen restrained and kidnapped,
   but ink bleeds evermore

Voices cry: “Something More Be Done”
   —fury to rage and roar

(Villanova Pennsylvania: Dreamsleep-February, 2016)