The whole wide world would end
If the sun ceased to shine.
But my world would go on
For as long as you’re mine.

The Earth would be destroyed
If the planets collide.
But I’ll live forever
If you’re still by my side.

If every cloud opened
And all the living drowned,
I know that I’d survive
If I have you around.

Though I have no power
To survive mortal strife
It’s just a simple fact
That our love survives life.

I was not alive until my first breath,
Inhaling the spirit of the divine.
And yet I was alive without living
Till you kissed me and your breath became mine.

Each breath I took filled my lungs with stale air
But my heart remained dark as an eclipse.
Now the quickened breath that lights up my heart
Is the moment I seal my mouth to your lips.

My mouth only used for meaningless speech,
With a tongue that had no reason to be.
But you kissed me and its purpose was clear,
My tongue dances with yours delicately.

Breathing was just my excuse to survive
But I breathed in life that was less than whole.
Now I survive on the breath of your kiss
Kiss me again and breathe life to my soul!

Been sure of my love since we begun it,
But I’m not perfect—in fact far from it.
I know how much patience loving me takes,
So forgive me for these coming mistakes:

My restless sleep that disturbs you at night.
When I hurt your back from hugging too tight.
For being distant when I’m deep in thought.
For each time it was my fault when we fought.
For not telling you which dress you should wear,
‘Cause if I’m with you I really don’t care.
I annoy you with an unfunny text.
You tell me and I still forget what’s next.
I get impatient while standing in line.
You doubt me when I say everything’s fine.
I let my ego get out of control.
My apologies dig a deeper hole.
I cry like a baby just from your touch.
I try too hard ‘cause I love you too much.

While I try to be better than ever,
I’ll still need your forgiveness forever.

Eons of water dripping on a stone
Altered and absorbed into creation--
But I need suddenness of something known
From Epiphany and Revelation.

Realization's not slow and steady,
Rather spontaneous elevation.
My need to learn demands I stay ready
For Epiphany and Revelation.

Show me no small lessons that life presents,
But insight with dramatic sensation!
Life unfolds in a series of events
Of Epiphany and Revelation.

Even silence is thunderous rapture
Triggering profound imagination.
Knowledge springs from the wisdom I capture
With Epiphany and Revelation.

Who I am today is a product of
Awe in my moments of education.
It's these times in life that I've learned to love--
My Epiphany and Revelation.

She's already saved me from myself
By being my alternate path
Away from destroying the self
Towards forgiveness of my self-wrath.

She's the voice I always ignored
It was a voice no one would speak
Sought to put my neck to the sword
She was strength the times I was weak.

How often will she pull me back?
I keep leading her to the brink.
My fears have me under attack
But she doesn't care what I think.

My poor judgment speaks its dissent
"I'm not worth the man you expect!"
With patience she sees my intent
And I change to earn her respect.

Such love feels so undeserving
From depth where my broken heart bleeds,
Her depth of love is unnerving
But I'll be the man that she needs.

Beauty from the first glance,
Never more blessed by chance,
Beauty from the first sight,
Fades to black by the night.

Beauty lands on the eye,
Keep watch as time goes by,
It’s gone as sunlight fades,
Banality cascades.

Beauty which beauty lasts,
Timeless aura it casts,
‘Tis my surprise sublime,
Beautiful every time.

They were only words but they had meaning.
He met with them as an empty vessel.
Inside him, though, a way he’d been leaning,
Thoughts which he did not know how to wrestle.

They were only words but his bell was rung—
Sudden elusive feel of vibration!
Sounding a note like a string had been strung,
An echo resonant with elation!

They were only words but they made him sing,
Of pleasures hidden away for too long.
How much inspiration these words could bring!
He’d never heard his own heart write its song!

He’d been so dull with words, but below it—
The sensitivity of a poet!

I thought that I had will until she smiled.
I always learned to act after I think.
But she empowered what I so reviled,
She’s my enchantment; she’s my weakest link.

I thought my nimble mind made me immune.
I planned to love along the way I think.
Rapacious needs of her my siren tune,
She’s my enchantment; she’s my weakest link.

My character would bear the love I bore.
I’d heed the warnings that my mind would think.
The hope to earn her love I couldn’t ignore.
She’s my enchantment; she’s my weakest link.

I’ll not again be as strong as I think.
Her undelivered love my weakest link.

Resentment and anger, hurt and despair,
Loss of a hope that is no longer there,
Suddenly recognize you’ve grown apart,
Some of the feelings that will freeze a heart.

When pain is worse than not feeling at all,
Love at your door but you won’t heed its call,
Deny your feelings—you won’t be controlled,
You give it all up and make your heart cold.

You harden your heart to keep the pain out,
Emotions are things you’ll just do without,
You’re frozen and it seems small sacrifice,
You think you’re safer if you turn to ice.

You need to embrace the pain in your way,
Process those feelings and cry them away,
Trying to be icy cold is faulty,
Melting your pain is why tears are salty.

You are the stormy seas
     Waves emanate from below the surface
          Erupting with frothy ferocity
     To capsize vessels
Captained by those who won’t commit
     To anything but leisure.
But those seas are mine
     To navigate through torrent and storm
          Firm against the waves
     I will not abandon ship
But will hold tightly
     Till the calm waters.

He gave
Almost everything,
Knowing she would take it.
And he let her
Because she needed it,
More even than she wanted it.
He gave
Almost everything,
But he kept enough
To still give compassion
When she left
Needing more
Than he could give.

The stirring of violent eddies
Collide with and wear down my skin.
You’d perish in those emotions—
You’re safe if I don’t let you in.

The violence that leaves nothing safe,
Outer calm gives the world shelter.
I live torrents of ecstasy—
Much more intense since I felt her.

Storm’s pressure too fierce to control,
Explosion is not if but when.
Violent joy too much to bear—
Now the poet must grab his pen.

When every window is a mirror,
When you cannot see real life as it is,
When you think the world shows yourself clearer,
Then that reflection of you is amiss.

When how you feel is how you think you are,
When abandonment makes you run away,
When your own anger leaves you with the scar,
Then it’s you who are the one you betray.

When the same brokenness repeats itself,
When the same cries of resentment are spilled,
When unable to see blame in yourself,
Then your prophecy becomes self-fulfilled.

When you accept you have goodness inside,
When you forgive and accept affection,
When you let yourself be loved from outside,
Then at last you will see your reflection.

He’s named his empty heart “Regret.”
Each beat something that should have been.
Awake and full of life, and yet…
Wholeness of loss has filled it in.

He’s named his history “Regret.”
No day revives what should have been.
New mornings always come, and yet…
He’ll never live that love again.

He’s named forsaken dreams “Regret.”
There’s real and there’s what should have been.
Nightmares when he’s awake, and yet…
His dream come true’s a dream again.

He’s named his broken self “Regret.”
A man whose life is should have been.
Her love would be enough, and yet…
He’s scared her love won’t take him in.

Regret caked on my skin like sticky mud,
Bathed in the stench of my mistakes and sin,
My conscience drowned in pools of bile and blood,
With no forgiveness for the filth I’m in.

The angels that God sent each turn away,
Divine, but not enough that they’d succeed.
Angels on High fear for their own decay,
For only God Himself could meet this need.

O God, redeem this lost and worthless soul!
As on the day you moved across the deep!
Or sheltered Moses hiding in his hole!
“The LORD! The LORD!” you showed him your mystique.

You promised me my sins you would erase,
Redeem me, God, and move across my face.

Raindrops on my face.
The harder it rains,
The more I erase
Why I am crying.

Raindrops hide my tears.
The harder it rains,
The less are my fears
I’m weeping in pain.

Raindrops on my face.
Each droplet obscures
A tear in its place—
Hopelessness or joy?

Raindrops hide my tears.
Each droplet obscures
Having to decide—
Why am I crying?

These precious raindrops
Leave it up to me.
The confusion stops.
They are tears of joy.

Love is...
      
      Breathless anxiety
      Of amplified emotions
      With uncomfortable growth
      And shuddering awe
      Of inconsolable gratitude.

I waited…
Waited for the music to stop
So you would stop all your dancing.

I waited…
Waited to get your attention
While the attention was on you.

I waited…
Waited my turn to be seduced
While you seduced another man.

I waited…
Waited for the dimming spotlight
So the spotlight could shine elsewhere.

I waited…
Waited on your flirtatious kiss
While you kissed every man that night.

I waited…
Waited to partake in your lust
While my lust played me as your fool.

I waited…
Waited for the music to stop
So I could stop fantasizing.

Bits of me leave a trail back to heartbreak.
Shattered like a broken glass dropped from above.
No relief from my perpetual ache.
But if I get to choose I still choose love.

Lost in a place so dark no need for eyes.
Brought down so low can’t see the sky above.
Trusted my heart though all it told were lies.
But if I get to choose I still choose love.

My soul gave up and left me just a shell.
Abandoned faith and by my God above.
Each second worse than an eternal Hell.
But if I get to choose I still choose love.

Lost everything except my beating heart.
My stubbornness commanded from above.
There’s no excuse to let these feelings start.
But if I get to choose I still choose love.

She draws attention with spellbinding dance,
No man has ever looked and looked away.
So much mistaken beauty for romance,
Those men who see with just their eyes, her prey.

Her body is the uniform she wears,
Nubile and innocent in father’s eyes.
Enchanting beauty fueled by endless stares,
Of men who see with blindness idolize.

She’s only all the beauty, nothing more,
And nothing else she ever wants to be.
The promise of a Siren on the shore,
Exposed to every ****** on the sea.

She’ll never lack for men she can control…
Just not men who see Beauty with their soul.

That there is still air left to breathe,
The sky has not run out of blue,
My thanks for them a fraction of
As grateful as I am for you.

The past that made me who I am,
The chance to live for something new,
I’m not as thankful for these things
As grateful as I am for you.

The land on which to live and breathe,
The plenty of the ocean blue,
My thanks for them a fraction of
As grateful as I am for you.

The words I write of who I am,
When read again with feeling new,
My thanks for them could not surpass
As grateful as I am for you.

What does Love want from me?
Nothing more than just to
Walk through the lilac fields
Aware of the splendor
Of varied purple hues
And breathe in blooming spring.

What does Love want from me?
Nothing more than just to
Listen to words spoken
Aware of their silence
With perfect clarity
Hearing sounds in my heart.

What does Love want from me?
Nothing more than to
Revere what God has made
Devoted to beauty
With full adoration
Seeing a soul’s aura.

What does Love want from me?
Nothing more than to
Live today preciously
Sensing a divine touch
In appreciation
Life is a miracle.

I thought I had dreamt of perfect beauty,
Of something so perfect
It could only exist
Hidden in the dream realm
Behind my closed eyelids.

I had never seen such beauty for real,
Enchantment so perfect
It could never exist
Outside of the dream realm
Before open eyelids.

But you, who is so real with such beauty,
You are real and perfect
As I breathe you exist
I never knew this realm
Beyond my own eyelids.

Your beauty is to encounter Heaven,
Angelic and perfect
I can barely exist
Here in your gaze’s realm
Lost beneath your eyelids.

Thank you for the surprise of your beauty.
Dreams were not as perfect
There you did not exist
Somehow here is your realm
To open my eyelids.

What is the best time of day to love you?
When just below the horizon
The sun’s morning light warm the dew?
When just from slumber arisen
My first thought today is of you?

When sunlight bends grass to the east
And arcs to zenith in the sky?
Mid-morning my love is not least
Growing ever higher than high.

When my shadows all disappear
With the sun direct overhead?
At the noon it’s you I revere
More than I could have ever said.

When warmed by the hours of light
Each moment I have loved you more.
The sun recedes into the night
And I love you more than before.

When light of the night are my dreams,
Still loving a love that is real.
I can love you more now it seems,
And wake to recall how I feel.

When is the best time of day to love you?
No time is better than the rest.
I love you no matter the time.
For no time is better than best,
True love is a love too sublime.

None smells roses’ fragrance until they bloom,
Or basks in the sun’s light until clouds break.
Our life begins with mother’s open womb,
Openly breathing every breath we take.

Even the blind can pray for open eyes,
To see the images his dreams can see.
Just as the mute must long to verbalize,
A vessel closed must let its contents free.

All life is a walk through an open door.
There is no grace without an open hand.
Arms open to embrace what we adore,
An open mind to learn and understand.

While failing love may have torn us apart,
All goodness must come from an open heart.

These are the things I think are fun
So much so I can’t choose just one:
To hold you.
To kiss you.
Be with you.
(Not miss you!)
Laugh with you.
Walk with you.
Listen and
Talk with you.
Ride a bike.
Park a car.
Stay at home.
Travel far.
Get undressed.
Lie in bed.
Don’t wake up.
Snooze instead.
Kiss your lips.
Kiss your ear.
Kiss your neck.
(And down there!)
Foot massage.
Shop and eat.
Motel Six.
Fancy Suite.
I guess the things I like to do,
Are anything I do with you.

Like the fruit tree that every spring,
Blooms when it senses flow’rs should be,
Knowing at once what fruit to bring,
It has a flawless memory.

To see the sun rise every morn,
And know it never skips a day,
Forgotten not since Earth was born,
It’s memory can’t fade away.

When petals of a flower spread,
Ere they go dormant in the fall,
Entice a bee and feathered head,
It’s memory gives food to all.

When nature has a vital need,
It knows what God already knew.
As plants have mem’ry in their seed,
I’m born with memory of you.

I believe in telepathy.
Even if I didn’t I should.
I like to think you think of me
Each time I think of something good.

Since you are always on my mind,
Energized by our connection,
Across the ether you should find
Me in your mental projection.

I open up and let you in,
And turn my loving thoughts to you.
Each thought of you that’s ever been
Should cause you to think of me too.

You’re in my heart and in my head,
And as unlikely as it seems,
If I’m awake and you’re in bed,
My thoughts of you are in your dreams.

The only thing that’s saving me right now,
From full collapse of love’s desperation,
Is when I need your touch that I know how
To call upon my imagination.

Our bodies have spent so much time away,
But love we share is close enough to touch.
That’s why I feel your presence every day.
I’ll see you if I close my eyes too much.

There’s never enough time to hold you near,
Yet imagination shall never rest.
The feeling in my soul I hold so dear,
You are inside the heart inside my chest.

The you that’s real just had to plant your seed,
So that imagination fills my need.

Every feeling drawn from so much depth,
That I have to learn to embrace the deep,
The blackness of the pit with no echo,
The unreachable place from which they creep.

I’ve not been privileged to love shallowly,
Nor unrequited love not quench my soul,
Nor experience of fleeting sadness,
But to love my dark and bottomless hole.

Shall I be better off without darkness?
Feeling love as strong as jealous anguish?
Shall I pray to never feel crushing hurt?
So loving shall be an incomplete wish?

How often rejection brought me despair!
Oh to be hopeful as my hopelessness!
The deep emptiness that ***** down my pain,
Is the same depth from which I can’t love less.

Emptiness do not fill up with healing!
That dark abyss is my space for feeling.

Just one more thing I can’t make myself say,
My heart is keeping all its words inside.
And though you may write to me ev’ry day,
When I said I would go I can’t have lied.

The message you last sent I can’t erase.
The thing you said you’re feeling I feel too.
That memory of tears upon your face,
Lonely cries of sadness since I left you.

You should not have told me I’m on your mind.
So pointless because I already knew.
Why could you not just leave my love behind?
I was rejected, what am I to do?

You spurned my love only now to miss me.
I miss you too but please now let me be.

Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
Not the innocence of your laugh,
Nor the smile that causes my own.
Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
Not the way you seem to need me
So that I never feel alone.

Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
Joyous melody of your voice,
Electricity in your eyes.
Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
No, not your magnificent quirks,
Not your exasperated cries.

Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
Not even long past memories,
Of the time with you I’ve gotten.
Oh mind! Don’t let me forget thee!
All that’s left is you in my head,
My heart’s already forgotten.

I feel an ecstatic boundless delight
When you come inhabit my dreams at night
When lying in bed you hold me so tight
When closing my eyes you’re still in my sight.

I am ecstatic with your boundless grace
The fortune of having looked on your face
The blessing that I exist in your space
The music of my soul in your embrace.

Lost in ecstasy of boundless desire
Of your love from which I shall never tire
No other love will I ever require
Yours is all the love to which I aspire.

Your boundless love is boundless ecstasy
And my boundless love you shall have from me.

If I could taste your kisses on my tongue,
Then I’d be stealing nectar from the gods.
Your kisses like ambrosia keep me young,
Like bloom of endless summer goldenrods.

In this, a moment calls our lips to meet,
To kiss like kisses are the only touch,
Your lips the honey nature made so sweet,
A sweetness which can never be too much.

Our kisses in our intimate embrace,
Without a thing to come between our skin,
Our immortality is face to face,
You open up to me and let me in.

If life is never-ending when we kiss,
Then let us not that moment ever miss.

I know what it feels to miss you,
Both yesterday and right now.
What if missing you never stops?
How could my heart recover? How?

The last time I didn’t love you,
Was the moment before we met.
But I’ve loved you more every day,
I haven’t forgotten you yet.

Can’t remember not loving you,
Those lonely years did not exist.
Emptiness in me without you
An emptiness I can’t resist.

If I had to stop loving you,
My heart would have to stop beating.
I chose not to live without you
The moment of our first meeting.

I know what it’s like to miss you
When you’re gone for just a minute.
I don’t want to live without you,
What’s my life without you in it?

No time or space for any other thought,
My heart preoccupied with love for you,
I draw upon those lessons I’ve been taught,
To no avail because this love is new.

I failed each time love was an obsession,
When dreams made me sleepwalk throughout the day,
When hope was my substitute possession.
Shall this love come to pass another way?

What ideas have I missed since we met?
What sights unseen since I first laid my eyes?
I shall not love a little less, and yet,
Each time I love with all my heart it dies.

To love you with more than I have’s a must,
To you this weary heart I shall entrust.

When the first man first achieved consciousness
So that he knew he had fallen asleep,
How can you imagine his nervousness
That he had died and gone into the deep?

Or the first time thunder roared overhead,
Having never seen lightning in the sky?
Primitive man must have thought he was dead,
Or in the moments to come he would die.

Before there were mirrors or reflection,
Could man know that he had a human face?
For without any form of inspection,
He’d have thought himself alone in his place.

I feel like I know only a bit more,
But I only know what’s already here.
What’s coming has never happened before,
It’s arrival will stun me into fear.

No gust of hurricane or thunder clap
Can frighten me like just your single tear.
At once you cry and pain falls in my lap,
Afraid myself I can’t comfort your fear.

I have so many words but none will do.
Each tear you cry causes two of my own.
I would give everything I have to you,
Afraid you’d still feel in my arms, alone.

Of all the things in life I’m mindful of,
Each moment I’m alive I want to try
Reminding you you’ll always have my love,
So that you never ever have to cry.

If I fail and today brings you sorrow,
I’ll stay close to dry your tears tomorrow.

What if I could read your mind?
Know your thoughts…
And feelings
And whether they are changing
By a lot...
When actions
Seem to change just a little.

What purpose my confusion?
You are a…
Mystery
Because the real that I see
May be real
Only to me
Because I want it to be.

Each and every thing you do
Happens here…
But there too
In my world of fantasy
Where it makes
Perfect sense
And true love explains it all.

So what if I get it wrong?
Just a fool…
Not worse off
Because a fool can still hope
And will hope
Forever
Happily in fantasy.

At last is this the morning that I seek?
To be awoken to the sunlit skies?
The morning melodies of the bird’s beak?
To end slumberous thoughts of dreams and lies?

The dew this morning wet between my toes
The chill of air not warmed yet by Sun’s rays.
Are these the gifts to which my soul arose?
Or like the morn am I still in a haze?

The brightness of the Sun turns the moon pale,
As life responds with cacophonous stir.
Do I have clarity to now set sail?
To leave the dark and dreadful, as it were?

But lo, a Sun that’s high above the sea,
Shall not be morn till you’re in love with me.

From what did God make angel’s wings?
Or melodies that birdies sing?
Did He put stars in Heaven’s sky?
Why create man to ask Him why?
How has He no end and no start,
And yet still fit within our heart?
He made me be but why make me?
Why did He make one plus two three?
No one can understand God’s plan,
Or why He has concern for man.
So while it might make sense above,
I simply can’t explain our love.

The sunlight cannot overcome the cloud,
The water vapor blocks the rays from sight. 
A tiny mouse can scare away a crowd,
The powerful concede without a fight. 

A mighty ship sunk by a little leak,
A paper cut that makes a grown man cry,
Vast canyons are eroded by a creek,
Goliath felled by stone between the eye. 

A single word can move a heart to feel,
Or shatter into pieces bonds of trust. 
One look belies whatever eyes conceal,
One touch can turn a pious man to lust. 

The meekest things can tame ferocity,
The stillness of your soul has vanquished me.

My sons, there’re things I hope you’ve learned,
About the proper way to live. 
And with any respect I’ve earned,
I’ve fatherly advice to give. 

If you’re alone and can’t connect,
There’s a girl and you can’t reach her,
Know that love follows intellect. 
Aspire first to be her teacher. 

To say “I love you” frequently
Is only good if you are true. 
The pain of loving secretly
Will always eat away at you. 

Nurture your curiosity,
Though there’s sometimes no solution. 
Let asking be your specialty,
And learning your evolution.  

Identify the righteous way,
Aware of who you’re meant to be. 
Your mirror at least once per day,
Should reflect pride in what you see. 

Each morning that you see the sun,
Appreciate your sense of awe. 
Know your soul will always be one
With your father’s God of Torah. 

Always give yourself to others
You can’t be selfish and content. 
If you err and hurt another,
It should never be with intent. 

When life gives you a broken heart,
Even if that heart is not yours,
Just find some wisdom to impart. 
Let self-compassion open doors. 

When you have children of your own,
And I’m in Heaven up above,
Know this, my son, you’re not alone—
Inside you is your father’s love.

On my way home from poker night,
Where I had pulled a royal flush,
I tripped over a rabbit’s foot,
Doing a faceplant in a bush.

I saw a penny on the ground
Just beside a four leaf clover.
I put each one in my pocket
And restarted my trip over.

A light rain drizzled in the sun,
And formed a rainbow up ahead.
I walked to where it touched the ground
And found a *** of gold instead.

Standing beside the *** of gold—
A leprechaun and a genie.
They handed me some numbers and
Said “These will win the lottery.”

I finally got to my house,
And I had to chuckle once more.
An upside down horseshoe was nailed
In the space just above my door.

All I could do was shake my head.
The whole night was so strange but true.
But none of it could measure up,
To how lucky I feel with you.

My heart frozen by icy rejection,
Not able to escape this shiv’ring chill,
Never felt the warmth of love’s selection,
Always feeling cold and alone and still.

My soul was frigid from not feeling love,
Frost bitten fingers from no one to touch,
Hopeless that someone fit me like a glove,
Yearning extinguished from burning too much.

Loneliness trapped me like a sheet of ice,
From which I would look out and curse the sun.
Love when love was not returned was my vice,
Prayed to be melted and you were the one.

So you poured out your love and I drank it,
Your love wrapped me in warmth like a blanket.

Awake before my opened eyes
And though the hour is not yet dawn
Nor hint of sun begun to rise
Not still and starry darkness gone.

An image danced before my eyes
A waiting jewel beyond the dawn
Though wide awake I dare not rise
And lose the sight of slumber gone.

Unlike a dream not seen with eyes
It came to me as sure as dawn
Subconscious hidden now to rise
Deep sleep unconscious shackles gone.

I see your face with all my eyes
Your face begins my day pre-dawn
When I lie down to when I rise
Your smile is never ever gone.

When I met her she was covered in scars,
How could I know how deeply she’d been cut?
I’d try to empty my own reservoirs,
To heal the wounds that she had sealed shut.

I still believe none could have given more,
But sometimes it’s not how much care but how.
And when I failed it cut me to the core.
I feel my faith in love is weaker now.

For even if I loved her perfectly,
She was beyond ability to fix.
Her safety an impossibility,
She nailed herself to every crucifix.

You’ll be the one who’s broken if you stay.
You’ll never love her brokenness away.