When I hear these sounds
I find it so easy
to believe and believe and believe
But why does my heart break
at the words uttered
and bleed and bleed and bleed

The summer sun has half the warmth
of your faint embrace
And winter’s snow has more comfort
than the smile upon my face

These overwhelming noises
fill my attention
giving ease upon ease upon ease
But the silence afterward
that deafens me
will not cease will not cease will not cease

Your hand is always warm upon mine
which is colder for reasons I know
Alive within me is a deadliness
that I can never show

So now your heart I feel
beat and beat and beat
And I taste how this life
is painfully bittersweet

The middle of the summer in Virginia
My whole family is standing in place
The flash goes off in my distracted eyes
“Wait!  I wasn’t looking.”
I look around waiting once again
The old buildings where our history began
The mix of civilization and nature
Takes my breath away
The green, green grass and the lush trees
Softly the wind from a breeze plays among my hair
Making each strand do a slow graceful dance
I taste the sweet lip-gloss as I chew my lower lip
I smell the fresh cut grass
As I wait to see the signal to smile
I am pressed against my sister
As everyone jumps into place
I’m blinded once again
I hear the leaves rustle
And my irritation disappears
As I remember why my family is there

late at night
the sun has gone
the moon a sliver
I lie awake
I've stared
at the ceiling
so many times before
where's Scheherazade?
to whisk my over-fraught mind
into the life of another
into restful sleep
too many years
with no sleep
only the spot
on my ceiling
I know it well
familiar
yet I do not
love it

In Spring one year
I walked along a preworn path
The sky was clear
Who could suspect the aftermath
Along the path I met the wall
Its cold, hard surface caught the eye
Etched upon the slabs were heroes all
Chilling, yet touching to passersby
I can barely express with a stave
The emotion stirred by such a sight
Of the names of the soldiers Vietnam sent to the grave
The wall of names in D.C. seems to utter “was it right?”

she stood beside the river bank
twisting knots in her dress
though getting soaked by the rain
she remained nonetheless
until she caught sight of the boat
her hands dropped
her face drained of its color
her golden boy inside was not
dimly through the raindrops
she heard his final plea go silent

Sitting in a glade I feel each blade
My feet walk within a square completely bare
Next to me flowers as far as the eye can see
Below me grass upon which my time I like to pass
Going going it is gone I have remained too long
Everything they told me I know it cannot be
So upon my feet I take my retreat
I go to the field where the truth can be revealed
For “the field of flowers tells no lies” (quote from Sandford Lyne)

“Loosen these ropes that bind me”
Begged the captive lion
“Forget what I did to your loved one
Can’t you see that I am trying?”
The lion was a sad one
Caught in the web of time
“It used to feel good, used to be fun
But only now does it feel like a crime”
Forgetting all he was taught
His natural instincts impaired
He’s slowly, but surely drowning
His sadness is beyond compare
He’s done things he regrets
The ones who care for him regret too
They cannot help but ask him
“What has happened to you?”