Let the words flow slowly by
Drift and dream your time away
Pass though the portal with your magical eye
Drive on through to the other side

Correct the line with a little rhyme
Bridal the horses of war with your phrase
Detect a mention in what you can say
Deliver the truth on a platter of clay

Surrender the false and let it ring true
Remember the place where it all began
Don’t get lost in the words on the page
Tear them apart with a dulling rage

Take the splinters and make them whole
Install the spline in a deliberate way
Spell out those drumbeats you care to believe
Ransom the rest for a bottle of ink

Remember to tell us your treasured thoughts
Carry the banner and hold it on high
Watch as the moments slowly pass by
You can be just the same without knowing why

love lessons pending
for two hearts ever mending:
the house is on fire!

There is nothing compared to life that we live
Riding the moment is all that there is
Believing in memories we look to the past
To strive for the future to get there at last
The river flows by in a tumultuous state
We look for the answers before it’s too late
We drift on a rainbow as we wander on by
Caught in the ripples, we’re swept far away
Traveling back over the path that we’ve laid
We measure the distance by the strides that we take
It’s our only opportunity to pass this way
The world waits and watches our steps in the sand
There is no map of the road up ahead
We have but one chance to make the bend
We can’t give in when we need to fight
It takes all we’ve got just to get it right

Living with magic
Is a lasting condition
Can you imagine?

Dreaming near the lake
Mesmerized by fleeting waves
Thoughts drift back to you

Here beneath the ground
Cool water flows all around
Roots reach down to drink

With the wind, leaves are playing
In daylight slowly fading

Savored moments drifting through time
The quiet hour is where we find them
Drifting and dreaming across the sheets
Sliding around on the fabric we weave
Playing fiddles to a magical tune
They bounce and rattle around the room
Nothing is left but our moments in time
Anything lost is gained in rhyme
All that is dreamed in this special space
Is made for a moment we can’t replace

Drawing on the concrete wall
Images begin to crawl
Thoughts revolve
Feelings fall
Like raindrops
Singing
Making pictures
Echoes there upon the wall

Chalk and fury
Little flurries
Tempered moments
Passing by
Illusions screaming
Memories leaving
Little scars
Across the wall

Drenched in color
A moving glow
Descends into this
Hallowed hall
Intentions growing
Little meanings
Leaving time
There on the wall

Growing older
Nights are colder
Looking back
Through what has been
Thoughts dissolving
Days gone by
Dreams left sleeping
Seeping deep into the wall

Deep inside these dreams
Where your magic fills the air
Peering through the night
I’m watching you spin starlight
Into visions of delight

I’m stuck on the page
Just rearranging this phrase
To say what it says

Pitch the tent and strike a fire
Get the marsh mellows out
Gather around and sing some songs
Laugh and cry and scream and shout
Unroll the bags and zip them up
Did you bring a pillow?
Then get it out and flash the light
Have some s'mores and tend the fire
Enjoy the company and
Be at peace
Camp yourself right off to sleep

To bend in the wind
Is to stand in the storm
It all makes sense if you look at it right
The tempest subsides
And leaves us alone
To puzzle the moment
When we got to the fair
The fire burns bright
And it lights up the sky
Just a little flicker
Is all that we need
To sit at the table
And dance with the muse
We take our best chance
In our last pair of shoes

Torrential rains fall to the plains
Enough to fill a bucket with drops
The wind it blows them all around
But can’t stop those drops from falling down

Content in a moment – sublime
Perusing the chapters inside my mind
I rise to the breath of a sweet smelling aire
While traveling the fences to get there on time

Time stands alone as it stands in my way
The world passes by without a care
Crooning a tune in an old wooden bowl
I sit in the moonlight – shattering my soul –

                      It’s brilliant!

These thoughts now untold ride up in the sky
Tantalized by motion, I strive to get by –

                     Wondering?

Not content to dream the hours away
I sit in the shadows, pretending to pray
To regress into blindness, oblivious am I
That teasing the moment is not the answer

I mosey along – spend the day in a trance
And while it away for something to say
There’s nothing to do
But what can I see?
When gravity smiles and pulls down on me

Tested at last, I find something new
Can’t truly say what it is right now
There is no beginning or end in sight
I’m lost in the flood of a rising tide

I turn it over to see what’s inside
The fire burns bright in the bowels of my dream
It’s not a thing I know how to hide
Nothing is exactly the way that is seems

Daylight punctures the face of the dark
I kick it and test it, the hour of the deep
Puzzling it is
There is no delay
Remaining entranced
Containing a chance
My heart seizes time
As it all drifts away

A dream is sleeping
In the still of the evening
Then wakes up to play

Long before the coming day
It drifts away into haze

Music touch my soul.
Relax my mind, make me whole.

I just want to be
Deep inside my memories
Finding things you show to me

I live with the premise that,
Life has some meaning,
That time is not stealing,
Instead it’s revealing.

But...

Inside the mirage
Is where we reside.
The waves of our time
Just keep drifting by…

We’re washed up to dry
On the desert’s hot shore
Where the visions we see
Are so hard to ignore.

The illusion resides
In the depths of our minds
Where reason dissolves
And mystery evolves.

The tempest we see
When we look deep inside
Is all just a dream
That our memories abide.

Don’t let me forget the song that I sing
There is a catastrophe almost happening it seems
It won’t end soon and I have no clue
Why I bought that bridge and set it on fire

Lost my shoe in the resulting news
Can’t let the rain get me down again
Won’t let it break me into kindling and when
I set to the task with a vigor renewed,
I will leave the rest for the sheriff to chew

Blast me again, let me see your shorts
Never again will I spend the rent
Broken but steady I slipped through the past

Nothing happened!

Got my line while waiting in line
Took a shortcut to the front of the pack
It doesn’t happen often but it happens enough

Little tracks in the snow
A kind face that you know
Steaming mad or maybe just mad
Can’t say which it is this time

You can beat the witch but you’ll never win
She’s far too smart for the likes of us
Didn’t you say that we have to move on?
Don’t you know that we’ll never get out

Once upon a time
In the land of merry lines
A sad song was born

The life of a tree is a thing to behold
From sprouts into forest they slowly unfold
The buds try to reach for an early spring
While leaves do announce a season of green

Autumn colors are a sight to be seen
In winter the branches stretch bare to the sky
Stable and firm the roots they reach down
Looking for water far deep underground

Caught in a moment of standing so tall
They brace in the wind and seldom fall
Born in the magic of a summer breeze
Nature paints life with the rustling of leaves

Spitting out the words again
Spelling a sense of thoughts unheard
Casual chances dance in the night
Muttering phrases lock into step

The siren wails out a resounding tune
Reporting the cause of time unfurled
Carrying the sound to the edges of time
Granting the passages that fill my mind

Sometimes the story dissolves in the wind
Noticed in passing, the fire burns within
Mine is the true but gentle concern
Of course, a new notion makes the world turn

Surely a poet can let it all in
Pruning the measure of a lifetime in years
The drums and the fife sound a haunting refrain
I could hear it so clear in the pouring rain

The moon shines bright on the desert sand
Nothing can stop me, the one who I am
Random stiches compound the suspense
It’s already a complex tale to defend

Lost in the book where the story unfolds
The end is to come but it’s not been told
Like you, I’ve been sold a half-finished page
I’ll finish it now and not waste a day

Take me to your show
I really want to know you
Deep down in your soul
Where the flowers bloom and grow

Show me all your dreams
Let your mysteries unfold
Take me far away
Through the sunshine of your day

Sing your song for me
Let the melody run free
Dance here in the breeze
Where the leaves of time recede

Let your feelings loose.
May your river run so deep.
Let your laughter fly
‘till the sky begins to weep.

Whisper your desires
In the temple of my ears
Let me just absorb
All your feelings and your fears

Pray with me today
May more flowers bloom for you
Share with me your mind
As the world slowly unwinds

Spend another day
Spinning tales into the rain
Let your pain dissolve away
In the daylight that remains

Deep down inside
Thoughts do collide
And spill out onto the page.

The memories they chase
Are naught but a dream.
The picture they paint
Is not what it seems.

Real or imagined
The feelings stand true.
Reason compels us
To do what we do.

Beyond the horizon
A future takes shape.
The visions entice
But our thoughts must suffice.

The gift of this moment
Is passing away.
The next one may bring us
Another hard day.

Or maybe we’ll find
A reason to stay
And dream up a chance
To have it our way.

Twisting around
In the pool of our thoughts,
The dreams and the memories
Help us get lost.

The heart of the matter
Is what we must see.
Believing in magic
Is how it should be.

It’s a terrible book. So hard to read.
Is it really such trash? Then make it ash.
No need to act like you like it so.
I know you’re burning just to let it go.

There’s no real sage between these pages.
Mental gyrations never tend to engage you.
I caught you smiling but was that so real?
I can’t really say but I know how you feel.

So now that the ink has stained your brain.
The paper cuts, they made you insane.
Now that the words are a big fat mush.
You can hush right up and light it up.

It takes a spark just to end this lark,
A little swish from the candle stick.
A puff of smoke and this joke is toast.
There’ll be nothing left of these words I wrote.

Reason will fade in the swirling flame.
Thoughts will get lost in the blurry haze.
If your mind’s made up then what’s to say?
I named it that way, so just do it OK.

Don’t let these words tend to lead you astray.
Settle on down and have it your way.
The bridges you burn are made of straw.
Burning a book’s not against the law.

Unless you do it in a public place.
Then, of course, you’ll have an egg on your face.
You can burn the words if you think it’s alright and
Flicker away in its glowing light.

Here’s the secret to your growing angst.
A simple solution to your mental trance.
Your mind’s made up so don’t get sick.
Just flick your Bic and get done with it.

A kid can flee so easily
Running out the open door.
They’ll climb a tree and find a world
So different than before.

Some dig a hole and pile up snow
To make themselves a fort
Or take their leave across the fields;
A different kind of sport.

Crawling through the hayfields,
Picking berries in the grass.
Celebrating little streams;
Watching them flow past.

Cats and dogs and little frogs
Birds and squirrels and ponies
Draped in mirth and soiled with dirt
The earth is not so lonely

Stepping through the stony fields
Hoping that first kiss will last
Playing past the summer glow
The days flow by, it starts to snow

Suddenly a memory grows
It grows into a dream
Moving on into the haze
Entranced we fail to count the days

It’s just a game we have to play
The rhythm of the years descend
Pretending all the dreams are real
We pass our time inside the wheel

Then at last, in the light of day
We look around and feel the sound
Of the trumpets blaring in our ears
Gently teasing all our fears

We deny the facts but that won’t last
Stemming tears we’ve gathered here
Passing time inside our minds
Believing things we cannot find

So clouds drift by, time ticks away
The games we played are getting older
From little kids just playing soldier
The world now sits upon our shoulders