See the people getting old before their time.
That’s their road but it  sure ain’t mine.
I have yet to find my glory
Make my mark
Tell my story.

Early mist
Hugging distant
Mountains.
Colder now.
Earlier
Soft spring-warm rain
Released my smile.
And now
Bleak autumn-cold rain
Weeps with me
Shares my pain
For the while.

That time I stepped out
And felt a pull deep inside
As ancients drew my breath,
Asked not to neglect their presence
These ghosts of ages past
These ancestral spirits I knew before my birth
A past
Past
All memories
Muscle snd bone memories
Formed but not informed
A peculiar déjà vu.
Were these to be my late counsel?
Guiding me, cleansing me
As I traversed this new path?
I know them awhile
Assailing me for dismissing them then.
I shout to them as winter approaches.
That I wasn’t ready…
It took all my strength
To lift my arm
And wave goodbye.

Sweet morning dreaming of lake dip paddling.
The sun, barely up, warmed our skin.
You dipped your paddle in the black swirling lake
and we laughed when it dripped on my chin.
Quietly gliding we passed windbent trees
That should have been dead long ago.
They seemed to grow out of age polished stone
And you dip paddled along gently slow.
The life vest, my headrest, smelled of sweet fishy lake;
I lay on the cold metal floor.
Taking much comfort in the amplified lapping
As you paddled us on to the shore.
Then we swam to cool off while the sun climbed above
We floated the hours away.
Drifting together hands clasped and eyes closed
I look back and thank God for that day

Woke up from a slumber
Didn’t know that I was in
You stared my way
You took my hand
And then I led you in.

Selfish, you share no emotion with me
Yet greedy you take all of mine
And though one might think it,
Love’s not like the ocean
And sadly we’re now out of time.

When you were at your worst you drew my blood
Then, sensitive as a lamb did return
To lick the very wounds that you did shape.
For that did I linger, your supplicant.
You filled me when it suited you; each time
Was I left wanting and unsatisfied.
And for the beacon of hope too far off
Did I repeatedly return, prostrate.
In your presence did I forget myself
And in the glass my form returned a lie.
No likeness liked but liked the wanting still
Until with bored and carefree glance did you
Make real what was reflected all the while.

I have to confess
I ain’t sleeping too well
Maybe its best that
I leave for a spell
I won’t tell you
I’m just as blind,
Just as lost as
You are kind
Worth the cost
And when we meet
you can start at my feet.

In a ward overcrowded
Patients confounded left distressed
While overworked essentials crave rest
But the best they can do is a guess
Smiles of comfort not even seen through the screen of PPE
And machines that help them rest
As they take their last ventilated
Breath.

A big gentle man
Cracks on with his plan just
To survive as any man can
In a hotbed pandemic
Hatred endemic for his kind
Devalued in life and in death
He is stopped blind
Takes his last suffocated
Breath

A pleading young mother
Kids scream at each other
It’s all too much for dad
It’s a rage and he’s had
A few and that’s not the least
Can’t get away from the beast
She covers her bruises
Picks up her youngest
And
Hopes she can get through the worst
Hot blood on the cold knife
Sweet murdered wife takes her last
Breath

Stagnant Suffocating confinement
The unrelenting walls closing in-
Hale, exhale; Zoom yoga and baking dough
Obliged to show forget the death
For a brief moment you
Took away my
Breath.

If I had a potion to rid the world
Of this grave pestilence, happy would I
Be to freely share my draught.

If I had a notion to rid the world
Of its grim ignorance, eager would I
Be to freely share my draft.

An apple and I can go on till dinner
A kiss and I yearn to the core for another
Prompting one more still
And while I do not dwell on details of that apple
The kiss leaves me wanting

Memory doesn’t record the time just the moment
And although it has been forever and a day
I can recall the moment any time
And smile as I stare back at you
And move toward you until we dance together recklessly
Before it is time to stop
And return to life
But at least we have the moment -

Words can be misconstrued
When they aren’t said but viewed
Slight offerings that are not meant to slight  
You need to know I’m doing alright
But I hear you are lowly.
Don’t worry, we can take it slowly

Seems like the end but it never started
More reason to be so down hearted
If only there was reason
Maybe then I’d be more strong.
Still I didn’t text you, call, or write you a song.  
Doesn’t mean I didn’t think of you
Or find meaning in the smallest thing

Contagion you have made some ill, some die
Some weak, some weaker still but I
Have found in you an unexpected Alibi.
Confined I find like mind apt to remind
Of a former time. Yet, your spiky crown
First afflicting then affecting did come down.