There at the heart of the nation a great edifice
a temple if you will
erected to reflect the very best and greatest hopes of a nation.
While the cities burn
is it swift breaking dawn of a new age for the Republic,
or is it a last whispering death rattle of Democracy that we witness from the steps of these hallowed grounds
I tell myself not to fear
our nation has struggled through many great trials
to have found its way back from many dark days...
yet, still, the cities burn...
yet still, our nation divided...
We can only stand on these steps of Lincoln's epitaph
bear silent witness and hope
hope

she turned to me with an
ocean of sadnesses in her voice
a girls wish for simple truths without the tangle of tears
i tell her i would tear the universe apart
if it would stop a single tear from staining her eyes
the rough touch of her coat worries me but it keeps her warm
and i could hope for little more on the wider world
her spoken thought with such hurried courage
it holds more courage than i
and while she stands looking back at me i know
she turned in her leaving by her unfinished heart and its fears
she turned in her leaving by the things she wished say
asking of me what my mind held for her
i tell her that i am a product of my world
that i would not leave her if she were with child
that i would lean into the living to provide
that i would love her and no other
she cannot answer
and i am left in a falling rain
with just a image of her looking at me
with such meanings
that every moment i see a different world in the eyes
of the one i have loved
every moment see new lifetimes in her sweet eyes
with such meanings abound in the sunlight that
she represents breaking free of the grey of the world
i would give anything to stop a single tear from staining her perfect eyes

shes wearing a jacket two sizes too big
and you can see she has been crying
but she smiles all shy and says shes fine
her voice little rough
but her hand is sure as it takes hold of yours
you know that no matter what
she wont let go

spike like plowshare
sow poisons
in fertile flesh
fast heaven

Her elegant day
welcomes her
subtle and sweet evening
dances in amongst the fallen leaves
barely touching ground
She floats along
a melody only she can feel
Delicate she moves
Delicious her carefree smile
as she lingers the moment
As she lay the foundations of
lace and flowers
on the mantle of the moon
making it forever
romantic in its fiery glow
As she dances softly silently
dances among the fallen leaves

She came thru the rain on a warm june day and took my hand lead me to her world

i want to leave this dark place i want to run time back to thouse days when she showed me all the smiles and love in the world

back to the world
where all of you live

lesser forms of sunshine
each a design dreamt long ago
each a blissful madness of joy
they invade the room through the open window
while the shadow of a man recites "Hamlet"
in a cold gravel voice
a prince born of such a bold pen
such a tale forever told yet again

"Hamlet" reaches the end of his nonsense verse
no tragedy of princes can tell the whole tale
there is always the love so long restrained
that bursts all the inhibitions and makes
the world all about her

a prince born of such a bold pen
such a tale forever told yet again
penned by figures clouded in mysteries created
a name that is known to every house and citadel
speaking to a world he never could imagine
all these centuries later
his words still stir

breathlessly she speaks loves
as her body is engulfed in mine
i can feel her heart in her words
hear her desires in her hot eyes
as she consumes me with her passion
as she drinks deeply of my body and soul
and i lust to reach her moment
where our worlds collide
where she touches and i touch
souls
breathlessly she cries out
breathlessly  she grips my body with hers
and looking deep in my eyes
tells me she loves me forever
and as our souls meet for that ****** kiss
we know our futures past days years
together as one heart
one love
we lay cooling off
the room a dizzy spin
breathing hard
our bodies still connected
suddenly laughter catches
and we don't even know what's funny
whispering even though we are alone
we talk of our lives here in this strange place
of palm trees and lizards
of never-ending summer
winter nothing more than forgotten dream
we talk of marriage
and of children
we talk of one love with the one love in our hearts
time is ours and so is the world
we slip into soft dreams connected to eachother
in every way a man and woman can be
and more

I sweat a puddle 'neath my chair
so hot unbearable
neath my chair
The cat holds up near the AC
wild-eyed and silent
waiting for me to move
because nothing else can in all this fire hot air
is he sweating too
all that fur gotta be pure ******
but he has the soul of a saint
and the heart of a lion
I hear the lesbian next door chanting
something at four-am
but the sound is muffled as it is sweet
I sweat a puddle 'neath my chair
been roasting alive for near ten days straight
and my head is swimming
eyes can't see straight
but the cat
he knows the game
he will wait till I move
cause nothing else can in this fire hot air

there are symphonies in the silence
there are forests of thoughts
to be had in the space between
when she storms out the door
and when the loneliness sneaks in

everybody is broken
some people are just better at hiding it in plain sight

The brine water
Lay heavy on his mind
Leaving him wrapped in
Thick gauze of wounded mind
The brine water
A trap from which no escape
Thick and cloying
A drug-induced waking dream state

The brine water is a trap
That lures the unwary
With golden whispered promise
But once you enter it's cool touch
Entombed in it you will become
Forever enamored by its sparkling lure
The brine water
Lay heavy on his mind

For the wakefulness edge of sleep
Does he dream of his room
Under a northern sky
Brine water invades it's familiarity
Slowly fills with its cold dark water
Obscures what we once smiled
Obscures where we once
Ran free and wild under
The never-ending sunlight

I barely write anymore
my heart cannot take the honesty
that my hands speak with the keyboard
after all who wants to know the truth
when the lie comforts in the darkness

I know that I lie to myself
tell myself it will "be alright"
but after sixty years it wears thin
but I will keep up appearances
keep up "the fight"
that I surrendered to thankfully
how can you fight for something that
you know is not real
No princess is going to rescue me
No bright future lay before me
right round the next bend
just a little further on
keep walking, keep moving forward

I know I lie to myself

My haven
patch of sky so blue
Leaves playing with sunshine
as it falls noiselessly
through the canopy of the tree
Everywhere ghosts of
my growing up long ago
slip words into my thinking
Milk of the mind overflow
the paper cup
drink hearty of the stiff brew
Everywhere sunshine
brings back the day
To all that long past
to all the salt
and sugar of my living
It's all just road
Not a thing to fear

I lay figuratively naked
washed ashore from a dark sea
alone in my room
alone with the thoughts that scare me
I twitch thru the movements of living
fits and starts
trying to not look too hard at what I do
lest I see the fruits of my labors
poisoned tree
poisoned mind

I lay figuratively naked
on the empty bed
starving slowly
crawling like a dog without moving
crying like a ***** as my visage melts away
I try to numb
but I am too alive to feel it
but I am too dead to deny it
sounds rudely awaken me
no rest for the wicked
no rest in a dark sea

I figuratively run fast as I can
not being able to breath
I figuratively speak to you
in rhythm without rhyme
I am figuratively still alive
in this dark sea

I feel it all starting
To slip away now
Just on the edge of perception
Tell tale flickers of movement
Away from the center of my mind
A trick of the light perhaps
Motion more imagined than real
The inevitable...
My age slowly tightens its grip
Steals away what memory
Once served swiftly with clarity
Now stumbles back to me
Hazy and unclear
The inevitable...
The running man
Has slowed to
An inevitable crawl
Soon I will meet whatever destiny
Bears my name
the Inevitable....

I sit bedside
and listen to the stirrings of his mind
snake their way through reason and folly
see the flashes of the rational come and go
watch the man I had come to call brother and friend
as he wanders the borderlands
between the light of awareness
and the dark of the illness that laid him low

He has not died
but lingers in half-life
like a man tied to a heavy stone
trying to drag it back to the light
while darkness creeps behind robbing him of the notion
he is a Sisyphus of the modern-day
treading the same steps over and over
while I sit in vigil bedside
hoping to catch him aware and awake
a chance to fare thee well
rest now brother
brave brave brother

I stand here by your side in dark or light
vigil for the man who is not gone
who wrestles with the darkness
in favor of light

Born to the way of the wind
To spread wings and know
The life of the skies
To hear its wind song
to see the majesty
In the eternal clockwork
Of sun and stars

Ages pass like silent machinery
As the world below
Ebbs and flows
Along with the whims and designs
Of life breathing its births and deaths
Expelling the weary
Whisper in the new bright-eyed youth
that is the way of life
the way of the wind
And the world without care
Breaths on and on

He was born to be
that adventurer
Born to the way of the wind
Intrepid and carefree
He tread the sky like a trailblazer
Painter, Poet, Troubadour and Wiseman
Now we wait with him
To see what path is yet to come
Now we all await carefree
The choosing of our own
Way of the wind

Middle of the night
I flee my home on foot
running desperately away
but I carry my heart with me
and all the unfounded fears contained
with all the heartache shadowing my every move
like an apparition of some macabre scene
in some movie
clings to my fleeing form
terrifying and surreal...

Middle of the night
I flee my warm home
into the cold of night
because I cannot find a silent place
between all these screaming worries haunting me
will I survive the coming day
will I be defeated in fighting for my place in the world
will it all come to naught
all the sweat blood and tears
poured into my daily bread

I have seen bad days
that I never thought I could survive
now I cling to that as the light at the end of the tunnel
a hope that the past is the blueprint of today
I need a silent place between the moments
center myself and regain my strength
I will fight on

He wrestles with the blanket
trying by sheer strength of will
to swim out of the deepening tide waters
that overwhelm him
as unseen hands hold him back

no longer am I a brother
I am a stranger tugging at him
as he tries to flee
some unseen danger that troubles his mind

Difficult to stand and watch
difficult to write

He wrestles with the blanket
and curses his accusers
slanders the mediocracy of such an end
to a life lived unapologetically
I never knew that you were so strong
till that strength was gone
fare the well longliner
a son of the sea
may the waves rock you gentle to sleep
long blissful sleep

It's a silent place
Where men such as this
Come to settle up the debt
To balance the books
All that could have been
All that was
And the difference you made
In the lives around you
People known and unknown
In your time before
The passing room

Can I craft such words
To stir a man to act
Can I make such an argument
That would sway a man

Such men who can
Bend and twist do exist
I have seen as much

Do I have the true words
That would undo that bending
Could I be that pen that
Breaks the hold of evil men
On my fellow man

I only wish for the words
But they do not find their way to my pen
I can only protest
I can only give everything
To save my nation
To save my people

Iv been walking for hours
I'm wiped out
Been one of those days
No place to stop
Get a little shade
Regain my strength  
I may stumble
But I will not fall
I may wander the road a bit
hobble through the ditch
But I will not fail
Hours yet to walk
but I will press forward

Winter grips the
Harvest tree
Stripped of proof of life
the once-vibrant colors
lay decaying in the dirt
Turned brown like the
Fallow field
The riches that grew there
Hauled away
It feels as if all life
in this place has been
Spirited away
leaving the shed skin
proof of life's abundant harvest
Scattered about like
like a trail of tears
Proof of life escapes me
As my once vibrant colors
Lay decaying on the poem's page
The harvest tree to be
My forever home

The steering current turns north
Bringing wild winds stirring
As the massive storm stalks us
From far past horizon
I keep watch to the gathering rains fall
As my silent brother sleeps
Would try to pry him awake
But we no longer speak the same language
My mutterings no longer register

Hours become days
As the storm unwinds
Sometimes the sun breaks the rain
And my lost brother can speak
Do you remember this...
Remember that...
What's to discuss when you are not home
What's to endorse our liberty's
When you're tied to a bed

A storm stalks far over the naked horizon
The promise of her ferocity tasted in the
Stirring wind
Rain and a wicked flood
That will shred hearth and home
But my sleeping brother lay safe
In the confines of his mind
Sleep bother sleep on and on
Rest easy longliner
The sea awaits

Grey clouds cover the sky
Bearing hints and rumor
But offer no evidence of
Treachery or tragedy
Impaled by the stark contrast
Between the fearful cries of crows
And the better dispositions and grace
Of my own "oh-so-human after all" heart
I turn the engine on
Fight the tide
And decide to push further
Into this abysmal day
And the sunshine in my heart
Hope can sustain a man
When all reason and wit abandon

I offer no offense
But my solitary wandering
Yet they are offended

Nothing but my handcrafted
Stone dragging behind
Like a ***** with his fragments of beauty
And thus my offense fills
The air they breath
So cannot help but be offended
By mere existence alone

The stone lost roadside long ago
But in my heart
I still feel the full bitter weight
Round my weary, weary heart

And so they remain offended
By my solitary wandering
Like a ***** with his fragments
Of decayed beauties
Still wishing a rose could be...

But it is an offense

She is professional class
Golf shirt and aviators
Brand name pro running shoes
Deep tan and college girl smile
The volleyball court is her kingdom
She's in the zone
On the hot Florida sand
Points made
And pounds per square
But all that matters is keeping
The edge and pushing past
Performance and skill
Like a well-oiled machine
She shouts the call
And smooth response on her feet
As she slams into the sand
Saving the ball and the game
Just a woman in the crowd now
Packing her gym bag
Wiping away the game sweat
Aches return here and there
But her performance
Shines in her eyes

Slow crawl across
The new river
Currents pull me askew
Day unfortunate plays the devil
With my feet of clay
Stumble and recover
Is the method of my escape

Spare a dime brother
Won't you give to the crippled and poor
The Spend Thrift Scottish Way
Give a hand but never the word for the wise
Give leverage off your sickbed but never really leave it

The drunkard and the feeble share their thought
Boycott the Spend Thrift Scottish Way
Throw glass and nails on the path
We will sink them in our turn
Sly smile between brothers of the road
They have got you down
But they can't defeat you at your own game

It's a slow crawl across the New River
To see the King Of Clubs
But I have all day and nowhere else to go
Spare me a dime brother
Spare me the Spend Thrift Scottish Way

Mornings window
Creased with the night's vestiges
Peer over glasses
At the gathering sunlight
As the day builds
Cars tumble by rough road
Occupants have all eyes but blurred faces
Pierce the shadow of my hunched form
My fingers fly the keyboard
Steady flow of human words
Fall without grace but speed
A homage to the missing man
Where am I in this place
Where was I on this date
Shutter mornings window
Too old to care

Argue the finer points
With a crow in the tree
Till you realize he kept you company
So pull the traction holding you and fly
Down the empty street full of thunder and noise you hide your head in
The thrill of your silent engine
As it carves a hole in your path
Sixty years two wheels meets pavement
And the game is afoot once again
The breeze in my hair
The sun on my face
My days are full of
Empty parking lot maneuvers
Full of life still clinging to
My old old bones
Charge the barricades
Rip away the rainwater deluge
And chase the streets
Deep into night
Full of silent sound and fury

Train station three am
The morning runners slowly file by
Catch a hot one headed to
To labor in the canyons of industry
Between concrete and
Virtual world electronic

Train station three thirty-five am
The grass is wet
With intermittent rain
Quiet descends between trains
One by they gather at the edge
Of the track glancing for
Distant train lights approaching
Ebb and flow humanity
Among the decorative station
A silent statue gazes north

Train station four am
The man with the cart slowly
Rolls to parking lot edge
Selling hot coffee and confections
A man with sleep still clinging
To his disheveled form
The late runners catch the doors
As they shut

Train station microcosm
Of a world in motion

Bagpipes cry out
the sun sinks into glorious color
dance the tune lively
listen to the age-old song weave in the air
Scotland my heart
treasure of Clan, Hearth and Home
treasure of a people standing tall
for all the thousands of years
Pay heed to your heart Scotsman
as the Bagpipes cry out in the Dusk
yours is a heritage that stands tall through centuries
proud my heart in Scotland
dance the lively tune
listen to the age-old song weave in the air
Scotland is my heart and soul

A fire starting...
As he pushes past endurance
A well-educated man
A man of diploma and instrument
A tool and master of legal action
A weight in the balance measured
It's his Sunday midweek
And he runs in a carefully measured stride
Pushing past is the aim
Pushing past his set pace
The case that troubles him
Runs in the background of thought
A fire starting in this
foot soldier of the Constitution
He sees the predators eating away
At the Republic's foundations
Not while I draw breath
And as this emboldened emotion passes
He finds he has no limit
To push past
Endurance is the meaning of Democracy
It was built to last
And this foot soldier of the Constitution
Will see it done