I want you to know
I’m sorry I left
But I needed to go
My mind agreed
To something I set
In motion
Long ago
I’d been fighting for you
Just to stay a little more
But I could not find
The courage to stay
For myself.
This fighting
Grew old
My body became tired
Soon I could no longer
Keep the act going.
The days grew longer
The nights became darker
My brain would never turn off
I felt it would be better
For me to disappear
Escape from the earth
And leave everything
To go on without me.
So I say it again
I’m sorry I left
But it was my only choice
I couldn’t stop
What I already started.
I’m sorry.

Would you stop writing because all the best words have already been said?

Would you stop reading because all the deepest poetic things have already been read?

Would you stop enjoying food because all the best recipes have already been created?

Would you stop painting because all the best masterpieces have already been painted?

Would you stop giving because there’s nothing left to give?

Share all the words, thoughts, visions and beautiful things that give you a reason to live.

Ill walk one hundred thousand steps in the night
I made the flight with no map or light

Stumbled through brier and thorn
Upon my soul like a garment, torn

Yet my mind is like a stallion
Stampeding with my battalion

The spirit of the heard(herd)
Is trans-Luci-dating the power of the third

I'm stuck here now on earth
But the lines are getting blurred

Each letter a note to the infinite song
Channeling the word of god all along

It’s a quiet cool twilight
and through the windows I see
elm and pear standing in elegant silhouette
arms and delicate fingers
calmly reach for the sky.
They know not the years’ end is nigh
they remember spring summer and fall
and now they rest in winter’s arms
theirs the wisdom of passing
season unto season
their roots reach down and deepen.

We two are quiet at twilight
yet reaching for the heavens,
but we do know the years we’ve stayed,
more than eighteen thousand days
in the embrace of our love
season unto season
our roots deepen
and reach into our hearts
finding reason upon reason
to learn and grow and mature
millions of minutes step by step to endure.

And breath by breath
she has said yes upon yes
to this man unworthy of the grace
I have found in her voice and her embrace.
In moments of anger and near despair
we crafted a sculpture of care.

We’ve walked through darkness into light
knelt before each other sad and contrite
for our failures and night upon night
we have laid side by side
and together we’ve stayed
conquered our pride
found the divine in each other and beyond
turned tears and fears into a durable bond.

Still her smile melts me
floats me and bolts me
and her lips still thrill and pull me into her fiery orbit.
Even after this long, this woman I cannot resist
and yes, she persists
in her acceptance of this old guy
who can still bring a sparkle to her eye
a chuckle to her voice and a smile to her face.

Here we are at this twilight time
golden and holdin together
and – still – yes, still we rhyme.

every up-pushing bent green-yellow-frayed grass blade and raggedy, seed-**** protruding from

the hard cold winter ground in front of me

— like the billions of leafy counterparts and bladed look-alikes growing rudely fecund from —

rocks
cement
asphalt

or from

vacant lots
littered fields
waste-places

remind me that you and i are part of a raggedy but indefatigable weight of persistent  burgeoning glory

My disquieting thoughts strike at night in the wee hours
As if born along by the autumn winds and bracing cold
Persistent as a fever and fierce as thunderstorms
What can be forgiven and what cannot?
I fall asleep to another night of uncertainly

I awaken to a new day of endurance
My spirit ablaze with hope can cope
With feet steady and face to the wind
Transforming the toughest trial into triumph
Because beyond the pain the prize is seen