sorrow flows full force
down through inner valleys
awash o’er empty days
unstopped by pleasant moments

I feel it at times
when the evening is hushed
when I hear you in a distant room
pass a picture longly hung

I see you in my children’s eyes
will often envy another’s hug
yearn to ease this persistent ache
sometimes pray for death to reach your side

did not hear you come
footfall of a butterfly
love comes silently

she shivered like a summer rose
in its first winter wind
oh, why did I scold
in a voice so cold

two kittens mewing
softened sounds in quiet den
mommy’s on the hunt

Like wild horses,
we race together across vast plains.
When summer comes,
we graze joyfully in flowered domains.

In winter’s rains,
we nuzzle neath protective cover,
a cave, a canopy,
just a love and lover.

We’re a team,
we’re a pairing,
no one’s controlling us,
no reins we’re wearing.

It’s freedom we enjoy,
untethered by superficial rules.
Our hearts joined in courage,
not in herds of timid fools.

I roll up the night shade
with all of its drunken memories
the morning sun blasts into my blood-stained eyes
with a stinging that momentarily blinds

is this another loveless day

Moonlight seeping in the darkened sky
Meekly peering through dappled cover
Invokes in me a plaintive sigh
The memory of a forlorn lover

She too was distant and obscure
Hiding feelings behind a misty drape
Still there always was that allure
Entrapping me with no escape

Wish I could’ve focused her sight
Brushed aside that cloudy veil
Amplified her inner bright
Brought color to her dismal pale

Alas, it was a losing cause
The twilight dimmed the setting sun
Perhaps there were celestial laws
That altered our orbit’s run

come find me
my heart is open for love
its single string seeks harmony

I need a companion for my journey
otherwise, what matters the path
there’s no comfort in a herd, only security

there’s no joy in laughing in the wind
nor solace from crying in the dark
beauty is meant for sharing

I’m tired of living among shadows
shadows  have no warmth
shadows cannot touch

Am I but a shadow, a silhouette?
If I step into the light, will I reveal myself
Or will I disappear?

Do I exist between worlds of light?
Am I just a bookmark betwixt meaningful pages?
Or do I inhabit a unique world of my own?

How does a shadow become enlightened?
How does a note become a tune?
Do I need others to complete me?

As shadows stretch into night
I contemplate the end of day
All paths regardless of way
Lead to the same darkened site

My loves, pleasures and woes
My regrets, desires and dreams
Flowing in chaotic streams
Eventually reach a final close

The brightness of youth
Burning with a fire of hope
Probable necessity to cope
Slowly absorbs accidental truth

Lust and romance
Draw us to warmth and flame
Steps in an endless game
A must desired musical dance

Ambition and career
An overcoming of insecurity
All a part of one’s maturity
Protecting families of financial fear

In the final hours
It’s all about memories and regrets
Failures to hedge all bets
A solitary accounting of what’s ours

interlocking sight
first day then night
a diminution of the light

the sun brings clarity
darkness uses similarity
there is some parity

vision always seeks verity

lingering swamp mist
over silent sentinels
mysteries lie neath

moon sleeping in lake
stars and fireflies glittering
entranced by night lights

the shadows whisper
eternal winter is near
summer is dying

it was the dying of my innocence
the end of artless play
a consciousness of gender
that remains this very day

a yearning for carnal pleasure
that underlies all social contact
awakening and altering my senses
couldn’t foresee its total impact

there are stages of development
where there is no turning back
that forever change your journey
and put you on a different track

there's birth and death in every moment
no meaning unless you make
a necklace of those beads

fly below tree tops, lest hawks espy
but learn to soar before you die

Yes, our mind is free to roam
In consciousness or dreamlike state
But its journey is limited like a moth in a jar

Can you not see me
A silhouette betwixt you and the vision you seek
A mere shadow behind a shadow
Just a whisper in the noise

If you gazed your light, would I disappear
If I screamed a feeling, would you hear
Perhaps in another sphere
I fear you’ll never know I’m here

Where do you hie, Dragonfly
In this clear blue sky?
Whom do you espy
With your multitudinous eye?

Who’s your prey today
Amidst the woodland spray?
In your watery youth, it was larvae,
Now the whole forest is your breakfast tray.

But are there dragonflies among us,
That you chance meet on street or bus?
Who are never heard to cuss
Or even raise a fuss.

Beware the iridescent charm.
He means to do you harm.
When he extends his arm,
There's cause for alarm

There’s tell-tale signs for his breed,
Oft rumors of treacherous deed.
But he'll remain aloft to mislead,
Then swoop with blinding speed.

Proceed with care.
Beware his debonair,
For in the sunfilled glare,
You may have no prayer!

shadows lengthening
day dying, as my heart cries
shadows fold in night

spread your eagle wings
soar over the mountain tops
want my son to fly

the night wind rustles
fool, to go so deep in woods
oh please, be a dream

disturb molecules
let’s get the body moving
it is a cold world

scratch deep my surface
know a furnace roars within
fear my eruptions

waiting for the rip
from the swell that births the wave
embrace its power

photo in my mind
can't put away in album
love has pasted it

While the sun is daying
trees are swaying
now, clouds are greying

doesn’t heaven ever sleep
has the sky begun to weep
tears started to leap

wow, the gods are really sobbing
they have my emotions throbbing

the sound of dripping
after a mid-morning rain
trees now awaken

stars all glittering
dwarfing imagination
we don’t even spark

was it, is it
worth it

rivulets run free
flowing into careless streams
the ocean awaits

The morning mist moves stealthily through the forest glen
Bringing moisture to every den
The doe and her fawn huddle close to preserve their zen
Hidden far from the world of men

The hunter arises early with eager anticipation
An age-old tradition of human predation
A memory of youthful vacation
Past bonding of a father-son relation

What will happen this fine spring day
Will paths cross in the misty grey
Will tragedy and victory combine in some fateful way
In which direction will fortunes sway

In the silent setting, a shot rang out
The father was late with his warning shout
There was no antler above the gentle snout
Thank god, his son missed in his initial bout

This was not the hunter’s dream
Not the experience he wanted to share
It was so close to be an anguished scream
The hunter muttered a silent prayer

for sure
haute couture
but soup du jour?

am I slipping off the shelf
is it the end of self

"Later"

Our love is losing its gripping,
like acrobats whose hands are slipping.
We pay too little attention
to each other’s intention.
We ignore the shading
and are too quickly abrading.

What started this downward turn?
Was it a careless spurn?
Was it an angry moment
that began the foment?

What started with loving laughter,
even through the mornings after,
has become at times judgmental,
or what’s worse, inconsequential.

I feel I’m spinning into a cosmic shift,
tumbling freefall from your world, adrift.
Are you pulling from me or am I letting go?
All I know is that it hurts me so.

your love awoke me like morning
silently quietly persistently

it slowly warmed me
from head to toe, to and fro

it pushed me into day
from a reluctant night

it brought me sight
gently into light

you have birthed my joy

love washed over me
an ocean of emotion
providing a shore

desiccated leaves
I crunch in my weary steps
sound of journey’s end

We have evolved, you and I.
When first we met, we were merely cartoons.
Now we are portraits.

From silhouettes to textured shadows,
We have added colors and hues to our relationship.

We have managed to jump the branes to different dimensions.
We live in a different world from other people, private and intimate.

Did we at first skate past each other on icy ponds, before we felt the warmth of one another? Did our images and souls meld in the chill air?

How have our wild neurons grasped the reality of our love?
How did we roil up our emotions to break the impassive surface?

Are you merely an extension of my dreams and delusions?
Do we love each other or only love the perception of each other?
As the philosopher George Berkeley conjectured,
the only reality may just be a perception.

But if that is so, I don’t care. My only reality is here with you.
Whether it’s a dream or not, it’s the world I want to inhabit forever.

Mirror, where has youth fled
Is it hiding in this wrinkled head

trapped in dream
can’t dictate theme
often, a silent scream

is this altered reality
flashes of history
hyperbole in mundane potpourri

it’s as if the sun is sleeping
its fearful tears are leaping
the sound of staccato weeping

running at the pace of fear
got to get out of here
make no sound lest they hear

The gray sky weeps because the summer sun
waved goodbye with sunburnt hand
Now, winter reaches in with icy fingers
to numb the land

All the summer bounty will be washed away
by this winter’s rain-sloshed earth
Giving birth to months of dearth

So too my love you have deprived me
inner warmth even as you depart
Leaving me with shivering heart

Is there good reason for such dreadful season
Do you plan an annual return
Lest I learn to fathom what you yearn

Tell me what I need to do
To retain the heat of you
Are you just a fair-weather friend
Have you brought our summer to an end

time for me in sight
born in water, die in sand
a blink in God’s eye

tree winds rustle through
the bleakness of the winter
the sound of dying

paper in the wind
wasted words unseen unread
found, a poet’s dream

Dare I swing higher than my head
Seek a thrill, avoid the dread
Walk along the perilous edge
Or cower on comfort’s ledge

Shall I let loose laughter like a loon
Or purse it as a reedy tune
Should I sob on heart’s bitter break
Or quell it with chocolate cake

Shall I love with passions full
Or restrict a feeling’s pull
Shall I sail on music swells
Or row tone-dead between buoy bells

Shall I reveal my deepest self
Or tuck it away on a shelf
Shall I wander in the field at large
Or park myself in my home’s garage