The eyes
of an eagle
the heart
of a lion

The soul
of a poet
the wealth
of a scion

The pain
of a martyr
the joy
of a smile

The love
of another
divinity’s
— child  

(Ist Book Of Prayers: September, 2024)

Though happy when wealthy
I’m happy when poor
my happiness fluid
and flows from the core

The riches inside me
their bounty implied
with love as the constant
rejection denied

All queens in their castles
each king on his throne
their gentry in waiting
court jesters bemoan

True joy in the notion
not fashioned by whim
That our souls were imbued
—and sainted within

(The First Book Of Prayers: December, 2021)

Some will tell,
others describe

Feelings of bliss,
hearts that decry

Phrases bring life,
to words once alone

With meanings immortal
—heavens to own

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

The last step to forgiveness
—love

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)
‘From the 1st Book of Prayers’

Counting spaces between the notes,
the music came alive

The melody deepened, the band on fire,
all bees had left the hive

Breathing in one fast refrain,
my lungs too full to stop

An Angel melts his pearl baton,
the Sirens blazing hot

New sounds created, harp destroyed,
the clouds all push apart

As heaven waits for one last riff
—to claim my beating heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

Love,
in the end
—betrays us all

(Dreamsleep: May, 2021)

Swords belong
to those who wield them
Peace a dream
to those still sleeping
Wisdom lost
to visions promise
Blood the signature
—on heaven’s gate

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

With all the talk that so divides
—one bomb unites us all

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021)

One day in January
I borrowed a day
A day from late June
I have to repay

The temperature rising
the sun high above
Birds are returning
as thoughts turn to love

As June then approaches
the bill coming due
With summer winds blowing
and everything new

I reach down in sorrow
obliged as I am
To clear my account
—the snow to begin

(Wayne Pennsylvania: January, 2024)

Blaming the innocent…
a form of insanity

Armed with good intention
—reproaching the night

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)

Some would say,
the danger portends  

Some would say,
it all is pretend

Some would say,
the past wears a shroud

Some would say,
the quiet is loud

Some would say,
all love is for fools

Some would say,
to break every rule

Some would say,
today is unsure

Some would say,
tomorrow the cure

Some would say,
the hammer is cocked

Some would say,
the target is locked

Some would say,
the reasons persist

Some would say,
all logic resists

Some would say,
the lies are astute

Some would say,
more voices to mute

Some would say,
the weight is too much

Some would say,
to look but don’t touch

Some would say,
their talk cheap and vile

Some would say
—death kills with a smile

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2020)

Those lies became our only truth,
while tearing us apart
Each vow an empty promise made
—to drain our bleeding hearts

(Deamsleep: June, 2021)

The present once noted,
is really the past

A thirtieth of a second,
perception if fast

Most people are slower,
the flash that accepts

What our psyche affirms
—now gone and reset

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2019)

Politics governs our
temporal lives

Religion conscripting
eternity’s prize

Together they’ve killed
more than famine and war

A plague that still haunts us
—to shun and deplore

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2020)

The coincidence of
opposites
attracts and repels

Polarity of motion
where  
all paradoxes dwell

Conjoined in their
distinction
negating the either/or

Essential
singularity
— both after and before


(Eastern College: September, 2024)

Beyond the future
you find the past
Hiding in the present
—first and last

(Dreamsleep: December, 2022)

His words in transit,
world travel unleashed,
the world his page to run

Alone in his chair,
both here and then there
—the distance misbecome

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2019)

There’s a power that only certain women have,
a force beyond words to describe

Where your breath is frozen, and your eyes are locked,
with every move freeing her guise

You surrender the only thing certain and sure,
your downfall worth all she unmasks

The future and past in a war they’ll both lose
—as you give what her eyes never ask

(Dreamsleep: April, 2020)

All my friends are
virtual online
Arms-length fraternal,
distance sublime
Safe in my cave,
with cursor in hand
Downloading affection
—beyond all demand

(The New Room: April, 2021)

Choking on her
greatest asset,
America dying
from freedom abused

Twisting in the wind
a talonless eagle,
Her heart ripped open
—her power accused

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

“I will”
“I do”
“Till death do us part”

(Betrothed 3-5-1974 / Wed 9-22-1974 / In God’s Hands)

Born under a bad sign,
verses time recalled
harder luck and trouble,
moments trapped and stalled

Born under a bad sign,
rock of ages sold
answers stay unquestioned,
bells no longer toll

Born under a bad sign,
darkness settles in
rumors take the place of truth,
wages buying sin

Born under a bad sign,
desperate to belong
days belay what lies conscript,
wordless—heartless—gone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2022)

The artist
must ****** the spark
while avoiding the flame

Never surrendering
to the heat
as light’s wonder calls his name

A flashing
of transcendence
escaping the warden of imprisoned time

Where the gold is buried deep
and hidden
—in mysteries still to mine

(State College Pennsylvania: October, 1977)

To hide yourself in public,
and turn your back on fame

Choosing thence to be alone
—the fire without the flame

(Dreamsleep: January, 2020)

Objective, Subjective,
which side of the coin

Will the story end up on,
its truth to purloin

“Dimensional borders”
the physicists scream

As life’s hidden fantasia
—plays out in a dream

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2019)

A poem,
a riddle

An answer
to find

A Sage,
a gamester

All truth
undefined

What’s hidden,
most treasured

Its fortune
to mine

Tomorrow
awaiting

Sequestered
—in rhyme

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2019)
Watching ‘Final Portrait’ A. Giacometti

The deepest truth lay undiscovered
in the buried words
Like unfound gold existing only
on a pirate’s map
True value in the search required
to seek and grasp

Each phrase a burrowing pen
digs into the readers mine
Fortune concealing veins of discovery
covered and unknown
Ink running free as the shaft leads inward
—anticipation karat pure

(Watching “Hemingway #2: April, 2021)

Music has a special taste
feelings lost in sound
Touching heard across the room
vision by the pound

References left unto themselves
choir boys in tune
Trading what they never had
tribute to the loon

One last chance to make the grade
masks come flying off
Darwin leaving Born in chains
climbing through the moss

Menageries have come and gone
kaleidoscopes diffused
Nomenclature chameleons
—confounded and bemused

(The New Room: January, 2023)

Tranquil and quiet...
a walk in the park
Until life’s Trojan Horse
rolls in from the dark

Cancer invading,
you must parry back
Each moment recaptured
—a present still wrapped

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2020)

Most of our lives are spent
icing the cake

Covering the substance
where meaning partakes

To coat and embellish
what we most try to hide

Distracting, misleading
—shrouded inside

(Dreamsleep: July, 2019)

Language builds a place to stand,
inside our own cognition

Each word confirms what thought instills,
in psychic recognition

Are you the true informant,
about what’s inside your head

1st person self awareness frees
—a nature higher bred

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

I refuse to talk with bigots,
does that apply to you

I freely open up my mind,
to greet the world anew

Discriminatory and hateful barbs,
divide and tear apart

What poetry tries its best to mend,
inside an honest heart

Those few most vile hide behind
their fear inspired views

That bring about the worst in us,
to slander and accuse

As days grow short, my time is spent,
beneath a sun that shines

Speaking to the highest traits
—humanity divines

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)