This is the second of two poems titled "Insight" I originally thought about merging the two into one but then decided to let them stand on their own.

Ideas come from insight
Leading us down a narrow path
Barefoot loose and fancy free
We’re lost in a moment we need to believe
Cherishing the moment we ramble on by
Over the ledge do we like to fly
Twilight glistens across your face
Illuminating the world we choose to make

Here’s another poem from the dust bin (first verse was written circa 1985). It took decades to come up with the rest of the poem.

“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

She sat in the forest of moments.
Puddles of inspiration lay at her feet.
Moss-covered memories danced in the shadows
And her wheat-colored hair tumbled freely
To the bundle of choices that graced her shoulders.

She danced in the pool of reflections.
In the swirls of her laughter she saw a chance.
Beyond the ethereal moment she passed.
Little ripples romanced her style and grace.
Absorbed in that place, she slipped…into dreams.

Wandering the fields of her many past lifetimes,
Her toes caress the sands of each stride.
Inside her mind where the memories reside
There stands a good reason for taking each step
And then again, another step.

In the space of a moment, she sought to divine
The taste of that place where verse is defined,
To carry with her on this loose-woven path,
She’s lost in the forest and pines for a world where
Her dreams lead her on as they sweep her away.

Nothing can matter to this wandering one
A spark of the moment entrances her hair.
Her ears perk for questions she’s bound to receive as
The path leads her on to the land of invention where
She settles her debt with the author of dreams.

While distant memories fade to grey
And time takes them so far away,
Others stay, locked deep inside
Where visions lie but cannot hide.

I miss you now but you’re still here,
Whispering songs into my ear.
I take you with me every day,
Remembering games we used to play.

I was used to you.
Each day was new.
Each time we played,
We played a different game.

Drifting through
The murky haze,
We’d think it through
And then we’d do.

I’m lost without your pleasant gaze.
Traveling down the roads we paved.
My soul was yours, the one you saved.
Our dreams they lived from day to day.

One day you left, it’s hard to say.
The bus came by and wrecked our day.
I miss you more as time goes by.
I often stop to wonder why.

That lasting kiss you left me with
Is all I taste, it’s all I feel.
The harmony you brought to me,
It filled the well inside my dreams.

My dearest one, I still see you,
Laughing, happy, loving me.
My heart is torn beyond compare.
These shoes are worn but I still care.

I can’t forget the plans we made.
Each day I live to honor thee.
The raging sea can’t quell our dreams.
The love we shared still sets me free.

A jazz band unwinds
Meter marks my place in time
Tempo moves my mind

Just another dream...
Fading, changing, deep and free
More salt for the sea.

There’s just one moon for you
But countless stars to shine on you
The heavens they will dance for you
And the sun will rise and set for you

The wind will blow so strong for you
The tide will ebb and flow for you
The skies will turn to blue for you
And birds will sing a song for you

The fog will lift its veil for you
The sands of time will flow for you
The leaves will grow and fall for you
And I will live and die for you

Oh please won’t you **** me slowly
Turn your blinding love upon me
Let me soak up your charms
And die in your arms
Let me sing you a tune
And believe that we are...
In love.

I was taking a look the other day
A deep bold look into your eyes
Mesmerized, I took a chance
You stood your ground
So,
I kissed you

Your lips and mine
Became entwined
We lingered there
For quite awhile
Our tongues embraced
In the time it takes
To wrap my arms
Around your waist

I laid your head down on the pillow
With kisses, many across your face
We never thought for a single minute
That we could get so lost in the split of an instant

Time flowed by and we knew right then
Our hearts were together to the very end
You kissed me back and let me in
So I took you right there where the love begins

March 9, 2017

Knowing is certain, all questions abound
Answers are found near the edges of space
Solid and true our kind accrues
Leaving us better with things we can use
The human race accumulates the past
Lays it to the test over and over again
Building the body over countless time
Searing its knowledge into our minds

I poured my dreams into a lake
And watched them slowly dissipate
Those tender drops dissolved in waves
Rolling through the thoughts I’ve saved

Drenched in sunlight, dancing there
Those dreams evolved into a mist
Lifting up, it kissed the sky
Spinning rainbows for my eyes

Butterflies in brilliant light
What a sight as dreams take flight
Whatever comes, whatever goes
The ripples in the lake still flow

New thoughts reach back, deep down inside
As wonder drifts up from the waves
The lake returns so many dreams
Her wispy visions come to me

I let the dreams flow over me
The lake has now become a sea
I’m all absorbed in its salty spray
There many cares are washed away

Looking again for one last dance
Writing the rhyme for one last time
Letting go and taking hold
I pass the time letting time go by
There is no qualm, there is no fear
I take it all in as it comes along
There is no measure that I cannot see
There is no place I’d rather be
You can’t stop me, I’m way ahead
I won’t look back, instead...
I’ll take the chance that appears to me
And write the song the muse lets me see
Don’t ask me why, it happens so
I’m always just ready to simply let go

Traces of moonlight
Always dancing in starlight:
Turn on your love light

Winter fades away
Lasting memories linger
Some time passes by

Rolling waves, little vibes.
Subtle words locked deep inside.
Relax…step back...and ride the tide.
Seek to find what’s locked inside.

Little ripples flowing in a rolling sea,
Gently washing all over me.
Watching you as you pass the time.
Reaching out to make the climb.

We’re celebrating new-found worlds.
Choosing words as yet unheard.
Building mansions in the sky.
Dreaming…believing…asking why.

The tales you tell,
They rise and fly.
Wisps of clouds…wet and dreamy…
Floating by.

I love you more than time can say.
Beyond the mountains, we must stray.
Dwelling here inside your waves,
Our love evolves in special ways

Tempting fate…
Our ripples flow.
Tossing stones into the hole.
The echoes ring throughout my brain.
Your rain pours down, removing pain.

In hues of blue,
It seems to me a pleasant scene.
That timeless dream you paint for me
Is sprawling here for all to see.

I’m all absorbed,
Never bored with what you say.
I love the way you look at me,
Just how your eyes divine on me.

The world is tossed, our love is bound.
Rumbling over this hallowed ground.
All we’ve shared and all we’ve seen
Is what we’ve found and can believe.

The trees have seen our blooming dreams.
Nothing means so much to me.
Except…
That warming fire inside your eyes.

To my surprise, it’s no surprise.
Your flame, it warms my pulsing stream.
The heat that’s raging in my soul
Is whole with you, your role is true.

The only moment we can ever spend
Must last for now…and now…and now.
Please remember that you please me so.
Just grow with me as the river flows.

Taking a step that’s mine to take
Just dancing a dance that I cannot shake
Under the moon that shines down on me
I’m lost in the starlight and a subtle breeze

I look to the heavens so deep and wide
Falling on in, I take my next stride
Around and around the stars they do spin
There’s never a though of beginning again

Just wandering along, one step at a time
I feel the beat quicken my heart with a rhyme
I walk with a notion of what I have found
The path leads me down to my place on the ground

My feet tread the journey I was destined to make
My mind ponders over the route that I take
Blessed with the peace that I’m happy to find
I step off the road inside my mind

I take up the new path with a fire in my gait
There’s no waiting around, time simply won’t wait
Caught up in the whirl with a skip in my step
I waltz through the moonlight with no regret

The grand design
That hill that we climb
All tempests shared
To be compared
The walls that we breach
And thoughts that we teach
Are lessons learned
And passions burned
Our little world
Revolves around
While time spins away
And knocks us on down
We’ve almost read
To the very last page
Changing the score
Is not how it’s played
Absent that path
We reach for the stars
And dance in the moonlight
With all that we are

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

Grasses stand growing
in this season of delight.
Trapped in the meadow,
they’re caught up in light.
The world keeps on turning.
The sun keeps on burning.
Such a beautiful sight
to dream of tonight.

Starlight is fading
As you surrender your dreams
To warm sun rising
O’er the landscape you're flying

Locked deep in your mind
In the breadth of each moment
Time drifts slowly by...

Here in the sunlight…streaming
Memories are fleeting
But the world is breathing

Your vibrant rainbow
Tosses many reflections
Gleaming in sunlight
Your deep vision remembers

As heaven descends
In the still of the morning
Dancing with daylight
The whole world is unfolding
A melody is growing

“Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you're just a reflection of him?” – Bill Watterson

Lost in a moment of cast reflection
Stepping back and seeing the picture
A solemn face reaches out to greet me
I stare back in awe of this simple vision
The river has risen above the steeple
The backwater splashes all over my feet
I look for you now in the old tinted glass
You’re not really there but neither am I
We haunt each other in the timeless mirror
And deliver a glance as we take our chance
It’s about living freely, to that I attest
It’s nothing but a change we had to accept

entranced in moonlight
a moth swims through the pale glow:
the heavens d
                        e
                         s
                          c
                           e
                            n
                             d

4/25/2017

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Light shimmers briefly across the stage.
I catch a glimpse of the shadows it makes.
Is there not something more to see?
I wonder just now why it happens to be that
I can’t see the stars
but I know that they’re there.
Tonight in the moonlight
they’re lost to the night.
Under the glow,
I kiss them goodbye
And walk down the path
that this warm light defines.

“Truth can be told in an instant, forgiveness can be offered spontaneously, but reconciliation is the work of lifetimes and generations.” Krista Tippett*

A healer by trade
The best he ever had
“stitches and backbone” was the operative term
Defender, protector, fan, and motto
Holder of the family tree she stood
A hen pecking out her given order
Tough as nails but a curse with vegetables
Pressure cooked cabbage Yuck! Beets. Yuck!
Good salads though
Dad got me eating green beans
Ma kept ‘em coming
Food, family, fun and memories
That’s all we have for now
That’s all we can ever have
Martinis and memories

Cast  in the shadows of a waning moon
Carrying on to the arboreal stand
Wandering around for a tune to sing
Lost in the words we have not heard
Memories dance in a somber rain
Leaves on the trees sing a rustling song
Crafting a message in time unbound
Found in the tune that traps our soul
We listen for a moment to take it all in
Caught in the magic we choose to behold

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

There is an old homonym used in this poem e.g. “habit”. Its usage in the opening lines is something I wrote on a napkin decades ago. It creates a pleasant ambiguity in the mix. Homonyms are words that are spelled and sound the same but have different meanings. The question is, it a nun’s habit or just a good/bad habit?

“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.” Albert Camus

Take a look at this old habit
I know it’s worn, I’ve had it for years
It’s tattered and torn in all the right places
Cost me a dime and a lifetime of tears
Transforming my soul it is worn with respect
Counting the memories it passes the test
Round the corner off the end of the bend
My shivering tears contend with the rain
Mentions of settlements wrought in pain
Never will I ever be here again
Deliver me now to the dragon’s lair
I don’t even care if it’s not really there
Made a hat to match from a well weathered mat
I tossed it aside to the place where it’s at
Never again will I tread on this time
“Buyer beware” of this train of thought
It could cost you a page
From your own weathered book so
Never forget when you came on this chance
And never believe you can get it all back

I’ve lost it again,
My one working pen.
But then,
Things should be simpler
Than that.

I need a piece of paper too.
I’m so lost without it.
This simply won’t do.

My mind is racing.
The words are escaping.
Like a fleeting rainbow
They’re drifting away.

Got to sit down
At this old computer
And type them all up
Before they can stray.

The world keeps on churning
Assaulting my brain.
The words tumble out
And onto the stage.

I do miss my pen.
We were the best of friends.
Nothing could get in our way.

Times may have changed
But he phrases remain.
I’ll say it again
I still miss my pen

I hope he’s OK
In the very best way.
We had so much fun
There out on the page.

But the thoughts keep on coming
The computer is humming.
The words bubble out
So I tuck them away.

I’ll say a goodbye
For the time that remains.
Destined to fight
For the words that I write.

My Polish friend he
Loves his *****
I can barely understand a single word he says
He loves the girls, cigarettes, beer and cards
Always a sucker for a good cigar

Only one place he’d rather be
Loves his car in which he likes to play
An average student never had his way
Five of ten is the turn that he took

The director smiled
And asked him for more…
                                           …Money
I love this man and
We drink together
We laugh and smile no matter
the weather

His friendship rings true
As does all of mine too
Our pleasure’s a chance
So we choose now to dance

Like a teddy bear
He sleeps through the day
And into the night
For heaven’s sake

We tender the measure
Of an unsung rhyme
Our thoughts comes together
As we begin to climb

My Polish friend
Has lots to say
But it rattles along
And I can’t get away

His English *****
I’m happy to say
That my Polish *****
In the very same way