Morning flower, mild light,
misted and
diffuse scents drift
as kites.
Dew kissed and cool,
pale air through a
cloudy pool,
over our small patch
of earth.
The brushing grass gives
us a place to grow,
to search for
the heavens, like the rose.

You are so beautiful,
you are
nature's gift.
You are my sun,
beaming and raining
blankets of warmth,
but you also bring the mist.
The bond between us
will always endure storms
and sense shadow ghosts of
miasmic forms.
Sometimes thunder booms
and looms in the
distance while the space
between us sizzles with
white radiance.

But we plunge strong roots
and emerge from the
nurturing ground of love;
our love that will not pass
away but will
always spin and swim
in the vastness of space.
Our love
will always return
to the sun,
the warmth,
the life and spring well
of creation.

We will always grow here --
we will rise and die and rise
again --
on our little
patch of heaven.

I.
She moves like life from water!
She springs forth like the bubbling brook,
Splashing free, cool and joyful!
From above she comes, falling from
The grace of the Creator, Mother to Maiden,
From HER to here!

From the lonely droplet,
Clear and oval,
To the lovely rain,
Drenching in elemental purity,
She embodies a universe
Of vanishing, transparent organisms --
All busy like minute motors.
This infinitesimal society of her new self is,
At once, chaotic and harmonic,
Vast in its plenitude
But invisible to entities above.
This is her world within worlds (a cyclical vortex),
Whirling free and purposeful,
Gyrating and making
Things happen!

She grows through her years to the placid pond:
She is calm and open in support of the swimming,
Leaping, floating, flying, green, yellow,
Brown, red, violet, fragrant, sweet and earthy
Communities who have befriended her ---
We surround her, humming our odes maternal.

She evolves to the raging river and plummeting falls;
A being of turbulence --
Rushing, plunging
And exploding into the air!
Submersed within, she sculpts a sharp edge
Of wit and cunning; subsumed inside the surging flood,
She shapes smooth circulars,
The stones of her ideals, hard-won,
Perfected for her slingshot battle-cry!
Her watery voice is now a full-throated roar,
Haughty, rebellious and self-possessed!
With it, she will stand against and subdue the giants
Who dare to constrain her purpose or deny her worth!
Still, the sonar of her soul also emits waves
More limpid:
The lyrical, ripple-pulse of the river,
Melodically mingled
With the shifting sunbeam and the wafting breeze.

There are sensual silences of unspoken longing
That spill, slip and spin upon quieter currents.
She emerges with all these energies…
Our homes may drift asleep in her care.
We move and live over her wet,
Strong, sultry shoulders.
She carries us through our lives.

Her destiny is, finally, joined to Mother Ocean.
Vast. Powerful. Earth-embracing.
She lets go of doubt as she is drawn into it –
Undeniable, unrelenting, untamed.
Caught in the undertow of desire, of
****** rapture, her tinder temple trembles.
She is lost in a clinging, clutching chaos, quaking
From the erogenous flesh and *** of her source.
All of her essence dissolves into a spherical suffusing;
A filling and expanding need.
Deeper…
Darker -- a sounding blue inside her.
The leviathan of lust descends, arriving at a level
Teaming in mysteries.
Here, there are a myriad of eyes searching
In the hot marrow within.  
Above, the thunder, wind and riptide wave;
Below…the deathly, serious
Silence that reveals the primordial
Drone of the universe –
The vibration of the heart of God --
In the midst of all things known or merely intuited.
Wisdom uttered in a language we hear, we understand,
But we fear to speak…
Yet, in a twinkling of the eye, sometime further ahead,
Above the storm,
We will know,
Speak from our hearts,
And be safe, in her fathomless arms.  

II.
The Man: He is a volcano.
He is pure earth, he is unruly fire-lathe.
He is stone, he is air, and he is the gravity
Which girds the foundation.
He is a destroyer and
He is the
New creation at dawn –
Cooled off, enriched, and potent.
He lifts up the trees, the grass, the rose, the shrub.
The birthing and nurturing soil forms around his feet.
Yet rippling amidst the inflorescence and saplings bubbles
A stream or a spring. Her presence is like diamonds, like pearls
In the rich rough -- glinting, splashing and playing in his garden!
He is the green mountain;
He is the red fire within it.
He explodes, in a blinding white,
Causing the new world,
In all its iridescence, to arise!

Woman and the water.
Man and the fire.
Together we are the world, entire.
Our home. Our journey. Our destiny.

Ourselves.

See. See her relax, comfortable in her own skin. See the soft flesh, sheets, lights, and shadows. See her lover in reflection and their intimacy in refraction: feel their world of togetherness; their bond is now and in every future moment, no matter where they are as individuals. The bond that will never fade. Love perpetual, touch of desire, shared spirit, shared space, a room for their oneness, with comfort, with silence, with all human warmth the world has within it.

Black rose, with seam of gold,
Visions penetrate the air
With mysteries untold.
An ancient word spoken,
A waxen seal is broken;
Crow's flight stabs the sky,
As blood flows from a lie.
Poisoned knowing,
Wisdom divine.
Wind of change blowing,
We perceive the sign.
All our days are counted
And seen from above.
All our fears surmounted
When we take flight in love.

As the transient day slips by,
We work for our food and shelter.
We busy ourselves with toil
In a sultry, oppresive swelter.
This is the way of things, of course,
As we seek to survive the world’s hardships.
But we must not lose hope, so we keep words
Of encouragement on our lips.

But the day wanders late,
And we must prepare for
The perilous darkness…

Looking up, we saw the day’s diadem
Dropping and dwindling
Into an expanding distance.
A widening waste spreads,
Swallowing our hope and
Threatening our existence.
We kneeled to pray for protection
During this cold gloom of catharsis.
It seemed a ghostly mist approached,
As if from ancient Tarsus.

Suddenly, the warming orb shatters
Against the horizon,
Exploding with resplendent rubies,
Flying out from the surface!
Before this crystalline spectacle we are transfixed,
As our hearts discover a renewed purpose.

This shimmering treasure
Was then drawn up,
As the night’s shade descended,
To stand as a symbol
Of an eternal hope,
Just as God Intended.
To fill the sky with wonderful lights,
Creating a crown Of destiny.
We beheld its glory,
Within and without,
As our fears were transformed
Into ecstasy!

In that moment, we cried out,
“Come, O' Night! We reflect your beauty!
In this darkened aura,
We feel the embrace of an Arcadian love!
Night! Portent of our death and
Harbinger of our illumination,
We are kin with the stars!
We are citizens of the heavens above!”

The animal spirit she possesses,
An agile anima stalking a dark spark within,
Looms as predator and protector.
This hunter-rogue guide
Glides through her Soulscape,
Revealed as moon illumined mountain forest,
A place of winter-refracted
Ethereality and lurking danger.
In this dusky, deceptive ambiance,
She has access to a primordial instinct –
Archetypal symbols, ancient signs –
At once savage and wise.
Finding herself in this
Wilderness of vulnerability,
She girds for battle.
Staring squarely into the dark,
Duplicitous and cruel face
Of her adversary, she prepares.
She finds the strength to see
What are lies and
What are the truths --
Both are found there
In that pitched, lacerated visage.

Like all warriors across
Time immemorial,
She embraces her pain,
Exercising control over it.
Absorbing the jagged,
Razor’d contours,
She sees
In its elements
The space where the
“Other” ends
And where she begins;
How she was made
A flint against which
He sharpened his cutlass
And where she
Has made of herself
The door through which he entered.

From this core radiance
Comes a rapier will to survive,
The strength to guard her kin,
The keen intelligence
To unleash her primal howl,
And the blood-fire to rule her demons.

Eclipse of solar source,
Shadow on the sun.
Change from shine to
Dark doesn't frighten me;
I look at the world to realize
Those are part of the same one.

Poison ingested,
defenses engaged,
struggle to survive,
turmoil in its wake.
After all that,
I refuse to be among
the walking dead.
I will rise again.

Seek your inner-power;
focus your mind.
Immerse yourself in the sublime
quiet that hides in the moment.
Align your breathing
with your heart’s beating.
Settle the motion of thought
into the center, your core,
the seat of your soul.
Let time drift...
let go of each phenomenon that may
impinge upon the journey within —
you will become only
your breath and
the beat and
the quiet murmur
of your heart’s longing...

In the corner of my room
stands a desk,
a humble desk beside the window.
Upon the desk lies a tome,
open and inviting, that
leads me on a path I will continue.
At the lonely hours of the night,
I cross the threshold to strange
and seminal worlds,
illum'd by simple candle light.

In truth, the tome casts its own glow:
it gives me its glimmering gems of wisdom,
its waning Moonstones of inspiration
and the precious treasures
of knowledge that emerge from the
shadow!

My soul seeks these pearls of
grand vision; I seek to
enrich my view
of our whirling, protective sphere,
to unearth the subtle shades
and hidden layers of
Her verdant frontier.

From my solitary desk,
windows of crafted prose and
elaborate description open to
a world rich in
wondrous experience!
These pages are portals
of the exploration the mind, the
discovery of the heart, and a
spirit of enduring resilience.

From the pristine pages of
my beloved books rise
mountaintop vistas on
our multifaceted world,
our diverse history
and our creative power.

And the light flows to me and around
my lonely room.

Of all the kinetic ripples
that shimmer across
our luminiferous
sweep of sky,
none move me like
the voyage of sleek Sakiya,
Princess of pristine flight!
Her poise is subtle,
her path a prance,
she springs upon the air
with ballon buoyance!
It is the pantomime dance
of her spirit
which keeps her
tracing the clouds,
and her quixotic beauty
should never be covered by shrouds.
With a boundless grace and
her beatific face, we are often
reminded of angels
winging in space!
I lift my heart
as she skims the sky,
with my belief in miracles
beaming from my eyes.
Lovely Sakiya, Princess of Flight,
May your cherry blossom spirit
always reach new heights!

With the signal sun brimming
in the distance, 
I open and find a new world misty
and in silence. 
Emerging
from a drowsy dream,
still foggy and unsure,
slowly, I conjure my courage
and sharpen mental contours. 
I know I cannot stay
trussed in the safety of my room;
I must, indeed, trust
in the bountiful beauty
of the day's bloom! 
I will rise to seek, reach for and
express a hopeful prerogative. 
It is a vital yearning that
remains illusive,
iconic and evocative.
The search for a truth that coaxes
my soul to a higher place. 
In this quixotic quest
I will try to connect with ancient ways. 
Perpetually receptive to the piercing
insights of those immortal spirits,
I follow this path
where ever it leads,
even to the mysterious silence
of strange spaces.

The season’s haughty train
Trails behind, decadent,
Pretending.
Unrelenting trials
Have gone by and
Are now most mercifully
Ending.
The jaundiced jewel fixed
At noon's height had
Shown its light too glaring,
Its blinding core
Creating warmth too wearing.
That languorous season,
An oppressive array,
Which over-weights our shape;
We were low and bowing but
With no trace of fealty, no
Chance of escape.

Long
Have these searing hours
Draped us in a sweaty quilt.
Time like a heavy cloak,
Days like the burden of guilt.
Summer’s scorn spit out as
Stabbing taunts and a
Savage lash of indictment.
We were exposed to its unblinking,
Unforgiving regard,
Its cruel cast
Driving all to mad
Incitement.

Now, slowly…
How silently,
So kindly,
The atmosphere shifts,
Swirling the lightness
Of graceful leaves,
Blending into a lifting wave
With soft whispers of a new day.
The night clears to hear our
Secluded prayers, spoken in shade.
Sleep drifts ghostly,
Our drunken slumber, in
Chambers blackened.
But the sober morning
Welcomes us calmly,
Quietly, like a forgiving friend.

Suddenly, a gracious change brings
The soul’s cool rebirth!
The dome above us
Deepens its complexion, from
Raging red to azure mirth;
The choking white smoke,
A miasma of grim gas,
Melts away and
Yields to cheering
Hearth fires!
Sparks stirring ambient hopes
Of familial bonds.
Familiar sensations fill
The empty places with
The forgotten mists of home!

A fleeting presence draws near,
Extending an invitation to a peace
That is eternal, and
Offered forever freely:
Dreams and revelations awaken --
Recalled as a mother’s love,
Or a child’s laughter, pealing!  
This refreshing phase brings
Enchantment in thoughts of home;
The source of all our growing,
With often vexed comings and goings.
A place I left so long ago,
So far out of the
Reach of my heart, still roaming.

Sage, solemn autumn,
That itinerant interval,
Arrives
As a pilgrim, bearing simple treasures;
Tokens to trade from our past
We feared were sure sorely lost –
Nevermore to be embraced.

With this goodly turn of fate,
Many precious things
Are gladly recovered,
Given with warm hands, lifted
Up in a seasonal thanks.
With autumn spirits
Wafting up,
Swirling around our hearts,
Eternal,
To the chilled, open sky.

Love is the path.
Love is the light.
Love is the substance.
Love is the journey.
Love, the destiny of all!
Give yourself to Love!
Love speaks truth (sometimes painful)
and proclaims poetry, mystic and joyful.
Love sings songs of courage and delight!
Love sees all beauty and struggle.
Love acts to heal, to forgive, to touch, to embrace.
Love sees you and hopes the highest hope!
Love is the SOUL of Justice, Truth, Beauty, and all creation.
While Love gives light, there is also Darkness;
Darkness is a part of Love but does not command it.
We have the dark in our heart and flesh but we also have light.
Love is the source of that light so let the light and dark play!
From such play comes all ART
and the power to overcome sadness.
Love is the power of all life.
Darkness abides in life but it can also consume it – Do not let it.
Fight the danger of darkness with the hope,
courage and light of Love!
Love is your one hope.
Death is not the end,
Love is.

She enters the room
and her ambient light fills
the darkened corners.
Where once there was sadness and doubt,
her loving favor cheers all our mourners.  
Where the world, each day, hurls cruel
barbs at our hearts,
she brings exuberant joy, levity
and the seeds of a new start!
Her warm, voluptuous beauty and
style inspires all who see her.
She generously shares
her sparkling smile and
luminous eyes,
revealing a soul that is pure.
In these troubled times,
her overflowing enthusiasm is infectious!
We need her expression of love, friendship and cheer
to show us a new direction.
Thank you, darling, for your spirit and light.
You have given me a new strength to fight!

A near lifetime spent
Separately,
Struggling in the outer gloom,
Blind to the direction of our
Stars.

We were as two poles pointing
Out to divergent destinies,
Yet somewhere
Joined,
Crossed,
Connected by a thread of
Healing innocence.
Our graced past grafted into
Our pressing, every day
Present.

It would be many rotations before
Our paths converged again,
As space folded back onto itself;
Points in the sky measured by
Blue shift velocities.

Light was now coming back to us with
Sparks sent in spontaneous
Expression.
Our lives beaming
Possibilities and common purpose,
Responding to an
Archetype in the merging
Of night and light.

There but for a moment,
Ourselves in silent symmetry,
Cradled together
In a fraught darkness;
A darkness familiar but
Finally changed --
For it did not pass in stoic solitude, but
In a kind of shared striving.

But this charged darkness had a
Lover in light, through the window of night,
Carried by a forest breeze.
A heavenly radiance,
Spread out and lingering
In the cool air of our mountain wilderness.
Luminous and palpable as a
Seraph in our midst.
This light caressed and blessed
The human unity between us.

This sparkle of time lived
In the pure embrace of
Requited longing.

We found ourselves together, completed,
Strengthened in mutual support.
Separate poles in this
Close space.
Sensually spherical ---  
A new world spinning on a strange axis,
Turning in the moon light,
Coursing through a universe of our own divining.

We were present in a plane where
Dark and light, cool and warmth,
Silence and expression,
Time and eternity, here and there,
Familiar and singular,
Spirit and body were married, fused in joy,
Dancing in delight, singing and laughing and
Speaking words in soul sound,
Exultant.

There, in that same close space,
We were revealed in the tender pleasures of love and
In the hot tears of compassion and regret.

Finally changed,
Finally crossed and
Finally blessed,  
We were finally together
In that dark wilderness;

Between mountain and sky,
Under moon and heaven light.

Shining.

Dream and wander,
little one,
even in the dark.
Search heaven for stars,
find stardust in your
searching!
The brightsome scatter of lights,
fleeting before your eyes, leaps
forth from your listed and
longed for desires.
Even in the shivery
nightshade you waste
not a moment!
Your muse calls,
casting spells from a wand,
and you quest after, bravely,
breathless.
A child's sojourn into the fabled forest,
with her stardust eyes,
her Hafling host leaves it's
trace in the snow, glistening.
Her breath, now vaporous, rises in pursuit.

The hush of eternity
whispers
in the air over our home;
its celestial spangles
bless the darkened hills
with a glimmering dance.
Above us all
is silent,
cool,
and placid,
while our hearts beat and
strive and shake
with hope and expectation!
Star light over our hearts:
forever distant,
forever desired,
forever distilled
inside us.

The night plunges around me
like heavy water.
Cold and dark solitude overwhelms
my world, as a withering undertow
that won't let go.
But I still can see
the bright brilliance
in the air, far on high, where you live.
And I see you untethered,
dancing and flitting
among the jewels of heaven!
Your play, wonder and levity
attract me and I take hope.
I aspire to ascend above
the callous quagmire of despair,
the torrent of our tragic world,
to see your charming face!
The stars shine in your eyes and
your luminous heart
shows me the way!
With you I can rise above this
shadowy grave
to become a soul
of iridescent splendor!

The crushing night draws near
but we huddle closer,
hands and
voices extended in support.
The raging fire shatters the
divide between safety and chaos,
but we burn hotter
for the peace we know,
the homes we built,
and the bonds that sustain.
The howling riot
tramples our culture as
our society shudders with hysteria,
but we keep our faith
in humanity high;
we look upon this trust as our
Stella Polaris,
our guiding light!
We will never surrender
to the fear, the dark
or the savage within
or without.
Nothing shall defeat
the beacon of truth
we hold in our hearts.
Nothing will diminish the
dauntless dignity
that arises from our core!
For there is a redeemed
future yet to be realized.
There are ingenious flights of creativity
yet to be cast,
and there are heroic stories yet
to be written...
In the end, right now,
there are humble hearts
-- our hearts --
yet to create beauty in the world.

In the ancient ages of our story,
Long lost on the storm-tossed sea of time,
Mystics, Shamen, Seers, Poets, and Prophets
Pointed to paths leading to survival,
Vital roads for our guides to find.
Lo, our progress came through
The purge of many perils.
In the grip of that troubled existence,
Our visionaries found the way forth
From a plague of deadly terrors.

Born out of the feverish tumult of the mystic Wild-man
Or the symbolic song of a Tribal Priestess,
Came words of hope and vision.
Their inner-light was a primordial premonition, stoking
The courage to make our daunting decisions.
Their mind’s eye pierced the veil, striking
Lightning catalysts into a forest of fascination,
To ignite the strength we must bring to fruition!

We clung to their words as we clung to each other,
And heard their call to mission.
We allowed the signs of their ecstasy to gestate
Within our souls; words woven into myths
To bear the fruit of immortal imagination!
Out of this flame came the hard-won wisdom of our people,
Our embryonic culture, and the seeds of our salvation.

We traveled on in the grip of a darkened world and
Survived together, confirmed by a shared oath.
The tree of humanity’s fragile hope must take root,
To fulfill its future growth.

We are an Ark-people, a covenant people,
A people of deep foundations.
We take that light, that fire, and
That power into our destiny,
Striking wild and true within!

May the ineffable Creator bless our steps,
Secure our path, inspire our faith,
And anoint our hearts for the road ahead,
Beyond…

Sophie sits quietly, soaking in the sounds.
This Jazz club suits her perfectly,
As she swallows spirituous rounds.
The music is hot, with Latin-flair, and
Pulsing, staccato, percussive drive.
The air on her shoulders is moist
In this Parisian summer jive.
Sophie tastes the twilight culture,
She lives for the buzz.
She won't accept the ordinary, she
Vibrates with bohemian blood!
She loves her music live in her
Sultry summer jive.

Invisible and silent.
All from nothing.
A "being" that dwarfs a giant
but is never aging.
Original essence,
primordial mind,
but eternally absent, one
we can never find.
For we cannot see nor can we hear
that which we believe
is objectively clear --
the timeless mystery,
the source and summation
of all that is.
Indeed,
why do we call this “no thing”
by the name of “God”?
From the fathomless
silence, why must we
seek a disembodied sound?
We imagine it "up there"
but it is nowhere
to be found.
Still, we cling to it,
like frightened children,
for we are afraid to be alone;
we are afraid to lose ourselves,
our reason to be, and for
all our sins we must atone.
Alas, even though it is
invisible and silent
it still drives us on,
almost to sheer madness
and beyond.
But in the deepening darkness,
what sound do we hear?
What else is there,
when the chips are down,
but our
blood and
our breath
to battle the fear?
In our bitter doubt,
will we ever find the courage?
At the end of the day,
should we follow,
desperate and scared,
or should we lead?
If God is not there,
how then is it revealed?
If God is quiet, how
will the story be told?
The answer is
with us.
We must speak, act and be bold!
When there is blind indifference
where a vision of justice should be,
we must raise our eyes and see!
When there is a hopeless hand
reaching out for salvation,
we must grasp the moment,
to rise above our station!
When there is a lapse
in the light we must
become the shine lost.
So we must do that which needs to be done:
Love, listen, cry, feel, fight, lift, hold, give, and serve,
whatever the cost.
Why do we seek the dead among the living?
Why do we bow to nothing
when we should stand for something?
God is not there...
But we are here!
We are God in the world!
This is the only God there is.
Truly, we must do this or
God within us will depart.
If we do not, God will dissolve
from our heart.
If this last faith fails then
God, our light, will die.
And there will be nothing left,
save the silence...not you
nor I.

I.: “A strange terrain…”  

From the deep
And desiccated
Heart
Of an immensity, daunting…
Clutched by sheer solitude
And a silence haunting,
She awakes.
In the incommensurable
Night of her desert chimera,
She peers out, trembling, into
The black void of this
Trackless Sahara.

She embarks on a desperate journey
In a soundless surround.
Within a palace of nowhere
She stumbles on, bereaved,
By crippling confusion bound.
Above, a waxen moon stares
Suspended in a luminous stance.
Below, she travels that cavernous
Wilderness, lingering in a troubled
Trance.

Searching stars, of countless cluster,
Cast a beguiling play of light.
Lurking shadows and
Lunar-glow wash,
Shape-shifting,
A ghostly white.
The diamond powder glitter,
Spread out before her dashed
And bloodied feet, make her eyes
Shimmer in false hope;
This mirage of caprice
Is complete.

Her desert is a dark season
Of the soul;
She is tormented by
A scorpion’s brood of doubt
And fear’s locust-curse control.
The blistering sun of self-contempt,
With poisoned, burning breath,
Blows sands of insecurity,
Amidst a landscape
Littered with death.
A strange terrain where
Gaunt relics
Jut out like shards
Of broken clay;
Where lowering spirits
Whisper and tempt,
While heaven’s angels delay.

In this turbulent place,
Where all fall short of grace,
Her demons she must face.

II.: “A deathly fate…”

Almost petrified from dread,
Locked in a battle within,
She hears the roar of her accusers,
The devils screaming out her sins.
Before the scorching, scraping,
Acidic assault of Hell, she senses
The slippery ***** of escape.
A specter calls to her,
With sweet and
Sultry tones,
Urging a deathly fate.

This is the final,
Baleful temptation:
The impulse to give up
And give in.
To turn her faith over to the
Fury of these fiends of
Dark desolation.
The decision weighs like a millstone,
To accept the judgment of the ******.
And, as through parched fingers,
To let her soul sift
Like burning sand.
To allow them to destroy that one,
Most precious gift --
That unalloyed beauty,
That jewel resplendent --
Her Life, the wind that
Gives her wings lift.

III.: “She fights back…”

Stripped bare and exposed to
Danger -- this vortex of distress
And focused anger -- her soul’s
Crimson sap rises to the surface,
Quickened and engaged for
Priceless purchase.
Then, a voice from inside comes as
An insurgency!
It screams desperately
And shouts with urgency!  
It tells of a mission that is not yet finished;
A calling that is not complete
And bruised fortitude to replenish.
In the presence of a
Demonic challenge,
She dedicates herself to honesty and
To undimmed belief
In her God-given quality!
She makes a firm pledge
To an unflinching embrace
Of what is.

She fights back with wits and instincts.
She does not wilt from the risks but
Rears up, steeled and retributive!

All at once, the trance is broken, and the
Sadness is shattered.
Her spirit vibrates with
Power and the devils are scattered!
She now has the courage to diagnose
What is guile and what verity.
She calls forth the medicine of the
Artist’s ardor, a guide through the
Dark night to crystal clarity.  
She will embrace life through art,
In all its pleasures and
All its tribulations!
The creator’s brush and palette will
Reveal the sinews of her subject’s
Aspirations.

In this way, her scars will heal.

IV.:  “This torrent of fertile flame…”

Her painter’s cunning is born of
Her heart’s passion and
Her body’s absolution.
With the naked canvass
Before her, she enters
Into a ferment of transfixed
Delirium,
Expectant and open to the
Daemon of inspiration.

The visions come and they roil,
As a litany of colors form her bible.
Mysterious music summons her toil
As she sways to rhythms tribal.
And lights!
And shadows…
And glancing,
Ghostly figures
Come into view.
Her ecstasy foments
In unbridled explorations
Of contour,
Layered chaos,
With juxtaposed
Shape and hue.
In that precarious moment of creativity,
She is spiked between two poles.
Shedding sparks in raw conductivity,
She loosens her grip on the controls.
Her muse liquefies
Into a river of
Scalding fecundity and
Kinetic energy, thick with
Spiritual potency!  

This torrent of fertile flame
Consumes the past, the deception,
The self-denial and the shame.
All the murky dross of doubt is purged
Until purity is all that remains.…

Pure presence,
Pure focus;
A quiet core of calm
Within the storm, surrounded by
The hurling, unruly universe.  

Finally, she arrives at a place
Out of time and space,
Beyond her desert of pain.
She is self-aware and ready
To look ahead,
Unafraid.

I live in a world of rapidly diminishing returns,
Seeing the days grown short.
Looking out to the horizon,
A shadow rises against the backdrop.

Pulling my coat against the chill,
I shudder as my weary eyes water.
Another day grinding
To a halt, times of laughter
For which I cannot barter.

I walk a lonely path, my feet echoing
Foot falls on the firmament.
I drag the load-stone of a troubled past
Made permanent.
I struggle to keep up, to push forward
The leaden weight of existence.
All around me is dead air,
A dull roar,
And my quiet, hard acceptance.

My life in the blackened breach,
With hope just out of reach,
And all my defenses engaged.
Sculpting the weight, and act to create
A monolith of defiance,
On this mortal stage.

But the elements scorn and
Reject my weakened will.
I've become averse to the sound
Of my own heart.
When will it be still?

In my desperation, my restless mind drifts:

I feel like I am lost in a forest of petrified bereaved.
The face of sorrow chiseled on everything God has conceived.
Branching up with life ended long ago.
Of those rooted to the ground, the posture of exaltation is
Twisted and gnarled, stunted and calcified.
All here are defeated,
All denied.
These vanquished stand upon an ashen earth,
At the foot of a heaving mountain of fire.
It dominates the landscape, thundering and quaking,
Churning with molten mire.
The power beheld is hollowed and hellish,
A betrayer of my heart's desire.
Devoid of fertility, it sends its toxic waste
Spewing toward the lurid sun,
Its fume chokes my parched throat;
On my knees, I feel my life is run.
The mountain is a false god, lying.
It receives my agonized worship,
From a soul whose prayer is dying...

I want to wander astray,
To leave this wreckage and flee;
Slipping through the wire, undetected.
I would spend a day
Far away from the war flags
And scorched battlements --
And the smell of death,
Deflected.

If only I could face down
The demonic mountain of fire
With a renewed heart of passion!
To recreate the charred landscape
In the image of my life
Reawakened.

I must try
To utter a new song
Of exaltation,
From a love that is triumphant!
A sound soaring up toward
The warming sun,
A new day expectant!

The sculpted monolith will finally
Be raised, completed...
A graven icon of my spirit, undefeated.

I was indifferent
to the hot winds of May
As I busily made my way
Toward a higher ground;
To a quiet place where
I would stoke a slow burn --
A place to rejuvenate
In motion;
To find release and
Refine…
To beckon my strength
Return.

And there, in the midst of my striving,
I heard her draw near.

My attention arrested, enthralled;
The moment nigh with grace profound.
From that familiar hum and thump of Life:

Now…

I might be blinded by my faith in
Things unseen…
I may be short-sighted in my
Ever-present need,
But I swear I saw you smile at me
And your look lingered
Illicitly.

Her golden face, her glance, her grace,
Her stride reached inside of me.
My breath was caught dead, my mind
Rapt in expectation of a spirit that seems
Ancient. I received her gift with urgent longing.

Oh, what a moment to be touched from within!
Time stood frozen, suspended on the point of a needle,
And all things were held in the grip of a gaze,
Seized by her angelic brilliance.

Now…

I am undone by the
Sign and wonder
Of this woman.
How her form and fire
Captivates and beguiles,
Bewitched in desire.
Raptured in sheer mesmeric
Separation
From that quiet place of self.

And I was taken away on a hot wind in May.
She lit a slow burn that rises.

A glance, a gaze and a gift
Surprises.

Her smile…

What does she seek there in the dark?
Something whispers to her from that shadowy ark!
Murmurings as gossamer thread spin their tale.
She rises from her bed, as if coaxed by nightingale.
The mystery and the moonlight weave a dream
she cannot seem to flee.
The ponderous old chest disturbed her sleep,
so, she kindles candle flame to illuminate the key.
Outside her window, the moaning wind blows.
The ancient house utters unsettling creaks
and mournful groans!
All her courage is summoned for a search in
the pitch-black room.
Will her discovery bode well or prefigure the tomb?
The dimly cast light, the howling wind, the
enigmatic gossamer voice within...

Light within silence.

Light hidden
With the dark.

Inside, waiting.

Light quietly glowing and
Spreading outward, vibrating.

Soundless power –
Potential destroyer:
Rapacious inferno torching
Trembling boundaries,
Bursting through fragile frames,
And forging life anew.  

Seminal signs surfacing in vicissitudes
Of diversity. Quantum changes churning
In particle plurality, evolving perpetually.  

In the dark, within, you find….
There is something strange and
Flowering, flickering…
. . . . .    

Dulcet hearts within human enclosures,
Within homes, within rooms,
Emanating and penetrating.  
Their love exchanged from his
And her hands, hips, breaths --
Their child-like hopes and
Exhausted happiness
Expressed.  

Two entwined,
In undimmed human totality.
With voices that defy
The worldly cacophony and align
Chaotic multitudes into a symphonic singularity.
Harmony shaped in dissonant spheres,
A song of something strong and towering.

Sound with power –
Potential designer.  
. . . . .

We are coupled,
Communicating a tension
Between one and oneness.  

Our limbs, lips, labor and
Our laughter tell the story --  
Together, we are changing, churning
And evolving.

We are becoming us,
In the transcendent
And the universal --  
Yet, in our particular
Revelation, besides.

We discover this power in
Silence and darkness,
As we wait, hope, and tremble
-- Entwined with perpetual,
Penetrating light and love.

That radiant moment
When we find
There are no more
Boundaries.

"The world is WIDE and I travel it!
The world has a secret and I SEEK it!”,
Said I, as I sailed off one day
To follow tales of distant shores,
With untrammeled frontiers,
****** and pure!

Yielding to the demand of my disquieted soul,
“Voyage!” she cried, and I set upon my goal:
To stretch forth the extremities of my
Ambition -- to penetrate
The veil of all unknowing;
To heed to the heady lure
Of discovery,
Carried by the west wind, blowing!
The path I run will cost me years, and
I must try to go the distance.
But this is a longing for life undiluted,
Quaffed deep and savored
As a Barolo vintage,
Noble and intense.

Maps of her forbidding hinterlands were
Vouchsafed by Mariner Kings of ancient days.
I consulted the coded charts for clues, and
Configured the gilded astrolabe.
Obsession ruled my motives as I
Poured over sea-faring strategies.
The sagacious scrolls became a cypher,
Whispering exotic rumors
Of pleasures and possessions,
Steeped in rich antiquities.

My fertile mind was seized
By these boundless visions,
As the time came for our enterprise.
I shouted to my stalwart company,
“The road forward will not be forgiving,
But the rewards gained will outrageous fortune comprise!”

Our quest divided the latitudes as a
Scimitar separates flesh from bone.
My ship slashed the longitudes as we
Sought passage far from home.
My desire encircled her sensuous shape,
For she is a mistress, supple and warm.
This journey provided the means of escape, for
From the Tome of Glory these pages were torn!

Hence, joyously exulting, I made clear my claim,
“Wisdom is a treasure divine!
Adventure is the blood inflamed!”

My mad dream was unleashed and
I will always remember the day.
I was free to sail my heart’s tidal-course,
Venturing forth, far and away!

The hallowed halls
are
structure,
art craft,
spiritual labor,
architectural mastery
and an arena for our inner lights.

This place exists to paint
a transcendent
vision upon the sky!
The forged canopy
of our devout industry
provides a contrived enclosure,
a fixed canvas, and
a sacred keep,
dedicated to the numinous
desires of the human heart.

And our prayers go up
with our song...
the mystic
echo-drone of eternity
reverberates around the pilgrims.
The anguished utterance
of the soul
seems to stick to our bones.
But the sound still
ascends,
flying free from the cage,
within the house of the Lord.

Our ethereal longing is as pure incense,
fragrant, sweet and heady,
before the King's heavenly
presence, all around us.

The schism obscures
The sound of your voice
And our song.
Epochs of existence
Extend out and back
To a time
Before the fall.

But no vast expanse
Of distance can
Dim the light of your memory;
A sweet, shining tribute
To how we laughed and played!
Vivid images of your smile,
Your dance, your sweat, and
Your joy flicker within!

Still, an ocean of earth lies
Between this
And then and
That and when
I was with you,
In the same close space;
Us together,
Ecstatic!
Friends.

Those days of youth have
Never left my mind;
They purify my soul like a
Sacrament.
Your touch as an angel,
Once lost in my past,
But now found,
As if by accident.

You and your painful past –
You and your renewed future,
Slightly unsure of who I am…  
Let me remind you!  

Let me show you our history
In pictures of words --
And the silence between
That speaks louder --
Where you will find
My heart, wet
With the tears of my
Bitter years.    

Let me tell you again
Who I am,
Who you were,
And why we said goodbye.
But I don’t really know why, then.  
I saw you there,
As if by accident,
And I don’t know why,
Now.  

But somehow
We still understand
And believe in that
Time and that place.

Yet there is sad separation
That drowns our embrace,
Pulled apart by currents
Of life
And time,
And the distance between,
Dimming the sound of our voice…

But not our song!  
  
Still we sing,
Still we dance,
Still we play,
And still I see
Your bright smile,
In this same close space,
Within.  

I'll never leave this,
Our close space,
Where we are together,

Always friends.

"My passion,
The purest flame,
It burns on untamed…."

           All these years have passed as I look to see
           Why my soul still carries forth this inner fire.
           The question I need to answer may be
           All that my life stands for, to know I am not a liar.

"A light in the dark; it refines my heart,          
Searing the dross, of so much lost, away…."

           It started in the eyes of a child, the essential self within.
           How my heart grew with desire, in the delight of a friend.
           The impulse to embrace another, to hear her laughter sing
           Has been a guiding star in heaven, all I want my life to bring.

"But the heated steel leaves traces of harms past…"

          My hope to please her led me to a fateful day
          When my world of desire was shattered.
          In broken pieces my heart lay and
          All my hopes no longer mattered.
          She turned on me with anger and I recoiled in shame.
          So exposed was I in that terrible moment
          And everyone could see my pain.    

"Memories marked by scars and burns…"

         The scar of that day I bear with me and it won’t recede.
         My search goes on to find a way out of a jail, I must be freed.  
         Will this moment ever be reversed,
         As polar extremes can realign?
         Or will my heart forever morn the shadow of her shine.

"….As each precious and painful one takes its turn
In the fires of my passion."

You are soft, secret, sufficient, and secure.
You are silent now but inside gather words --
Your soul is bubbling, fizzing, foaming and
Swirling with words:
Thoughts, songs, prayers, poems, shouts, and
Affirmations constantly churn!
From all this riot, rhyme and reflection,
Comes deep understanding --
You know what is good, what is true.
You know how to speak to the heavens and
To your own heart. Alas, what really
Separates the two?
All this beauty, strength, and poise centered
In the quiet of your serene shrine.
You are warm, you are loving, you are funny,
You are fine!
Be yourself and tell us your truth,
For your silence barely conceals what your beauty
Offers freely as proof.

I AM...

I am not weak
but without your strength, I can falter.

I am not ignorant
but without your light, I can lose
my way in the darkness.

I am not compromised or diminished
but without you in my life, I am not all
I could be.

I am not dead
but without the summoning
of your love,
my soul lies in cold shade, entombed,
desperately reaching out for
resurrection.

I am not mute.
I still have my voice -- reflected with
emotions of sadness and joy, sacred longing
and sultry desire, laughing levity and
bitter indignation, sparkling song and
studied erudition -- and this voice calls to you.

Just call out to me and I will answer!

I am here,
waiting for your presence.
I am waiting for your solace.
I am waiting for your spirit.
I am waiting for your passion.

Come to me, for
I am yours!

Realize
that the world is old
and you are new.
But your soul is older still,
and the mysteries
you will fathom are, finally, few.
But, be present and listen...
for the air around you
carries a sacred truth,
and you will see the clues.
Go forth with eyes alert
and become one with
the wild blue.
As you wander,
as you courageously
reach,
you will discover
what is true.