The arrow of time,
fired over and over

Piercing our consciousness,
impaling our fear

Our bow staying drawn,
till the quiver is empty

Last feather to soar
—on eternity strung

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

When battling
time
the moment
retreats

Oxygen
fades
with light
dimming fast

Wishes
vacant
breath
dark and shallow

Words
once
treasured
— adrift and begone

(Dreamsleep: June, 2024)

Who can measure the
speed of fear

Who can filter the strain
of lies

Who can weigh a lost ounce
of love

Who can package
—a last goodbye

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

The manhood
of a nation
marching in the breeze
Chasing what
the dead have wrought
taunting its reprieve

Caught within the voices
of forgotten
yesterdays
The winds of war
but nine days off
— as mothers kneel to pray

(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)

Paint in your heart
the colors symphonic
Images dancing
each note brushed with fire
Clapping and cheering
rhythmatic ovations
The prisms last opus
—concerto’s desire

(Septa R5: December, 2023)

Immersed in dark matter,
it fights to survive

A target blood red,
and covered in lies

It cries out for justice,
it cries out in pain

Till an arrow strikes deeply,
truth firmly ingrained

Its point bringing light,
its shaft driving home

A message of hope,
into falsehood atoned

And freed in the moment,
a last orphan screams

Renamed in the vengeance
—rebirthed in this dream

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

Immersed in dark matter,
it fights not to hide

A target blood red,
and covered in lies

It cries out for justice,
it cries out in pain

Until an arrow strikes deeply,
truth firmly ingrained

Its point bringing light,
its shaft driving home

A message of hope,
into falsehood atoned

And deep in your memory,
a last orphan screams

Renamed in the vengeance
—rebirthed in this dream

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

Life’s an anthology…
death written once

The chapter elusive
—last page on the run

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

When should you get ready
to die…

When you’re old,
  and the signs are in letters so big?

When should you get ready
to die…

When you’re young,
with it’s messages trapped in the wind?

When should you get ready
to die…

When it’s winter,
and the cold bellows loudly with fear?

When should you get ready
to die…

When it’s summer,
love teasing, its distraction so near?

When should you get ready
to die…

When your life has been bartered,
the present dismissed?

When should you get ready
to die…

When your soul has been mortgaged
—last payment remiss?

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 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
—that last poison dart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

The envelope
unopened
addressed
to himself
Inside
unspoken
old hopes
and dreams
Lost
and rerouted
the stamp was
foreign
Its port of entry
still
—unforeseen

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Headed toward oblivion
my voice adrift below
Each chapter that I wrote carefree
buried in the flow
  
Standing on a rocky ledge
whose cliff calls out my name
My last and final step awaits
—goodbye my last refrain

(Dreamsleep: July, 2023)

Pounding each key
like a Fender Rhodes
the computer bent and wailed
Bits and bytes
of encrypted language
messages derailed

Memory freezes
last chance rebooted
restart zero-sum
The riff uncapped
its printout fading
—typeface on the run

(The New Room: 8/6/2023)

Poetry fails
when forced to explain

A dead-end street
with little to gain

Stripped of meaning,
one proffer to name

Magic and wonder
dead,
self-proclaimed

(St. David’s Pennsylvania: March, 2021)

Smell
the most
precious
and last sense
to go

Its
lingering
fragrance
vanishing
slow

A
single
carnation
a bright
yellow rose

Through
deafness
and darkness
till death  
—wafting so

(The New Room: December, 2023)

Stalking a dream
trailing a memory
A scent came in focus
  wafting desire

Seized by the moment
alluding a time warp
Tracking its shadow
ambush on fire

Covered in greasepaint
fear is approaching
Hearing its footsteps
the jungle embarked

Crosshair detention
target redemption
Locked and reloaded
—one shot in the dark

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

The fuse was lit
on the ending of my trauma

Awaiting combustion
—joy in the wind

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021)

Traipsing off to the cave
with my feelings and thoughts

A Hermit I’ll be,
my last battle now fought

Alone with my memories,
together indwelt

Eternity reckoned
—transcending myself

(Dreamsleep: October, 2020)

When the final act of courage
is gone
—all you have left is hope

(30th Street Station: May, 2021)

The secret unlocked,
to stay or to leave

Each mystery unsolved
—a memory bereaved

(Dreamsleep: July, 2021)

I never chose to live among you,
and choose to die alone

My thoughts in writing here beside me
—last verse my ticket home

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

Draining all there was to say,
he hemorrhaged one more poem
Last vial of his history,
whose burden now atoned

With final drops to say adieu,
the past and future dead
His last tomorrow here today
—and time no longer bled

(Dreamsleep: April. April 2022)

Is truth that important,
or ignorance bliss

Your place on the Ferris Wheel,
roundly dismissed

What first must go up,
by law to come down

Gravity’s joke,
if not Heaven bound

The yes from the no,
the right from the wrong

The good from the bad,
the weak from the strong

A circular stage
on which we perform

Whose show must go on,
to laud or to scorn

But why do we wonder
and worry about

A dogmatic treatise,
that one we can shout

The flow is unending,
catching all in its path

A current that’s ridden
by yacht and by raft

The proof’s in the pudding,
the cook still unnamed

Whose recipe seasoned,
to praise or to blame

One thing to be certain,
these words are not true

But then they’re not false,
something old—something new

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2020)

A day longer than forever,
a heartbeat past goodbye

A prayer to wake the darkest sleep
—and hope to answer why

(Dreamsleep: February, 2020)

You can only hope
that death provides
what’s sorely lacking
what life denies

You can only hope
that death will bring
the end of Winter
— unending Spring

(The New Room: December, 2024)

Can you pray without a doctrine,
sing above the choir

Can you cast off earthly burdens,
burn without the fire

Can you give, no longer taking,
as you welcome strangers in

Can you love beyond all feeling
—your last words to then forgive

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Writing the final chapter…
the bells in the tower ring for me
Once for each phrase unwritten
twice for each grievance atoned

—as—

“Schoolchildren rise
pulling back the covers on the flowering meadow
Singing my words
blessing the fields as they run

“Memory half gone
released into the cradle of times rebirth
Taking what I gave
and leaving what I could not forgive

“The reasons, the seasons
melding together, flashing lost images
Redeeming their promise
christening new moments forever endowed

“Yesterday and tomorrow
I am free of their deception
My last words to stay hidden
—in the laughter of a child”

(The New Room: June, 2022)

Cleft palate ill-fated
splitting inside us,
a hidden betrayal
—memory’s scar

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021) O