Laughter is my offspring.

Never trade a rich life
of gone-too-soon summers,
for immortality in a lifeless winter.

Let this life be mine to divine,
when the legacy is gone,
and I'm wandering in the black beyond,
Don't overthink or ponder on,
Just listen.


For those distant giggles I left behind,
an echoing gift for all mankind.

Ripe fruit on the branch,
so rich and sweet,
bursts juice that trickles down.

Into the roots so thick and deep.
all good things,
return to the ground.

No Titans left to slay,
Constellations left to claim.

The temples of gods,
swallowed under eons.

In an age without wonder,
to be born with the heart of a hero,
is to be cursed in a time without villains,

Destined for barbaric purpose,
in a world without adventure.
Armor swapped for silk,
Surrendered swords to philosophy,


Still I believe that somewhere,
between closed eyes and open spirits...
The ancient battles still rage on,
flashes of wars without names.

Where blood shed for valor,
Paves paths for all nations,
to the hall of heroes,
and an eternal feast of celebration.

Birds only fly
Because their bones are hollow.


Empty yourself,
Wings widening,
Weakly at first,
Soon little one,
You too can soar.


Lose the ground,
Gain the skies.

Make them see,
it was their responsibility.

You never asked to be.
Infant and a burden,
Insults and a murmur.

Never quite saying
What they were thinking,
If only you hadn't.
But there you coo,
with a crooked grin.

Boy,
If you must apologize,
Do it to yourself.

You never asked for anything
and you were offered even less.

Darling is a word,
smithed for prettier ears.
Eventually, rejection becomes
the familiar hum.

Hope was the thing to be feared.
Possibility  made my breathing shallow.

Turning my back to the moon,
I trained my eyes to ignore
the silver shadows on the black horizon,

Gravity wasn't just keeping me grounded,
it was keeping me safe,
from floating off into unknown space.

"We can't protect you, where we have not been", my Past selves whispered.

At least I think that is what they whispered.
I was preoccupied,
While they whimpered,
I was letting go.

We are each of us,
a slip away from cracks
with no one but dark shadows
Gazing o'er our backs,

We're wading in the water
for the worthy ones to save,
as another helpless stranger,
twists underneath the wave.

You cannot tame the ocean,
Or soothe her trembling tide,
But you can make strong your vessel,
And pull the struggling ones inside.

No higher cause,
than to die for love.
I reach to hold,
anyone above
Myself.

My heart a pulsing star,
like solar flares,
Lovers Beware.

When we pass,
reduced to soil,
our shadows detach,
from mortal coil,

They find new masters,
who draw fresh breath
not long after,
We, old ones, enter death.

Long after we have gone,
Our shadows cast further on,
They too learned our lessons
and pass them quietly along.

Every joke and temper flair,
Came from the man who was always there.
Forever by his family’s side,
He holds the children as his pride.

Never letting injustice stand,
Papa carved the line in sand.
Setting free that which is true,
He gave us all great lessons too:
"Always think before you speak,
be Serpent-wise, and Dove-like meek.”

Nothing was ever lost on you,
No stray marlin or shade of blue.
It was all the Author’s intention,
written from a higher dimension.

Papa, you’ll never know how much you’ve done,
You’ve treated the strays just like your sons.
Particles, waves and Lapiz lazuli,
These are the gifts you’ve passed on to me.

Now I close this series of cobbled rhymes,
Hoping to see you in "a Thousand times…"

They won't remember
All you were afraid of,
Only your great deeds,
and the goodness they were made of.

Let time slay all your dragons,
No curse cast will last an eon.

Death can strike you only once,
Legacy can illuminate forever.

I bent the rules
Whatever she asked for.
Three wishes,
Turned into four.
I rearranged the cosmos,
to shimmer in her eyes.


Eventually, she sent me free
& Found another friend like me.

So I wandered past a thousand dunes,
to find some new magic of my own.

Out of fear of eternity alone,
I wished myself back in the lamp.

Time is my treasure,
Thus I count the abundant seconds.

How can I measure
the value of a minute,
by what's contained within it?

Every day you've spent
on something unpleasant,
Who can refund you the moment?

It's only once upon a time,
We can't do it twice,
so THIS minute,
Is Mine.

They'll steal your treasure,
Expose your fault.
So fasten your heart,
in Courage's vault.

You don't need permission,
You're a completed creation.

Show them your weakness,
They will make you less,
Drag you screaming,
into their abyss.

Never before,
just once after that,
I caught her smirking.

You don't owe me anything,
You'd do the same for me.
And if I never get it back,
It wasn't mine to keep.

I spent my whole life trying to escape these old tracks.
Pining for a valley,
Lined with trees,
Cozy little chateaus,
Topped with tilted puffing chimneys.
The bed I dreamed of,
holds my rigid body.
I can't sleep.
I traded "from",
for "going".
Every night,
I still miss the trains.

The only thing they found under the bed,
were unmatched socks and worn out comics.
The real terrors that waited for me,
Hid inside my mind,
Somewhere between regret and worry.

Desperate to drift to sleep
I'd meet the monster inside.
He wouldn't try to attack,
He'd grin and I'd grin back,
We were the same after all.

Our own silent meadow,
The kind we always knew we'd find.
Swaddled in silence,
We lie upside-down on a quilt of petals.
You are safe with me;
I am myself with you.
Like Dawn and Dusk,
All at once,
I am calm and in awe,
All at once.

Rise up little fire.
Can’t you feel the great heat within you.
You’ll never be missed in death if you never start to live.
The sparks scare me too.
We can’t control where we grow.

It wasn’t an accident.
It was out of necessity.
The universe needed our presence.
It has a service,
just one thing it needs from us.

In return, we live.

That in fact, is the requirement to live.
Loud. And with great force.
Crackle.
So that even the coldest phantoms can feel it.
Don’t be afraid to melt them.

It will hurt. But what other choice do you have?
Sizzle. Putter. *****.
Never.
Build. Burn. Blaze.

Son.
I came back for you.
I wasn’t done teaching.
I never started.
Now.
I need you to let me listen.
Let me watch.
Let me find the answers with you,
Not for you.
It isn’t my job to plan your life.
But to give mine for yours.
It isn’t right to tell you how and where,
But only dig up the why nots.
You can be the greatest,
Go the furthest,
Shake the stale dead dust off this old sphere.
Shatter to the core,
Even the Earth has a heart.
Will you heed it’s beating?

Noise is not the presence of sound,
but the presence of sound without meaning.
I hate repeating myself,
repeating myself,
myself.
LISTEN!
Not all words deserve the same amount of volume.
If only harsh and hate had a mute button.
-But then...it may silence my own thoughts.

For a moment it would be...





*...quiet.

Beauty isn't something I see anymore.
It's something I feel.
And when I feel it
it throws off my internal rhythm.
I am out of sorts. I am out of breath.

This input of beauty goes against everything I am told to value.

Beauty is not something I own; it's a meandering caterpillar with a blotched marking on it's behind. It's a slow rolling tear on an elder's cheek. It's a fuzzy memory with murky details.

Unlike a sweater I always have in the closet, Beauty is always in season. I must choose to wrap myself inside of it.