Coming out of the dark, let light ascend.
Oh so dim, a glimmer of hope,
in this blackness that I have felt for so long.
Hope has long since died.  Holding on was all.  

You made me hope for a future,
but it was just a dream;
a nightmare with its bleeding wound refusing to heal.
You alone hold the key to set me free.  

Set me free then; do what you must
to give me the wings to fly.
Half-truths and lies hidden beneath misguided kindness lock me away,
leaving me behind while others move freely.

Oh free me from this loneliness,
give me an open door to this prison; a key to find my way.
Give me the heart to believe in a future
complete with a love to call my own.

Pain, like a molten sword,
burns on the flesh of my heart.

Once again, it’s been wielded,
tearing a hole into my unprotected soul.

I am drowning in the blackness,
of its grasp on me.

I lift my prayers to the heavens
to give me strength of spirit,

and wisdom to find the path
to escape its mighty grip.

The heavens sing
its winter song,
through crystal ice
in snowflake form.

With starlight hues,
across the sky,
in awe we watch
parhelion’s array.

My friends ask me why, I no longer take time,
to take pencil in hand, to draw what’s in my mind,
or to put it on canvas, with paintbrush in hand,
though I’ve tried to explain, they just don’t understand.

So I simply reply, “I now paint on a screen,
or I paint on computer, with words and a theme,
and I use what’s inside me, to bring words to life”.
with a spectrum of colors, they are just as precise.

Their only reply is, “But you are far too good!”
You can’t put your art down!  If only I could…”
Still they can’t understand, nor could I in their place,
that the freshness of art, has since gone with no trace.

To make art with pastel, no longer conveys,
what I felt was important, what I wanted to say.
I no longer enjoy, art’s gestation and birth,
it no longer brings joy, only pain for its worth.

But the pen gives us strength, just as mighty as all
of the art that we see, on the gallery walls.
Each image on paper, with the picture complete,
is boundlessly infinite; each image unique.

There may come a time, when I’ll take up my brush,
to paint what I see, to the canvas I’ll touch.
But for now, I’m contented, to write how I feel,
to paint with my writing, and to share all I see.

Paint me a picture,
I heard the world cry,
and give me the wings
from this madness I'll fly.

Our hearts have been squeezed
to their limit I fear,
and the pain we all share
has been found in our tears.

But the deep winter sun
has burst forth on this day,
giving hope to the hopeless
and warms sorrow’s prey.

It’s stark sparkling light
atop snow tops it dances,
dusting glitter on snowbanks
like diamonds it flashes.

Across fluffy drifts
with impressionist hues,
brings to mind sandy beaches
of Caribbean dunes.

So dance if you can
for this day will soon pass,
let your mind find its picture
‘til you find peace at last.

Autumn’s brusque wind slices its way through the remnants of summer,
painting maples in hues of brilliant oranges and reds.
Long shadows of late September streak across the last blades of grass,
as fall’s stark contrasts light the afternoon.

The seasonal wind breathes cold with the smell of autumn in the air.
Autumn’s brusque wind slices its way through the remnants of summer,
while cottony clouds in a sea of cornflower blue, slowly slide out of view,
chased down by v’s of geese as they race across the sun.

Helicopter seeds line the sidewalks, green and gold, as others float on the wind,
down to join with cones and acorns awaiting next year’s crop.  
Autumn’s brusque wind slices its way through the remnants of summer.
Crows, harbingers of the winter to come, make their sad calls.

Squirrels pause to pack their cheeks with Fall’s fare and scurry to secret caches,
their bulging cheeks filled with fallen nuts and acorns.
Fall greets me with a kiss as summer bows to its chill, as
Autumn’s brusque wind slices its way through the remnants of summer.

Oft leaders with their silver tongues,
of lies and graceless souls have forged,
a nation filled with bleeding souls,
we lift our voice in one accord.

Imprisoned by their self-made love,
they’ve led us to this darkest hour,
while those who watch from other lands,
know us for who we truly are.

So oft we’re blinded to ourselves,
and never see beyond the lies;
a nation split between the blind,
and those who’ve seen, in horror cry.

Enough, I cry within my heart,
with like-souls indignation rage,
our bleeding nation must replace,
the fluted pipers on our stage.

I thought I’d found a summer home
to keep me through my days.
My heart had led me to a place
where sunlight always played.

Instead I found an ice-cold heart
from one that I adored,
for winter camped out in my life
the day you closed that door.

In hindsight I look back and think
how could I’d been so blind?
To see the man who’d stole my heart
was just a state of mind.

Blessed one from up above believe in me I pray,
and keep me safe with heartfelt love on these my dreary days.
Help me with this fallen heart to overcome the pain,
and lead me from this lonely place and rise above the rain.

Lift me to my feet again to make me whole once more,
and let me see the world a gift, to me this I implore.
Create in me a will of strength to help me live again,
with all the past left far behind with all that might have been.

Bless me with the joy of love throughout the rest of life,
and lead me to the way of bliss, not just a life of strife.
Let me look ahead of me and not behind a day,
and lead me with your blessed love and keep me safe I pray.

You came to me in dreams,
so handsome and strong.
Clothed in a summer dress  I met you,
hair upswept and face so young.  

You were my prince,
the one who made me want,
the one who made me whole,
the one who was my dream.

Tall and blonde you came to me
with sweet songs of how life could be.
In a life apart from mine;
a hopeful life of true devine.

You have come to me
to give me hope and to make me whole.
Guide me to your soul. Leap from my nights,
into this life awaiting your love.

So honest is a puppy’s love,
kisses so tender and sweet,
a love that has no agenda,
except to be loved.

You burst with excitement,
when I come to call,
greeting me with your dance,
and springing into my arms.

As you curl up on my lap,
you sigh and look up briefly,
before snuggling in,
to dream your puppy dreams.

Autumn falls quietly in the north,
creeping over gardens and woods
as it kisses the leaves in vermilion and ochre
catching blossoms in mid-bloom.

The shadows of September grow long,
over fields and landscapes,
as their stark contrast reminds all
of the frigid months to come.

Butterflies flit noiselessly about
from flower to flower lighting briefly,
in their search of nectar,
drinking in the remaining harvest of the season.

A soft breeze rustles through the leaves,
bringing a shiver to my shoulders,
as a solitary leaf floats gently down beside me;
a brief wave to fall.

The raggedy girl of childhood,
lived across a field of swaying grass.
Little tomboys finding ourselves,
running the summer down.

Days filled with splashing in creeks,
and catching bugs in our clasped hands.
Shinnying up trees in the heat,
drinking Kool-aid, our afternoon treat.

Wringing as much as we could,
from this time of innocence,
we struggled as children do,
to make sweet summer memories.

Amidst the heirs and privileged sect,
who in this land have laid their claim,
and while we’ve dozed our lives infect,
with arrogance, has brought us shame.

We claim of freedom in our land,
yet turn away those bitter cries,
of those who need compassioned hands,
while leaders hide in cloaks of lies.

Our anthem sings of bold, brave men,
yet bullies all around us hide,
among the political select
and those with killing guns divide.

We’ve sold our souls to those in power;
to those who’d rather gain than lead,
we're ransomed in our darkest hour,
to greedy black agendas feed.

Our ransomed states cannot sustain,
the beating of our separate hearts.
Unless our world can join as one,
we’ll all be forced to fight apart.

Dark death skirts beaches in blood red,
as coffee colored swells wash in more
carnage to the shores;
we are blindly poisoning our waters.

Toxic plumes of red tide cover the seas,
beaching whales and seals,
manatees, and fishes;
we indiscriminately **** our sea life.

The brisk breeze off the Gulf
brings the smell of rotting death
that is all around;
we are blindly killing ourselves.

Our lifeblood,
the seas and its inhabitants,
slowly slip away;
we disrespect nature.

Mother earth mourns
as we continue
to ****** its inhabitants;
we are dying.

On this, a day of infamy,
where most recall wherein they stood,
when breaking news destroyed our world,
and left us shaken to our soul.

We held our breath and watched in fear,
while battling to hold back tears.
For none believed the images
we saw that afternoon.

Now three years past, we still can see,
the remnants of that awful day,
and feel it ripple through our land,
while still we bind our bleeding wound.

Hold fast to our integrity and cling,
to what our founders built,
fight on for what we know is right,
and honor those with thoughtful vote.

To hell and back again on a floating wreckage of love.
Your voice calls like sirens from a far off shore,
inviting me to care once more in a land unknown;
to a paradise where only love can live again.

My heart is swept up in your whisper.
It carries my thoughts on a prayer of silent hope.
Your soft breeze caresses and warms my frozen heart,
lovingly holding and healing my broken soul.

This new wind has taken me to your shores
Like silk wrapping me in soft acceptance
bandaging my fractured existence,
I bask in the warmth of your sun.

I saw you again last night
and I felt that old familiar pain.
In this world of romantic disbelief
I only have myself to blame.

Never wanting, my love, to settle for less
has left me all alone,
While others have their families
I am left watching TV at home.

You remind me of the woman I am
and the time we were best friends.
I pray that there will come a time
when we able to make amends.

Until that time, I know I will hold
you dearly in my heart.
You've always been a part of my life,
most certainly from the start.

So for now, my love, I will hold onto this
for it's the only thing that will prove,
that I once had a love that was part of my life
that moved my very soul.

Accidents and misfortunes crowding my life
choking out pleasures reserved for a lucky few.
Not realizing that they were there for me too, just to look for
passed by as I chose to look back, blinded to what could have been.

Running in circles skirting the truth
looking for lost moments, ticking into eternity.
My hope is in this new life that I’ve found
awakening the child I’d lost, now born again in you.

You’ve taught me to live, to look now for the simple and pure;
a glass of ***** Cana or a flock of cranes grazing on a hill.
Moving together in the rhythm of jazz
in the early morning sounds and light reflecting on you.

Your beautiful face, angelic in the morning light.

The mundane day to day never spoke much to me,
with its voice, foreign, speaking in a language unknown.
It slept upon my porch and knocked at my bolted door,
but I swept it away in the morning with each dream I dreamt.

Dreams have carried me to far off lands,
reminding me to reach beyond what I knew,
and bade me to break free from the shackles of life;
to heed their vision as they beckoned on the wind.

Many times I’ve risked it all and left what I knew behind
to follow my heart, beyond the safety of my world,
each time I aspired to be more than I believed I could be
and run with the wind and risk to be free.

Sadness stretched across your face,
like plastic wrap on food,
suffocating and enveloping.
Still laughter seeps out through its cracks.

Tears streak down your face as you hold to my hand.
Gratefully saying goodbye,
yet wishing to hold on to glad memories.
Wishing life was easier to part.

Away, I’d like to sail away from this land locked life;
free to sail to dreams and lives beyond my own.

I dream of lands where warm winds fan my soul,
and freedom follows me to shores where time forgot.

An anchor tied around my neck, this life has come to be.
Give me strength to find the way in this desert wasteland.

Away, I’d like to sail away, free to grow and live.
This raging need to be myself is screaming to be heard.

I’ve been moving to the same song for so long,
I’ve forgotten how to make my own melody.
Singing only cover songs that I’ve heard along the way,
trying to find my own voice again.

I found myself moving to a different sound;
one of joy, of newness and sweetness of life.
Music that has been fighting to be released, exploding now into song.
For a time I was singing in perfect harmony with the voice of angels.

Your music was your own, doomed to repetition,
stuck behind an immobile wall of fear.
Caught up in youth and crisis.
You left heaven behind, free falling into another.

Looking for harmony in others, our duet became my solo,
making our song incomplete,
sounding more like a dirge than dance.
Once, one of beauty, I now weep at the sound.

Beneath this world where life was birthed,
is painted in awesome mystery;
Eden-like beauty fills its silent world
and creation beyond imagining.

Shimmery scales flash before my eyes
in the quiet of the afternoon sun,
as blue tangs dart about in unison
in the turquoise of the shallow seas.

A world pulsing with life,
sparkling with newness every day,
awaiting us to learn its secrets,
within the school of the seas.

I don't want a secondhand love,
a hand me down of yesterday's dreams.
I want a firsthand love,
one with whom I can make my dreams.

The love I search for is deep and long
an ocean deep and long as the sky.
The love I long for is more than just strong,
it's one that will last 'til the time that I die.

Hope has seen me through this time,
when I wished for heaven above,
for lack of a priceless love.  But now I'm
shot through by your timeless love.

I’ve buried you upon the moon,
along with all my secret desires.
I’ve hidden you away from view,
protecting my tender heart.

The secret lies we tell ourselves,
so we never have to face the truth;
the lives we lock behind our doors
and desperation of our youth.

I’ve banished you to that life of grey,
bereft of me to dwell on you,
and shades me from judgmental eyes.
releasing me to live in peace.

We are but ships
on the turquoise sea
we float along,
to the heartbeat of the waves.

We have been sailing,
on this forlorn course
for much too long,
going our own separate ways.

But now is the time
to change our sails
and make our courses unite,
to join forces and enjoy our lives together.

Do you have the strength to reset your sails
on the course that two can sail?
Can you set your anchor close to mine
and forgo the rest of the world?

Your sails have turned
so that our paths have crossed.
You have set your anchor by my side
and you've made me your best mate.

Like these ships on the sea,
the wind has brought us to a safe cove,
where both of us can live our lives
to the heartbeat of our waves.

We raise our cries in unison at the rain
as it pelts heavily on our lives,
drowning our tomorrows
with its dreariness and gloom.

Clenching our fists to the clouds,
we lift the voice of frustration,
as we wait for this perfect storm to abate
and give us solace.

As we huddle amidst the shelters
of our convictions,
we hold our breath and wipe
the wet of anger from our eyes.

Swept up in your breeze lifting me to new heights.
Floating on a silken web back to earth, lost in wingless flight.  
Living in the moment, you’ve given me new eyes.
Riding high on a wave of ecstasy, coming alive in you.

Words elude me, running in circles to escape my lips.
Tears run with unfamiliar emotions,
washing away old scars of relationships past.
Souls unite as intertwining vines, becoming one in love.

Yes, I have known how to sing the blues,
for I’ve sung them before we met and know them well.
I‘ve just forgotten how to sing them in tune,
You’ve taught me how to sing them again
With your sad goodbyes and my broken heart.

You’ve taken me from jazz to the blues in one chord.
I have searched again for a song of me.
Reggae, jazz, and rock surround,
Guitars in harmony, with others moving to their music
but the blues is all I hear since you’ve gone.

I’ve been moving to your song for so long,
that I’ve forgotten how to make my own melody.
Singing only cover songs that I’ve heard since you left,
trying to find my own voice again.
Oh lend your voice that we may sing in harmony once more.

Sitting in Circular Quay in a bistro on a warm winters day
dreaming while watching the tourists and ships sail by.
As I eat oysters and drink the day in with my wine,
past memories wash over me.

Morning teas, chats, and paper bark trees,
hikes through the bush and walks along the beach.
Watching dolphins play at dawn
and fishing the waters on New South Wales shores.

The Harbor Bridge alight with Bicentennial Fireworks;
a surreal beginning to this adventure.
Wringing every drop from days spent,
finding a new world with each step.

Discovering myself through the wisdom and eyes of you,
maturing, becoming my own.
Like family, you’ve been both mentor and friend,
carrying me through fire and back.

My life was undone as I first saw your shore.
Feeling my heart would break
with our first goodbyes,
unknowing that an permanent bond had been forged.

Tracing back over the years since we met,
I’ve been given more than my share.
Making me ponder how I have been blessed,
to count you as a true friend.

With loving hearts that cradle me,
and soothe my aching mind,
you’ve given me the strength I need,
to leave the past behind.

These wings I’ve grown are far beyond,
what I could ‘er foresee,
allowing me to soar beyond,
my past, both strong and free.

These broken wings are healing still,
and few can keep me down,
for deep within this soaring soul,
are journeys where I’m bound.

Softly you sing, so sweetly my dear,
like a songbird repeating what I so long to hear.
The lyrical songs to which I respond,
make me feel like the one to which you belong.

Like a wave on the ocean your crests lift me high,
with your words and your kindness they help me to fly.
Like the swarms of small birds that fly out to sea
our love has now grown into what it should be.

We have been to the heights of the heavens beyond
and you've been in my heart and my soul all along.
Can you remember the time that we weren't so blessed,
when our life was not one but just two with a wish?

For a wonderful, blissful and compassionate love
a union ordained from blessed heaven above.

As I’ve raced through life,
amidst the jungle of our world,
I’ve found a peaceful corner
to listen for your whisper.

I see you in the canopy of leaves
and grasses that wave in the wind;
in the depth of azure seas,
and the reawakened spring creek.

The world of life hums along,
with afternoon shadows sharing in your design.
Nature quietly sings your song,
inviting me to join along.

Tiny petals, like flakes of snow
brush lightly against my cheek
Like a lover’s caress you kiss
my winter white skin.

Petals dance to the ground,
with each breath of wind,
swirling in elegant pirouettes,
heralding spring in newness of life.

The warmth of life has come at last
to me along this spring time path.
Sweet fragrance floats on morning breeze,
while colors dance on plants and trees.
As orchids peek from under pines
I float off to past years and find
myself recalling days gone by
and always you who’ve said goodbye.

But while this past now flirts with me,
I take the time to let it be
and make a choice along my way
to seek out love another way.
I still recall what’s left behind
and in this heart will always find
a life that took a crooked path,
but now has found it’s own way back.

Time’s given me a second chance
to see life at a backward glace.
To learn at last from my mistakes,
so with this choice a chance I take.
To find another soul like mine,
and with that soul my life I’ll find.
My heart has come full circle now,
from life through death a blessed whole.

Exhausted, drained of all energy,
Seeking to fill this void with life that will fit.
The pain and drudgery of all has become almost too much to bear.
My soul screams out for change and relief.

Eyes closed in torment, wounds bleed with frustration and contempt;
Closed in a jail, a circle that never ends.
Life without living it has become; entombed within this existence
Isolated and alone, I have been left to die.

You’ve made me believe that today I can fly, that I can touch the stars as I pass by.
You carry me past galaxies floating on clouds, wrapped in a dream and loving out loud.
The magical carpet that sweeps me away, leaves me breathless, helpless, wanting to stay
on Kryptonite, that mystic existence beyond, where time does not matter and magic abounds.

On top of a mountain on a planet beyond I cling to your safety and hold to your calm.
Can I speak of the beauty that you have shown me?  The doors you have opened, the wonders I see?  
My lips cannot form the words now in my mind, the heaven you’ve brought, the expressions now hide.
The life that I knew before this was full, yet lonely and bland, bereft of a soul.

I stood all my life alone, apart without you, now you’ve come to my rescue in your red and your blue.
I look at the others who have been there before, look back at their lives to what theirs had bore,
I smile at their journeys, as they’ll never know, for the heavens I’ve reached on my ride do not show.
The best part of the journey is yet to explore, as I take to the skies on my carpet once more.

I stand here with Superman close by my side on the mountain of Kryptonite ready to ride.

Thoughts of what could be;
tomorrow’s possibilities
cut short by cruel destiny.

Stepping out on Lovers Key as daylight greets each summer’s day,
I amble over wooden planks, a bridge along the sandy way.
While sand ***** scamper from my view between its aging wooden slats,
and play a game of hide and seek within its graying crags and cracks.

The colored flags that end the path warn each of us to be aware,
of dangers in the water’s deep that catch the swimmers unaware.
A hot wind blowing from the south lifts underneath my hat’s straw brim,
as sweat drips from my forehead brow, I think how very blessed I am.

While waves wink with the sun’s starlight, I soak in all the morning calm,
and bubbles line the water’s edge, along with ocean’s gifts and alms.
I stroll along the seaside path, while egrets search the ocean spread,
and crystal waters wash my feet I’m captured by this path I tread.

Love, like a meteor burns bright with beauty
blinding all to what sears the flesh.
Millions torn and pitted with quiet bliss,
shot through, straight to the heart.

Rising star beyond the horizon,
help keep hope while this burnt one struggles on.
Sun, on your eternal travels through the heavens,
lift our eyes skyward to our one true love.

Summer sighs, its long last breath,
hot and heavy, against my cheek,
bidding me farewell before the cold,
as August falls away to autumn.

The sun pours out it's tender hues
over this monochrome land of daybreak.
as muted cracks of chartreuse blink
at me between the buildings to greet my day.

In the first light, before the streets busy,
mist hangs over the land,
softening the stark edges of man
on this island of soft nature, lush with life.  

Surfers aloft, atop curls that wink back at the heavens,
their bodies silhouetted against the eastern glow,
Ocean waves ripple against the golden powder beneath my feet,
as I become one in spirit with this sunshine island.

I’ve walked this path for what seems an eternity.
How strange to know you were there all along,
waiting for me silently amidst life’s endless days
waiting to fill my life with love.

You’ve come to put an end to this pain of loneliness
and I to help you believe in love once more.
In each other’s arms we have become whole.
You take me to places in dreams.  I’m swept away…

I’ve walked this path for what seems an eternity.
How strange to know you were there all along,
waiting for me silently amidst life’s endless days
waiting to fill my life with love.

You’ve come to put an end to this pain of loneliness
and I to help you believe in love once more.
In each other’s arms we have become whole.
You take me to places in dreams.  I’m swept away…

Enough of the sorrow and sadness that filled me for so long!  
I’m making a choice to leave it behind
creating a new life to go, grabbing it on the run.
Running from the memories of pain and loneliness and
making a new take away me.

The night is closing in as the rain is drumming on the drain outside.
Long streaks on the window run like tears down my cheeks
reminding me of you.

The oneness of being alone is swallowing me alive,  
eating me from the inside out,
from my heart to the arms that once held a love.

I am struggling to make it through the puddles
and the moat that has wrapped itself around my heart;
afraid of getting wet again, afraid to get hurt.

The cold and damp have camped out in my soul,
without the warmth of the fire of love
to keep me warm.

You moved me to take a chance and make a change
scaring the hell out of me along the way.
I should have listened to the voice inside  
and stayed away.

Art, unborn,
aches to find form;
to manifest itself.
Within me it screams,
while those around
remain deaf to its cry.

It claws to free itself
from mortal chains,
restless to share its vision
with the world;
to tell its story
in verse and beauty.

This art within,
impatient, cannot wait.
It struggles to find
its voice
within my finite days
and world.

Until at last,
like a volcano,
unable to restrain that voice,
it erupts,
and my art flows out,
spilling onto paper.

The words and images
become solid,
taking form,
giving birth to the art within.
Thus, completing me,
quieting the cry inside.