Moonlight’s bright tonight.
Let’s go outside and play
In the fields of the village.
Morning’s far away.

Still crisp air holds its breath
In silence as we watch
Moonlit shadows creeping west,
Forever out of reach.

We try to chase the shadows
Running through the trees,
Standing tall like rocket ships
Against the lonely seas.

Come along and run with me,
The fields await our gaze.
There lay mysteries to be seen
Beyond the twilight haze.

We’ll chase our noble destiny
Into the howling storm
And catch those fleeting shadows,
Running with open arms.

We’ve stayed in this tiny village
Longer than we aught.
The world awaits, bold and bright
Even if we’re caught.

It’s time to make our journey
To lands far and wide.
I’d rather face the future
With you by my side.

Moonlight’s bright tonight.
Let’s go outside and play.
Time to forge our future,
In the streets with me today.

Dried and crispy coats the lawn
Bright or dull it matters none.
Crying out their silent protest
Against this quick and second death.

And yet their friends keep coming
Dropping in, joining the parade,
“Wait don’t start without us”
Not knowing they’ve been betrayed.

Hiding in weeds or fleeing with the wind
They resist their fate in quiet desperation,
But the mower knows no empathy.
Inevitably they face their final destiny.

I’ve run out of things to say to you
I who love how language feels
Cannot see your thoughts to know,
How to ask what you conceal.

Perfection is fine to a point,
An everlasting urge
but I’d never breathe again,
If I did not share our eternal love.

The exquisite princess of maiden joy
Can sacrifice her honor and her name,
By giving of her sullen self
from within her hidden carnal dream.

Understand the silent plan
The never spoken thought.
Reflect on days never lived,
Answers never given, never sought.

Receive please what you are due.
Believe at least that I love you.

He ventured outward into the realm of the day’s conquest.
A time of sentiment for touching the vast flashes of wisdom,
There he tasted the sweetness and basked in the promised pleasures.
All around the dominion gave its gifts, and he received their joys.

Contently he strolled through warm rain laughing with the trees.
It had been a time of unknown frontiers,
A passive union of feeling and potential,
When he questioned his reasons and his sanity.

He asked for guidance to confirm the object of his quest.
He felt others asking the same words as he.
Soon he understood the collective, the visions of flower and bloom.
Further ahead the fence remains high and hard to climb.

Psychedelic scenery floating ‘fore your eyes.
Blue-suited Principals wearing two-tone ties.
Hazy-gazed burnouts who cannot count to ten.
Corduroy robots reading Steinbeck’s pen.

Academic junkies roaming though the halls.
Starchy marching minions hearing the drummer’s call
After-school side hustles, workin’ to earn some dough.
Smoke-toking teachers sharing what they know.

I wear my mask when I go out to control what’s on display
At Friday football parties and keg stand soirees.
I hide my mask when I’m alone to keep my nature pure
Revealing to no one else the fact I’m insecure.

We made it through a troubled time
Of change and introspection.
We viewed our goals with raging fear
And pursued them with keen aggression.

We are children of the night
Listening silently, gasping for cool breath,
As love races in the darkened recesses of our minds.
Wings flap through a starless sky
With a keen and clear precision.
We feel the day’s end through the harnessed rapture of its warmth.

Now is the time of the children of the night
Formed in bands of eager delight.
Poised with purpose they roam, hungry.
Dancing in the soft, silent, breeze,
Like knowledgeable dogs hounding the air
Awaiting the whistle of command.

We delight to welcome these new times,
Bidding farewell to the old days.
Believing in the lure of the night,
A faith too real to be subdued
Even when seen by burning eyes
In the face of the western wind.

Some say anger and pain are cousins
Always traveling as one.
I’ve felt them both in my days,
Intertwined, solidified,
Almost premeditated,
Enjoying their journey.

But I prefer laughter with my pain.
True partners in survival
A touch of humor in the sorrow
Tempering, if even a shade twisted,
And each glad day
Can carry its drop of pain.