Long, slow walk,
Of steps in contemplation.
Low, slow talk,
To self in concentration.

To the end,
Where unknown in time or length.
To defend,
The self’s unknown source of strength.

Keep going,
Meek in determination.
Keep growing,
To find self-revelation.

Patient trail,
The beginning left behind.
To prevail,
In the meaning that you find.

Quiet thought,
Coaxing stubbornness to yield.
The road sought,
Inner secrets are revealed.

I love you
                You know that
                        When I’m perfect
                        And everything I do
                        Is just right
                 But when mistakes happen
                         I’ll do things wrong
                        And you might not even know
                        And I’ll be sorry
I’ll still love you
                 You might not feel safe
                        When I was wrong
                        And not the man
                        You thought I was
                I’ll want to comfort you
                        I’ll try to rise up
                       And be the lover
                       You deserve
I’ll always love you
                Forgiveness might be hard
                        And I’ll fall
                        On my knees
                        Seeking you
                 But I’ll need your compassion
                        Because I would
                        Never intend
                        To hurt you.
Because I love you.

She’s in my field of view.
So what am I to do?
I’ve nothing much to say,
but cannot look away.

This beauty caught my eye.
It’s pointless now to try—
though staring is a sin,
I’ll sin and take her in.

This beauty sits so near,
that my world stopped right here.
Now life’s very essence
is simply her presence.

Perhaps I’ll see her smile
if I sit here a while.
But if she won’t it seems
I’ll see her in my dreams.

Love is in this place,
what if I am not?
I've hidden my face,
from Love I forgot.

Love’s in search of me,
Am I to be found?
Love wants to call me,
Can I hear its sound?

When feeling alone,
Love draws itself near,
And makes itself known,
But what do I hear?

Love so immanent,
Found me unaware.
Not by accident.
It looks everywhere.

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

Love.
Love is.
Evermore.
Love is always.
Undeniably,
Indefatigably,
Indescribably,
Insatiably,
For­ever.
Always.
Is.

Love.
Love lasts.
Tirelessly.
Love is always.
Unconquerably,
Indeterminately,
Imperviously,
Inscrutably­,
Immortal.
Always.
Lasts.

Love.
Love lives.
Timelessly.
Love is always.
Interminably,
Interconnectedly,
Independently,
Incredibly­,
Infinite.
Always.
Lives.

Love is never an accident.
Whether it be love at first sight,
Or whether it’s cause to lament.
If you fall in love it was right.

Each time we love we were meant to.
Whether it comes after a chase,
Or regret of the depths sent to.
To feel love is an act of grace.

The feeling of love never lies.
Whether you love somebody wrong,
Or someone you idealize.
Love and truth together belong.

Love is never an accident.
Whether it makes you feel guilty,
It’s always a gift Heaven sent.
Love is absolute purity.

Isn’t “love” more varied than “snow,”
For which there’s more than fifty words,
In language of the Eskimo?

No two loves are ever the same,
It’s the greatest understatement,
Two loves should not have the same name.

Love’s a unique organism
With its own character and traits,
And not by nominalism.

Love. A word so insufficient.
For each time I say “I love you,”
It feels horribly deficient.

I’ve loved without loving being in love,
and loved with a love that I was scared of.
I’ve loved while hating I’d fallen so hard,
and been in love when loving left me scarred.

I’ve loved when love left me empty inside,
and love when loving felt like I had died.
I’ve loved when everything said I should not,
and been in love while I felt myself rot.

I’ve loved when I wished love would go away,
and loved dying with a heart in decay.
I’ve loved as if I was loving the pain,
and been in love pervasive disdain.

I’ve loved because I’ve refused to lose hope,
and loved as if I might someday elope.
I’ve loved the dream that a love could be true,
like the love that I love when loving you.

The world sings love, from lover to lover,
And what if I, don’t love enough as they?
Reed warblers trill to love as they hover,
Love on their mind, they sing their heart away.

When the time comes, they exist for one thing,
Like the love that makes the hooded grebe dance,
And grasshoppers with no heart still can sing,
While I, lowly I, have not their romance.

The beasts in their beauty know more than I,
In their love season, their love is complete.
They show love as if they don’t they will die,
But I love from the depths of self-conceit.

When a lovebird calls, he holds nothing back,
How I wish I could love as much as he!
Nature gave instinct for love that I lack,
The song of the songbird is not in me.

She looks at me enchanting with her eyes,
Oblivious to how she stirs my heart.
The passion she creates is her surprise
As is the sorrow felt when she departs.

She laughs and I long to be by her side,
Each story makes me blush with puppy love,
Is she aware of how I feel inside?
She occupies each thought I’m thinking of.

To hear her voice transports to fantasy,
Where love could never be as real as this.
Without her love I can’t live happily,
When she’s away I dream about her kiss.

What I mean to her there’s no need to speak,
While I feel that together we’re unique.

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.

In your coming and your going,
Feel the love my soul is knowing,
The gentle zephyr through your hair,
Should remind you my love is there.

In your pictures or in the flesh,
Each time my love wakens afresh,
Incomparable imagery,
Arouses love inside of me.

In whispers or your written word,
I dream that mine’s the voice you heard,
You’re nothing short of living art,
Writing your poems on my heart.

In fantasy or in my bed,
“I love you” shall not be unsaid,
You may well be a dream unreal,
But truth is in the love I feel.

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.

It doesn’t have to hurt any longer.
Believing love is worth it is a choice.
Love can break spirits but hearts are stronger.
Your need for love is speaking, hear its voice.

To be in love is to tear down your walls.
You’re defenseless but don’t have to be hurt.
Don’t let pain chase love away when it calls.
Your heart and soul weren’t made to be inert.

Not everyone who says “I love you” leaves.
There’s someone who’ll do everything to stay.
Though right now it’s not what your mind believes,
You heart will die if you chase love away.

Love seems to break our hearts beyond repair.
Yet love has kept the human race alive.
If we weren’t meant to love it wouldn’t be there.
So, love! I promise you you will survive.

An autumn leaf, once so green and so full
Fallen, dried, trampled in broken pieces.
A blade of grass, green, slender and alone,
Uprooted, lifelessly floating away.
A flower, once bright and full of nectar,
Wilting, pale, petals heavy on the stem.
A ravaged elm, as tall as it once was,
But hollow, gray, refuge for emptiness.
A shell, home to life, spit out by the sea,
Cracking underfoot, dead, a mere object.
Me, strong in spirit, alive and grateful,
More dead than those things, if not for your love.

Dear sunrise, don’t fail to wake me.
Dear soul, don’t let Heaven take me.
I cannot miss this chance to rise,
To see the sparkle in your eyes.

Dear dreams, don’t preoccupy me.
Dear slumber, don’t lullaby me.
I cannot face this daily trial,
Without the beauty in your smile.

Dear eyesight, don’t fail to return.
Dear nightmares, don’t be my concern.
I cannot feel the Earth’s pleasance,
Without starting in your presence.

Dear morning, don’t fail to arrive.
Dear God, don’t forget I’m alive.
I cannot face this day anew,
Without a day that faces you.

No one knows me better than my demons.
I’ve been caring for them, nurturing them
like a parent afraid to see them leave.

My demons have remained faithful to me.
There is no part of me more forgiving.
I’ve fought with them, and tried to destroy them.

But my demons never abandoned me.
They’ve stayed with me, always speaking to me
kindly, with their gentle, sensitive voice.

My demons are my intimate partner.
At my worst and earliest suffering,
they arrived, eager to help me adapt.

My demons epitomize devotion.
They don’t have feelings for anyone else.
They only care about protecting me.

Sometimes, I try to confront my demons.
And then they just listen, like a friend should,
and offer to let me live without them.

But my demons know better than I do.
Feeding on self-loathing, the more they eat,
the more self-loathing I am to become.

My demons have figured survival out.
If I just choose self-loathing over love,
they will stay a part of me forever.

You are my guide,
My beacon,
My direction.
For when I slide,
So meek in
My dejection.

You are my hope,
My feeling,
My compassion.
You’re how I cope,
When reeling
From my passion.  

You are my soul,
My soulmate,
My connection.
You make me whole,
You create
True perfection.

My love is vast and infinite,
Heart falling fast and intimate.

My love is strong and powerful,
Not feeling wrong or sorrowful.

My love is deep and without bounds,
It’s yours to keep as it surrounds.

My love is real and forever,
Our kisses seal us together.

My love is you and yours alone,
No love more true I’ve ever known.

To touch her nakedness with my own
was to take our most human moment
and suspend it higher than the stars
where human beings had no right to be.

To kiss her while we met in bareness
was to transcend our humanity
and in our most ****** pleasure
feel totally unconfined freedom.

To make love with nothing between us
was to make humans’ humanity
and have the two come alive as one
where life itself is understatement.

She’s so real it doesn’t matter.
So real I can imagine her.
When my heart fails and eyes are weak,
She’s Monday morning to my week.

Her beauty is springtime’s envy.
Her beauty is my energy.
Awake or in my dreams I seek,
I need her smile to start my week.

I close my eyes to watch it grow,
Her beauty’s everywhere I go.
Like sunlight o’er horizon’s peak,
She is the sunshine of my week.

I see her now and evermore,
On Mondays though I need her more.
When missing her makes things look bleak,
I think of her to start my week.

If I met my soul, wandering…
Would I even know who it was?

What of me would I recognize?
The pimply skin of teenage years?
Who says it has my color eyes?
My wrinkled face so on in years?

Walking with my familiar gait?
Which of my many styles of hair?
Would my soul dress in clothes I hate?
Or look like me enough to stare?

I’m not familiar with my soul.
Life’s only constant that I get.
The very thing that makes me whole
I’d ignore if we ever met.

My soul’s the me that I can’t see.
Strange here but in Heaven clearer.
To know my soul with certainty,
Know myself without a mirror.

She is in my breath of words so often
That just to speak is to feel kissed by her,
To have my discontented voice soften,
As the gentle kiss of a whisperer.

She so inhabits each letter I write,
That I dwell in them as they are spoken,
So each poem is her inhaled delight,
Said aloud is her kiss for the broken.

The poems from her spirit emanate,
My pen is the instrument of her heart,
Each word is a moment to osculate,
Breathing in her kiss as the words depart.

I send out poetry with emphasis
On the words she breathed deep into my lungs,
Planted on my lips with her passion’s kiss,
Words she inspires play between our tongues.

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.

As my heart grew more enamored,
And as I felt this burning flame,
It was then I knew what mattered—
It was to give Beauty its name.

Her image would not go away,
But all the words I spoke would err,
So overcome I could not say
A description that suited her.

What should perfect Beauty be called?
There is no name that could suffice.
Overwhelmed I was too enthralled—
My language was too imprecise.

You simply are so beautiful,
That any name would be inapt.
Your Beauty makes my heart so full—
That I am speechlessly enrapt.

I’ve written words needed but unwanted,
As one who fights a war of last resort,
Disrespecting heartbreaks that I flaunted
While shaping memories I could distort.

Those unwanted poems that I needed,
All written in defiance of my nerve,
Every one of them should be deleted—
I still don’t know what purpose that they serve.

I cursed my hand so it would write no more,
But the words fought battles of attrition,
Oozing out as if from an open sore,
To heal the despair of my condition.

I’ve no desire to ever return to
The places my words so often bring me.
But it seems writing them I learn to
Appreciate the gift of being me.

Never so lost,
Never less hope.
North Star was gone,
Let go my rope.

Never so dark
Never less light.
Landmarks were gone,
Left looked like right.

Never so tired,
Never less born.
Sunset was East,
And in the morn.

Never so scared,
Never less bold.
Map upside down,
My torch burned cold.

Never so sad,
Never less free.
Where’s that compass
Inside of me?

Between last night and this morning,
Between the full moon and sunrise,
When dark descended like a sheet,
And heavy lids covered my eyes,

The stars emerged and receded,
Nocturnal hours ticked away,
A carpet of frost was laid down,
There between last night and today.

Ere dawn blackness interceded,
Taunting me, “Where is your light now?”
Yesterday had been locked away,
And I must start again somehow.

The nightfall came to curse the past,
I embraced it to block the shame,
Because soon the sun will come up,
And I will never be the same.

Night has fallen, my head hits the pillow,
Knowing there will be kisses tomorrow,
Kisses, embraces, love at every sight,
There upon daybreak, gives me peace at night.

Night has fallen, eyelids darken my eyes,
Knowing there will be an end to all lies,
Truth, joy and happiness, hope in my hand,
There upon daybreak, I now understand.

Night has fallen, I slip into my dreams,
Knowing there will be love real as it seems,
Love, adoration, anticipation,
There upon daybreak, heartfelt elation.

Night has fallen, all my thoughts of your smile,
Knowing there will be kisses all the while,
Kisses, embraces, love you in my sight,
There upon daybreak, but for now good night.

Where is beauty in perfection?
In flawlessly done artistry?
I raise powerful objection
To such dishonest sophistry.

Give me the honest blemishes,
And the scars of vitality.
Beauty is not found in wishes
Of objects of idolatry.

The beauty’s in the crooked smile
And in the hearts of brokenness.
There’s beauty in that distinct style
Of earnestly but mismatched dress.

Beautiful is not perfection.
Beauty is beauty in itself.
Mine is another’s rejection,
I see your beauty for myself.

There is no darkness, no fearsome
emptiness we allude to as
an excuse for sadness. We ne’er come
into the light each of us has.

Those restless nightmares, too evil
for scaring us into shameful
weak banality, so we will
live cautiously and shift blame still.

Where has your hope gone? Did you cast
it out of you, like some demon
you could not exorcise too fast?
It’s there, in the world you dream in.

Lazy darkness comes, too easy,
while to make light needs energy
of asking for life to “please be
constant inspiration for me.”

I think with my feelings, not with my mind.
My persistent heart leaves my brain behind.
The world that I see seems ever so real,
But I can never sense more than I feel.

While reason and passion fight over me,
I experience emotionally.
Instead of judging with thoughts in my head,
I’d rather resolve them in dreams instead.

I occupy life as if fantasy.
Truth without feeling seems a fallacy.
I trust in those instincts that bring me tears
And tune out rational words in my ears.

I’m giving up on following logic.
Too many thoughts have been catastrophic.
I no longer care what I’m thinking of.
From now on I listen only to love.

Mr. Newton and Einstein can keep it.
So far I’m handling it all on my own.
Unlike Isaac who’d under a tree sit,
I don’t need gravity to keep me down.

They say when you’re happy you’re flying high.
But that must mean we’re destined for sadness
Because no human can stay in the sky.
While gravity just adds to the madness.

Pain and suffering from separation
When true love should attract us together.
And it’s gravity’s sole occupation
To pull two bodies closer together.

A cruel scientific duality,
With no power over my massive heart.
I have got no use for you, gravity.
When it seems I’m always falling apart.

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.

The world presents too few opportunities
To say “I love you,”
Perhaps because the feeling arises constantly,
And I am not near you
As often as I would need to be
Each time the spirit moves me.

I can think “I love you” each time I see you
Whether real or dreamt,
But what good is this perpetual thought if
You don’t know it
Then, in that instant
Each time the spirit moves me?

Your existence surpasses all time and space.
To say “I love you”
Feels smaller than the grandeur of those moments,
Those fleeting moments
You occupy in me
Each time the spirit moves me.

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.

A snowflake’s lifespan, once but a droplet,
Now infinitely a unique object.
Oh, lucky snowflake! You never compete
With other snowflakes. You are formed complete.

Oh, to be so born! To become my own
Arriving on Earth, meant to be alone.
You lucky snowflake! You have no power
But grow beautiful, to live an hour.

You are not long here, made of winter chill,
But precious snowflake! Do hold your shape still!
I am so common, never quite like you!
Each of you snowflakes, are a snowflake true!

Of frozen water, from the cloud above,
You became special, one and only love.
To live snowflakes’ lives! What would I have felt?
None would be like me, but too quick to melt.

Whence does the Earth spin on its axis,
turning day after day, boundless energy
transforming boundless horizons
to sunrise, to sunset, and to sunrise again?

Would the Earth spin on its axis
if not for me, here, aging day by day
and seeing the morning after darkness
reminding me to be a little more alive?

Whence the energy to turn the world?
It must be the joy that beats in my heart
empowering my will to live,
and to love. Whence that power?

A woman. Beautiful inside and out,
wind blowing in her hair, her smile
replacing the sun. A beautiful woman,
this is what spins the world on its axis.

Whence the world keeps spinning?
For me it is my heartbeat, an engine
of love that she feeds with a goodness
good and beautiful enough to power the world.

I’m the cling-clang of coins in my pocket,
and loose paperclips in a desk drawer.
Like lipstick and gum in a lady’s purse,
I’m a kid’s toys strewn about on the floor.

When I walk my insides rattle about,
like a  janitor’s keys without his ring,
like groceries bagged by junior baggers,
I’m jumbled as a cat’s unraveled string.

I’m less ordered than a box of Legos,
or debris remaining after a storm.
Nuts and bolts in an amateur toolbox
click-clack and click-clack with even more form.

I’m just a package of random loose parts,
though the world sees me as perfectly fine.
Life is making order of that chaos,
but it’s my life and that chaos is mine.

At night I close my eyes to see beauty,
and then in the morning I open them.
This is the essence of being awake—
to open your eyes to live your dreams, or
live without them because you don’t need them.

All the world’s beauty to appreciate
includes the beauty worth dreaming about,
and beauty about which I dared not dream.
There is beauty in darkness and in light—
who am I not to fall in love with it?

I’ve dreamt of beauty I could not describe,
but nor can I describe beauty I’ve seen.
To encounter beauty is irony—
it stops my heart and makes me feel alive,
touched and moved by ethereality.

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.

My pillow warm with light dampness
Rejects my head with suddenness,
Last night welcoming in comfort,
At dawn sends me away in hurt.

How shall I start this weary day?
What do faint flickers of dreams say?
Last night I slunk into blackness,
The dawn hurls me into madness.

The frightened embrace of a ghost,
All I have of my lonely host.
Last night I put the light to sleep,
At dawn held by darkness I keep.

Woke to disjointed consciousness,
And left behind my peacefulness,
Last night I plotted my escape.
The dawn of life has taken shape.

Of course I love you, for how could I not?
The beautiful face, I never forgot.
Of course I love you, you are like my queen.
Perfect and graceful, like none I have seen.
Of course I love you, my heart has been bound.
I longed to kiss you, the day you were found.
Of course I love you, I can’t look away.
I dwell in my dreams, to see you all day.
Of course I love you, do you have a doubt?
You’re the precious one, I can’t live without.
Of course I love you, ‘twas love at first sight.
Isn’t it perfect, how it feels so right?

Remember well, O breathless kiss
While melting oneness in your skin
Soulful eyes of passion’s abyss
Hold me close to the dream I'm in.

Trembling hard within our embrace
Fearlessness settled on your hips
Tenderness spread across your face
The Heaven found upon your lips.

The whispered comfort in your ear
So satisfied in binding trust
Broken down walls that brought us near
Two souls beyond two bodies' lust.

Ne’er more perfect did two unite
Released from tortured fallacy
Compassion roused to star the night
A night surpassing fantasy.

Monday has come,
To divide the earth from holy.
The firmament,
Transcended by humans solely.

The second day,
The water below and above.
I start my week,
Present and aware of your love.

Monday has come,
To connect my heart to the sky.
The firmament,
Across which I feel God’s reply.

The second day,
The day God made the color blue.
I start my week,
To honor this day God made you.