Golden flash on wing in flight
Fleeting vision, yet so bright
Soaring high, called from above
Beauty is your gift of love
Liquid calling, tumbling down
Bobbing heads, with red on crown
Guileless Charm of birds, behold!
Caps of red and wings of gold.

Earthy scented mornings
Thinly trailing mist
Acorns drop from weary trees
Yellow, red and russet frees
Leaves from branches, gently falling
Earth by coloured carpet kissed
Frosty, starlit evening
Palely shining moon

And still, in dreams
No words emerge
The struggle to articulate
Producing gasps,
Half uttered sounds
The strained attempt to break the grasp
Of strangleholds so long imposed
By those for whom
My presence, like my words
Held no validity
Dissolving into anonymity
An echo of an undiscovered
Self, a dormant cry for help

She lives in shade
Where muffled sounds of laughter from the sunlit place
Can't reach, and colours fade
To grey in this so silent space
Which, all alone, she yearns to leave
But still unseen, she leaves no trace
The shadow child, without a face
The nameless one

I  think  he  likes  to sit out back
                             where he once sat
with all his yard in view
  his chair is gone but he is there
                                    he sits in mine
                                   I saw him once
                      while pacing through
the house at 3 am
                       I stopped and stared
                       and rapped the glass
to see if he’d respond
                                                  instead­              
he looked away..
                
      he must have heard novenas
for the dead..
      
                         I saw his tired stare
                                        the thin hair
                         on his balding head
wispy with static electricity
  the liver spots across his brow
                       a prominent display
of reckless living                    
                                 his body lay flat
against the chair
               like a life-sized playing card
                         with hands and feet
from Alice in Wonderland

                                             I wonder
does he miss the rabbits?

                  I looked for him again
                                             last night
                            at quarter after 2
           I wanted to tell him its ok
   to use my chair to reminisce..
  
               nostalgia tends to look
                                             like love
to those who are without..

                 perhaps another night
                            I’ll see him there
                              within my chair
and maybe we can talk
I’d do my best to comfort him
             and put his mind at ease
                             about the things
he’s now without
        like this old house he built
                                        I’d tell him
I will be there soon
                                    soon enough
from his perspective
                                            by grace
50 years from mine                
                we’ll sit and talk about
                  the days we lived and
loved here..

                              *I am not naïve
                    I know he is a ghost
but I am not afraid

Rolling along the Blue Ridge
on a foggy Virginia morning.

My brother lives down there
where Jefferson rode his fields.
I cannot go see him now-
I am wandering somehow
sent north along this ridge
by some mission to remember.

The fog like soldier's ghosts
comes up to greet me as miles
roll off beneath my wheels.

The whole valley steeps in
sadness
Red Star Express,  Golden Rule
Homes
For Sale signs everywhere along
all the roads not taken.

My father's hand reaches out
a hand under a child's belly
swimming for the first time
(outside the womb that is)
then the hand is gone forever.

Float or sink:
there is always
this decision.

"Order destroys the beauty of creation"
Beauty? as opposed to what?
"******, revenge and law, of course."
The Synchronized dancers please your mind
and eventually,bind
your thoughts to protect.
Jack, still in the box.
Hedonism hurts, don't you know?
Mr. Kundera told me so.
Where will your hunt for comfort end?
It'll burn, or be buried, or be fed
to the vultures, that swarm above,
waiting for humanity, to share their love.

Yet, for comfort, I thrive.

Run in circles and play the game,
run, run around the flame.
Look above at him, the guide.
Alas, he's here too, running beside.
If you break this cycle,
all order shall end.
The world will chain you
for the rules you bend.

But there is hope,
beyond land and sea.
Beyond the women singing with glee,
beyond the lovers caught in embrace,
beyond the holy men praying with grace.
There is hope in the ancient lands,
in the green forests
and the untouched sands.
Spit out the apple,
be born again,
into the womb of silence.
And stay.

The monsoon moon hung close between,
Bog's abode now and his abode to be.
As all anchor's were lost in the waves,
he asked me to dig both our graves.
I told him of the signs that be,
'the signs don't care for you and me'
he said as he took me by my mind,
'symbols are ruthless, unkind!
the symbols speak of the amusement park,
and the roller coasters with caretakers dark,
and a little baby that was put upon,
that fateful ride, shall soon be gone.
The failing serpent has all venom lost,
you think you have won, but with a cost.
The serpent was to give you force,
now you sit, with knowledge coarse,
of all that the serpent can choose to do,
but you chased it away, your serpent, has left you.
But I will you, a new serpent build,
fresh from the furnace, by the light man's guild,
It needn't be strong, it needn't be sure,
but it will be an honest serpent,
that is the cure!
This blind serpent, it will help you see,
beyond this vibration you choose to be,
The symbols then would be of use,
now, till then, they will confuse,
So leave the signs alone for now,
let's build you a serpent, with the temperament of a cow.'

Shut up, Sit Down, Give me all that you are
Get up, Wake up, We’ll escape in my car

My hearts been messed around with way too much
But I feel it getting better with just your touch
It was broken and scarred and torn to shreds
Like on lockdown from messin with the feds

But you have the key to get me from the cell
We will run far away, far from this hell
To a place that is just our own
A place to secretly make you moan

A place for you and me to stay
And all our troubles will fade to grey
Now in this place it will be just us
Nothing to break our silence
Nothing to break our trust

We will lay close and say nothing at all
Just close our eyes and let the rain fall
We have our secrets and let them fade
This is where new memories are made
Go to our place where we can be alone
Where all the worries so to drone
This is magic from where we stand
I’ll never hesitate to hold your hand

So never stray and leave my side
I want you here
For this long and wonderful ride
It’s only wonderful when you are here

You make me happy and drive away the pain
You’re my everything and you keep me sane
Never say goodbye and never let me go
Without you I just might never know….