the sun sets
      in western whispers
astral sagas
spill
         their wisdom
on the night's
canvas

and to the east
eternity

when you try
to
                         escape
through the cracks
    of an
empty space
your theme music
                dis-
                      si-
            ­               pates.

wilted flowers degrade
to recipes of splendor.
she looked
and he was gone.
anonymity
his name.

We're sorry,
but something went wrong.
Time was all we needed,
but you took too long.
So please hang up, start over,
and try again once more.
Time was all we needed,
you shoulda' given us more.

daylight
                              breaks
the king of kings
               sheds
his glimmering cape
and sets
     a crown of gold
atop his
opulent head

I asked him twelve times to do it.

Then he died.

So I did it.

I should have done it all along.

Why must it be
this way? I asked her.
Have you forgotten?

I haven’t forgotten, she
said, I have just moved
on. Why can’t you?

Moving on is not
so simple, I said,
when there is so much
to forget.

For thirteen years
the old man
watched
the sun rise
and fall
everyday
until one day
he did not.

Those were
the happiest
thirteen years
of
his life.

What do you think, man?
I don't know what I think, man.
So do you think, man?

the stars
align
in celestial
matrimony
her eyes
twinkle
with the
light
of a
million moons
day
breaks
the heavens
impart
their wisdom
of
illumination
and
the stars
align
once
more

it was
              as if
the world never stopped
         spinning
in those
few moments
       when
her eyes
met

his

I stopped believing in God
long ago.

When I was a boy,
my father would
scream and yell
at my sister
for her transgressions
and shortcomings
and I would
cradle a Bible
in my arms
in my room
and weep and pray
pleading for it
to stop.
I'm sure I made
some sort of
desperate offering
at some point;
a bargain of sorts
to take my soul
for hers.
Let it be me instead,
I'd pray.

All these years later,
my father and I
are estranged
and although I
no longer
believe in God
at times when I
find myself
backed into
a corner
I catch myself
praying again
throwing my pleas
in every direction
to any force that
will possibly
listen
and I begin to
wonder if a
prayer
actually can
be answered.

But I stopped believing in God
long ago.

She said to him,
"The stars,
can you see them?"

He replied,
"I do."

She said to him,
"The ocean,
can you hear it?"

He replied,
"I can."

She said to him,
"My heart,
will you hold it?"

He replied,
"I will."