Did you try to take it with you,
did you really think you could

Did your journey end abruptly,
as you never thought it would

Are those things that you acquired,
much of comfort to you now

Are those dreams left uninspired,
parked on someone else’s cloud

Did you once just say “I’m sorry,”
for those things you didn’t do

Did you weep in fearful moments,
for those things you wished you knew

Was your lack of all contrition,
what’s now written on your stone

Is your map unmarked and barren
—all eternity unknown

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

In the depths of the forest,
one lone candle burns

A light into forever,
where spirit still yearns

In the trees and the darkness,
its promise burns bright

With eternity waiting
  —just out of sight

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

Wrestling in heaven,
two Archangels beset

An arm bar on hell,
to the devils regret

Scepters now grapple,
as eternity waits

One rule to pin down
  —a reckoning at stake

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

Emoted investment
dividends high
Buying then selling
as spirit contrives

Unlimited resource
consciousness fares
In debits and credits
— whose riches ensnare

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Born fully human,
more fully Divine

Our Savior upon us,
existence sublime

The sum of three persons,
all persons as one

His love in the mystery
sent down from above

A choice beyond question,
its truth beyond fact

All faith in transcendence
—unsetting the trap


(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)

Contagion of anxiety,  
a blanketing wind
Deafening all
with the force of its emptiness
Reclaiming the silence
—in betrayals of fear

(Dreamsleep: July, 2021)

Stimulus check…
blood diamond
from a failed November,
Payment
to a dark tomorrow,
Bribery
—for a future stole

(Dreamsleep November, 2020)

Wise and in love,
be there never the day

Where reason and passion
—together will lay

(The New Room: November, 2021)

A man
can wear two faces
a woman
— often three

(Deamsleep: August, 2024)

Half the time…
  you don’t know where you're going
    —even when you’re there

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

Music can only be heard one way,
words have a different refrain

Melody imprisoned by note and score,
what’s written when read apt to change

The ear a prisoner to the composer’s delight,
to listen—a captive within

But reading the lines that a poet inscribes
ever changing—each time you begin

(Dreamsleep: January, 2021)

What do you use
to measure success

Is it gold
or a memory that shines

Your wealth in a bank note
or choices now free

Every moment
—more precious with time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

Any proof for God is
oxymoronic

God needs no testament,
only man

Not to be indicted,
not to be confirmed

Beyond all dialectic
—God is

(Bethlehem Pennsylvania: February, 2021)

“Draw me not without reason
nor sheath me without honor”

There’s blood in the inkwell
—death on the page

(Dreamsleep: August, 2021)

The wound bleeds free
—that kills the angry heart

(From My Novel: 'Jumping Into The Darkness'- February, 2021)

Death to ethical morality…
—the secularization of the truth

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

Performance art
embracing the artist
The magic of youth
alive on the stage
Time takes direction
from a glorious past
The memories an encore
— forever to stay

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

It doesn’t matter who it’s to,
it matters who it’s from

The sender based in deeper snow,
whose tracks forever come

It doesn’t matter what you say,
it matters what they thought

Intention shouting loud and clear
—once given never bought

(Dreamsleep: November, 2021)

Thoughts once spoken
the bottle open
Genie tenured
—reentry closed

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

Never writing to make the words pretty,
but the thoughts pure

Each breath a moment of time’s demise
—tomorrow gone

(Dreamsleep: April, 2020)

Does verse reveal
the litter

That left strewn,
clogs up your mind

Does poetry
uncover

What the prose tries best
—to hide

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

The entropy of life
— is shame

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

He was vulnerable
only in the present
The past and future self-deposed
their fantasies atoned
Moments claim unto themselves
a singular refluence
Strength unnumbered past the count
—battle lines rezoned

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

No need to be good
when chasing the great
The moral imperative
deludes and conflates

With blinders on horses
we ride through the fray
Our eyes on tomorrow
— in search of today

(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)

The idle rich
— a plague unto themselves

(Revisiting A.H.: June, 2024)

The road to power
is mined with uncertainty
each step a commitment
—to live or to die

(Dreamsleep: March, 2022)

If the soap is running far and wide,
you need to check the box

Those leaks, the promises never kept,
from all that spew you talked

When eyes glaze over—attention lost,
its time to reassess

The truth has no expiration date
—your faults to now confess

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

I love the isolation,
God help me but I do

Being alone inside my words,
neither old nor new

The rumbling of the moment,
the sound of distant drums

My eyes to close upon myself
—time now zero sum

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2019)

This morning,
my body stopped in
to say goodbye

Thanking me  
for the joy

Forgiving me
for the pain

Fading into
memory
—one last time

(Las Vegas Nevada: January, 2020)

A temporary truth
—fleeting denial

(Dreamsleep: June)

Have I let
her down again
Have I failed
once more
Have I jumbled
up the words
Have I graded
poor
Have I taken her
for granted
Have I missed
the mark
Have I disappointed
one
—who pulled me from the dark

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Everyone hates me eventually,
so why don’t you do it now

Saving us time, uncoupling the rhyme
—your anger my presence endows

(Martin’s Dam: January, 2021)

A gift or obligation,
  the Poet signed his name

A promise wrapped in silence,
  decision masked by pain

One choice among the many,
  within salvation lies

The victors lay unspoiled
  —with truth to live or die

(Dreamsleep: June, 2019)

I said it all long ago
once in a poem
Nothing to restate,
no words to explain
The waters have traveled,
my ship has long sailed
Your curious intention
brings only refrain

All thoughts into memory
whose feelings have gone
The property of others
my words now belong
Wishing and hoping
the spirit disowns
All wisdom diverted
—to skip that last stone

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)