Paucity of light
causes spirit's yearn
to exit dark of night
to feel that spirit return

and when at last he makes connection
he knows that his prostration
is one with the benign Creator,
the Worshipped with prostrator

[when at last you make connection
know that your prostration
is one with the benign Creator,
the Worshipped with prostrator]

For creation is not adventitious,
coming from another source,
Creator is not capricious,
tumultuous immortal force

when all the world exasperates,
when all around seems lost,
remember your congenial state
with the One Who dwells aloft.

for all else is shadow
of the shining light
that shines eternal glow
within eternal night.

i heard them before i saw them
cries of geese cutting the skies
at once natural, at once inhuman,
denuded nature with no disguise

a word danced in my mind
held out its hands, 'come dance with me',
called its friend, another word,
and then another, which made three.

Before I knew it, there they were,
ten dancing words on a page,
they formed a sentence, then a rhyme,
tapping time as on a stage

a dance, a ring,
as song they sing,
with lilt and lill
and jig 'n spring

then, of a moment, all was still,
no swirl of smiling prose or thrill,
a hush that said there'd never been
the tap of words as in a scene

as in a play of imagination
of cerebral recreation
just wet ink from my quill
like numbers on a shopping bill

from automated teller machine
standing fixed as ordered marines
letters silent as a winter night
the magic gone, taken flight,

waiting, waiting, for magic breath,
to rouse them into life from death,
when, once again, as talisman,
they'll sing music as no man can.

From childhood i've known You
my heart conversed where none could see
gazing up to skies of blue
i thought of You Who caused all to be

everything from something came
but that something had a name
it had a start, a very beginning,
You caused that start to be,

then i was pushed into the mud,
ridiculed for all to see,
i lost You and forsook You,
in my bitterness lost at sea,

now in my noon, i look again,
and find You are the same,
You have not changed that golden chain
hidden from those that seek acclaim

You stay aloof from rationale
from claims of race or national[e]
beyond all colour and prejudice
remain forever was will is.

Winter crept in through the back
he left the door ajar
and through the door blows bitter wind
from Canada and afar

with frosted wand he touches leaves
the climbing plants and trees
and leaves them all a-drooping
bereft of nature's weaves

with cape of grey and mountain black
he tiptoes through the shadows
and in a year he'll 'gain be back
to lay waste to field and meadows

I wondered how i'd got so old
How the time had gone
How my bones had gotten cold
Before my time had come

I wondered why my eyes they flickered
Before the written word
Why it seemed my mind was liquored
And my vision blurred

I wondered why the steps had grown
steeper in incline
why they creak'd, me joints and bones,
and moved like slow bovine

I wondered who that old man was
with grey whiskers and goatee
a venerable Santa Claus
that winked from mirror to me

then i recalled the passing years
i'd left my youth behind
in veil of laughter and of tears
and now decrepit mind

so i'll paint a smile on senility
pretend i'm glad 'n fine
i'll drink to youth's virility
and close eyes to my decline

Dipped into the piping beverage
Smooth like melted ore
Giving extra oomph 'n leverage
To inner Manticore

Rousing sleeping warrior
Ad'lescent sophomore
Breaking down the barrier
Twixt pretext and inner core

Dripping ebony brown
Waxing allegoric
Soft on tongue as down
Whispers sound euphoric

Soothing edges abrasive
From land of talisman
Transforms secular to sacred
This food of gods and man