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Rosie Dee Dec 2014
Deoxygenated blood flows from the body to the right side of the heart through the Vena Cava.
From the Vena Cava to the Right Atrium.
From the Right Atrium through the Tricuspid valves.
Through the Tricuspid valves to the Right Ventricle.
Up the Pulmonary Artery.
Through the semi-luner valves.
Out the pulmonary artery.
To the lungs.
Blood becomes Oxygenated
Oxygenated blood flows from the lungs to the left side of the heart through the Pulmonary Vein.
From the Pulmonary Vein to the Left Atrium.
From the Left Atrium through the Bicuspid valves.
Through the Bicuspid valves to the Left Ventricle.
Up the Aorta.
Through the semi-luner valves.
Out the Aorta.
Oxygenated blood is sent around the body.
Blood becomes Deoxygenated
Deoxygenated blood flows from the body to the right side of the heart through the Vena Cava........

SO If you tell me your heart is "literally broken" just don't.
It isn't broken.
It just hurts.
It's just feels horrible.
Painful.
A feeling that hurts you and feels like your heart hurts so much that it's actually broken.
But your heart doesn't actually hurt.
It's just a feeling.
The cycle stills goes on.
It is still functioning.
So, next time you feel your "heart breaking" and literally being "torn apart",

Remember...

Deoxygenated blood flows from the body to the right side of the heart through the Vena Cava.
From the Vena Cava to the Right Atrium.
From the Right Atrium through the Tricuspid valves.
Through the Tricuspid valves to the Right Ventricle.
Up the Pulmonary Artery.
Through the semi-luner valves.
Out the pulmonary artery.
To the lungs.
Blood becomes Oxygenated
Oxygenated blood flows from the lungs to the left side of the heart through the Pulmonary Vein.
From the Pulmonary Vein to the Left Atrium.
From the Left Atrium through the Bicuspid valves.
Through the Bicuspid valves to the Left Ventricle.
Up the Aorta.
Through the semi-luner valves.
Out the Aorta.
Oxygenated blood is sent around the body.
Blood becomes Deoxygenated
Deoxygenated blood flows from the body to the right side of the heart through the Vena Cava.............
So it's been a while since i wrote here..Maybe i just gave you a biology lesson instead of a poem who knows. (also i it is isnt perfect biology wise im sorrrryyyy...i tried-the heart's supposed to be the area i'm good at.kinda ironic really). I got quite angry writing. Lot of strong feelings appeared to come out of me...i wasn't gonna post this because i don't know how i feel about it till but i was encouraged to so here goes. Criticize all you like Opinions are great-good or bad.
De una torre de palacio   se salió por un postigo
la Cava con sus doncellas   con gran fiesta y regocijo.
Metiéronse en un jardín   cerca de un espeso ombrío
de jazmines y arrayanes,   de pámpanos y racimos.
Junto a una fuente que vierte   por seis caños de oro fino
cristal y perlas sonoras   entre espadañas y lirios,
reposaron las doncellas   buscando solaz y alivio
al fuego de mocedad   y a los ardores de estío.
Daban al agua sus brazos,   y tentada de su frío,
fue la Cava la primera   que desnudó sus vestidos.
En la sombreada alberca   su cuerpo brilla tan lindo
que al de todas las demás   como sol ha escurecido.
Pensó la Cava estar sola,   pero la ventura quiso
que entre unas espesas yedras   la miraba el rey Rodrigo.
Puso la ocasión el fuego   en el corazón altivo,
y amor, batiendo sus alas,   abrasóle de improviso.
De la pérdida de España   fue aquí funesto principio
una mujer sin ventura   y un hombre de amor rendido.
Florinda perdió su flor,   el rey padeció el castigo;
ella dice que hubo fuerza,   él que gusto consentido.
Si dicen quién de los dos   la mayor culpa ha tenido,
digan los hombres: la Cava   y las mujeres: Rodrigo.
Dave Hardin Sep 2016
Cava

We’ll order cava in smallish glasses
from the café with wispy tables on
the plaza pocked with sunburnt bullet holes

sprayed from the hips of passionate men
sporting snap brimmed hats dipped low on one side,
veiled arched shooting eyes righteous, unblinking,

dark slots that screened smoke from hand rolled
cigarettes, great-grandfathers perhaps to
our waiter and the fellow seated

at a table for two embroiled in a lilt
pas de deux that seems friendly enough to
a pair of short term expats who don’t speak

the lingo but savor it’s tuneful swing,
the parry and ****** of slender hands, pairs
of small deft birds winging this way and that

until one brace breaks off with a flourish
to nestle beneath a tray of smallish
glasses that lifts and soars, borne off on the

salty breeze while the other two alight
around a beaded glass of cava and
a lazy smoke, time marked in wispy whorls.
olivia grace Nov 2012
So here I am.
    Within your heartstrings.
     I like to think I flow through your mind like blood flowing through your superior vena cava.

Constant;
And non-chalant.

And there you are.
                    Rolling and rolling and tumbling around the empty train station in my mind.

Like a tumble ****.
Where did you come from?
Were you ever really mine?

What is the color of my eyes?

Grey, like the clouds.
At least that's what they tell me.

But you aren't here very often and only sometimes do you come around with your talent of using words to your advantage even though I'm the only person who sees through your fake persona and too long brown lucious hair.

But this one's for you.

Just like the one I wrote when I first started but that was a different story.
That had a different meaning.
A different message.

That one said;

"I love you."

This one says;

"I still do."
A serene cottage upon a dreary hillside
  Where my mind's listless galaxy of neurons
Synapse in the absolute darkness,
  Is painted in Victorian hues, cold and haunting.

Dejection rains down from the leeward sky
  With nothing harkened save for the ocean's
Stormy roar and a desolate lighthouse,
  Beckoning through the fog and memoirs of the past.

The deeper my soul is carved out with sorrow,
  The deeper the hollow can be filled with joy.
But alas, I feel nothing of joy but only a void
  Left by the dagger of yesterday's darkening tragedies.

I feel the rain soothe my skin and kiss my cheek
  Like the sweetest lover on midnight's embrace,
Yet my moth-eaten quilt of memories only seems
  Enough to shelter our legs but ne'er our feet.

My heart feels the warmth of an autumn fire,
  Kindling in the crisp rain, bleeding beneath
A rose where we burn in the endless torture
  Of our own despondence.

I can feel the blood in my veins turning to fire
  As I imagine her fingertips unzipping my spine
As though it were full of secrets and mysteries
  Unbeknowst to myself...

I can feel the inferno that rages within my aortic arch
  Every moment I imagine losing myself within her
Eyes, glimmering like an eclipse over a midnight
  Sea...the Sleepless Coventry.

She unlocks my secrets and weaves them in the bouquet
  Of tendrils in her hair like ribbons of crimson and light,
Waving in the vehement northerlies with numbing scents
  Of argan and spice.

Her body is but a canvas wrapped neatly around a
  Paper mache skeleton, the most beautifully tragic
Foundation known to humanity...
  
She arrives right on the equinox to set fire to my sorrow,
  Intoxicating me with her kiss and infecting me with her smile.

And so enters the conflagration of my soul,
  An annihilation of light, blackening my coronary
Artery whilst shooting smoke through my cinnamon
  Whiskey tainted veins.

'Tis hard to look through such a misconstrued lens
  As such, the Vena Cava Kaleidoscope...
Where the flames burn through the galaxy of neurons
  Expending the harrowing memories as its fuel.

I can see the magnetic alloy of her Cobalt eyes reflecting
  The fire that consumes me from the inside out.
She pulls on me like the moon pulls upon the tide
  As she whispers with her soft, enamored sigh.

I burn in my silent knowing, my liquid mind
  Awakening in fervor and strange euphoria.

I burn for the Aurora Infinite.
Lin Cava Nov 2010
Such a lovely ring, she said.
It even looks good on my ugly hands.
As if those hands were lacking.
As if those hands –
hard working hands –
Bore no beauty of their own.

My mother’s hands,
That held the soap
To scrub my baby toes;
Whose hands were there
To show me how
To blot my runny nose.

Those hands that later
held my hands
And patiently did teach me
How to tie my shoes -
Then held them once again
To coax and guide my own
To write my cursive name
Until the time when I alone
Could do the very same.

My mother’s hands,
That fed me,
And tucked me in at night;
Who touched my fevered brow
And soothed away my fright.

My mother’s hands,
That all my life
Gave comfort, care and hope.
And when my children came to be,
I watched my mother’s hands -
a new grandmother’s hands -
Touch my children, tenderly.

My mother’s hands,
Yes, weathered by their toil,
The fingers wide,
And aged with years –
and just like her,
Still sure and strong
Yet gentle as they ever were.

My mother’s hands –
She looks, and says they’re ugly
But I don’t know what to say.
For when I see
My mother’s hands
It’s the beauty of
The love they gave,
Assuring strength
And constant grace
All held within
My mother’s hands.

Lin Cava©
Creative Commons Copyright
Lin Cava Feb 2013
Missing You

The teardrop gently slips down the cheek
leaving its salty trail upon my face.

Born of the chasm of missing you
it slipped out against my will,
so powerless to stop it.

In a ray of sunlight it hovers,
capturing my attention…
I grasp for the wisp as it floats
beyond my reach
and for one moment of crystal clarity
I remember, and hold still…

The wisp lands, softly bouncing,
upon my outstretched palm
dancing in the warmth of air above it,
and barely touches me and I travel back…

I remember youth, remember song
caution to the winds, trampling through life
carefree…

When the wisp settles
like a flash coursing through me
I feel your heart and wonder,
if, like me, you have cushioned it,
wrapped and restrained your heart -
safe from pain and salvaged for another day.

The future is never certain and we seldom know
the length of our timeline.
Regret is a lonely emotion,
apology often too little
and always too late.

Another teardrop falls…
I cry – for I have lost a gift
one so unique, so dear
that it can never be replaced.

We are foolish, we men
and women of this earth.
Knowing, fully, that life is short
that some things are more precious
than any others
we tread upon them in careless abandon
as if we were children
senseless to our surroundings
imparting damage
to those whom we most love

And cry the lonely tears
of missing what we hold so dear.

4th February, 2013
©Lin Cava
Lin Cava Jun 2013
Renewal

Mother walked into the Sea this morning.
Harkened to the song of Neptune;
the wail of the sirens.
She was called to beauty.

Mother walked into the Sea this morning,
but she did not walk out.
Embraced by the precious,
the irreplaceable, the untouched
she is surrounded now in a balance of beauty.

She travelled long and far
leaving land behind
as a lost memory
a forgotten effort

Relieved forever of the weight
of the fight, of the blight
She has left us to our own devices.
I cannot even cry, "Why?"
For I am aware.

Mother walked into the Sea this morning.
She moved past vast deserts in the Oceans,
fled beyond sea lanes and gulf streams
shedding tears to match the salt of the sea
she cried for the lost coral reefs

She cried for the loss of life
She cried until there were no more tears
...and still she swam to where now she rests.
There is no more she will do.
There is no more she can fix.

She floats past green fronds,
free floating in the brine
feels the mermaids purses hiding there
so few, and less will survive.

Along the way, through dead seas
she sees the remains
of man's most vile waste
drums upon drums, rusted through
once filled with half-life,
spent fission elements
left to decay, left to destroy
left to be forgotten
but Mother, cannot forgive
the damage is done.

She lingers in a place of beauty
beyond words, no language can portray
as she hides among the coral, watches
the colorful fish, tropical life
and cries once more for the death
the destruction, mankind's blight
wreaked upon these special places...

Her heart is breaking
for if the Seas die
the Earth dies.
Better to let the Blight of Man
be left to destroy himself.

She shall gather the gifts of the Earth
Secret them far away from harm
to become the seeds of a new beginning.

It has happened before
Millions of years ago
But an instant to Mother
And after, the Earth came back
full in its beauty
perfect in its balance

Let her sister, Nature, take Her toll upon
the blight of man,
the pestilence of saturation.
There are too many, much too many
for Mother to support.  

She must rest now.  Save what little can be saved.
For the time when she must rise again.
A time when the wind will carry her breath
to  breathe life into what remains.
And she shall rise again.

Renewal.  Mother will rise once more.
And for a while, there will be no callousness
no blight of forgotten crimes
against the lifeblood that sustains her;
Mother Earth.  Only she shall remember
that once, there was greatness in Mankind...

Mother walked into the Sea this morning.
Harkened to the song of Neptune;
the wail of the sirens.
She was called to beauty.

Mother walked into the Sea this morning,
but she did not walk out.

Lin Cava
20-June-2013

As of June 19, 2013 the world's human population is estimated to be 7.093 billion by the United States Census Bureau, and over 7 billion by the United Nations.  Most contemporary estimates for the carrying capacity of the Earth under existing conditions (which is the ability of earth to sustain the population of man) are between 4 billion and 16 billion. World Population Organization has stated that the growth of human populations now exceeds the ability of the earth to sustain them.

*****************­*
Depending on which estimate is used, human overpopulation may or may not have already occurred.  Nevertheless, the rapid recent increase in human population is causing some concern. The population is expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion between the year 2040 and 2050. In May 2011, the United Nations increased the medium variant projections to 9.3 billion for 2050 and 10.1 billion for 2100.

Something has to give.  There will be disease, and increased loss of life by natural occurrences because of sheer volume of population alone.  There will be genocide, and hidden agenda's carried out by the powerful and wealthy which will remain secret.  We are so capable of saving many, but just as capable of biological destruction.  Culling of the herds.  It will not be fiction, just as "1984" is no longer fiction...
Discoboli of African poetry has now sparked above aphasia
The aphasic silence today breaks eardrums with cacophony
Of the world audience in the by standing duty of workshop tubes,
Executing poetic experiment on the origin of **** poeticus
To link the archaic baboonish proteins to the black chimpanzee
Cradling African man, the sire of all and their poetry.

That when the Chimpanzee blood we poured
Into the African veins of vena cava and aorta,
Feeding the heart with viscosity of nutrition,
And the Chimpanzee blood fell into deadly
Tomperousness like Shakespearean impetuosity
Once seen in Romeo and Juliet, giving timely Birth
To untimely half the yellow Sun
That juxtaposed planet of poetry
Behind the star of tribe as a priority
Condemning to stark oblivion all the fated,
in full uniform of tribal dimunitions, or mimesis.

Ever predated on when tribes form nations.
A time to try the chimpanzee blood in the veins
Of white humanity, battling cynosure
Historically evinced in Antony and his father,
Or Tybalt and Mercurial of mercutio,
Or Macbeth and counterparts
Or Hamlet the Danish and the inheritors of his mother,
As the white blood cells of the white blood,
Militantly attack the white corpuscles
Of the misfortunate chimpanzee,
Converting the later into
A chewer of misfortune.
There's an earthy blood-smell to lavender
It surprises you when the nose gets too close
Once you get past the modest skirted blooms
To find the green blood of torn out flower
Fetid black dirt clings to blood ragged roots
Blue-black blood of returning vena cava
Lavender scented babies and lavender tinted men
Planted for eternity underneath fertile soil
And blood-rise suns bake their tender heads
Blood drenched scent tempts the droning insects wing
Their distilled spirits resurrected in hives
Their earthly blood now ours to imbibe.
mrs kite Apr 2016
blood curdles
sour milk in a pale blue carton
pushing out of wiry veins
rotten

.


the vena cava
was never meant to hold
ruined plasma
just like the world was never meant to hold
me.
Lin Cava Jan 2013
…passed this way
-Lin Cava
©2013-January-23

Ah, my dear one…
Will we never learn?
Does time and trial
teach us no lessons?

Or, are we immune,
ever blinded by proximity –
too close to gather the truth
to spin a skein of knowledge
strong as silk
and just as soft?

Time decides for us
when we are late to act.
For nature cannot wait,
and must move on.

And time has come and gone –
for what was once an open door;
was once opportune for the moment,
has softly closed and locked in place.

And the hands of time
have latched all but the memory
of what might have been…
The windows are barred;
frosty with the cold left behind.

Through the silence
of a world hushed
by the snow of indifference,
a heart soundlessly freezes
and breaks.
La sangre corcovea
en todos los rincones, en
el alma superior, en su orgullo,
en los perros con olor a furia.
El ser amado convierte
la humillación en asombro y vengo aquí
para decir que te amo. El domingo
del payaso prueba la desolación.
La emoción contra la pared
espera que la fusilen.
Nuestros cuerpos conocen esa pared.
Es una atadura del sol
que cava y cava.
Yo, Beremundo el Lelo, surqué todas las rutas
y probé todos los mesteres.
Singlando a la deriva, no en orden cronológico ni lógico -en sin orden-
narraré mis periplos, diré de los empleos con que
nutrí mis ocios,
distraje mi hacer nada y enriquecí mi hastío...;
-hay de ellos otros que me callo-:
Catedrático fui de teosofía y eutrapelia, gimnopedia y teogonía y pansofística en Plafagonia;
barequero en el Porce y el Tigüí, huaquero en el Quindío,
amansador mansueto -no en desuetud aún- de muletos cerriles y de onagros, no sé dónde;
palaciego proto-Maestre de Ceremonias de Wilfredo el Velloso,
de Cunegunda ídem de ídem e ibídem -en femenino- e ídem de ídem de Epila Calunga
y de Efestión -alejandrino- el Glabro;
desfacedor de entuertos, tuertos y malfetrías, y de ellos y ellas facedor;
domeñador de endriagos, unicornios, minotauros, quimeras y licornas y dragones... y de la Gran Bestia.

Fui, de Sind-bad, marinero; pastor de cabras en Sicilia
si de cabriolas en Silesia, de cerdas en Cerdeña y -claro- de corzas en Córcega;
halconero mayor, primer alcotanero de Enguerrando Segundo -el de la Tour-Miracle-;
castrador de colmenas, y no de Casanovas, en el Véneto, ni de Abelardos por el Sequana;
pajecillo de altivas Damas y ariscas Damas y fogosas, en sus castillos
y de pecheras -¡y cuánto!- en sus posadas y mesones
-yo me era Gerineldos de todellas y trovador trovadorante y adorante; como fui tañedor
de chirimía por fiestas candelarias, carbonero con Gustavo Wasa en Dalecarlia, bucinator del Barca Aníbal
y de Scipión el Africano y Masinisa, piloto de Erik el Rojo hasta Vinlandia, y corneta
de un escuadrón de coraceros de Westmannlandia que cargó al lado del Rey de Hielo
-con él pasé a difunto- y en la primera de Lutzen.

Fui preceptor de Diógenes, llamado malamente el Cínico:
huésped de su tonel, además, y portador de su linterna;
condiscípulo y émulo de Baco Dionisos Enófilo, llamado buenamente el Báquico
-y el Dionisíaco, de juro-.

Fui discípulo de Gautama, no tan aprovechado: resulté mal budista, si asaz contemplativo.
Hice de peluquero esquilador siempre al servicio de la gentil Dalilah,
(veces para Sansón, que iba ya para calvo, y -otras- depilador de sus de ella óptimas partes)
y de maestro de danzar y de besar de Salomé: no era el plato de argento,
mas sí de litargirio sus caderas y muslos y de azogue también su vientre auri-rizado;
de Judith de Betulia fui confidente y ni infidente, y -con derecho a sucesión- teniente y no lugarteniente
de Holofernes no Enófobo (ni enófobos Judith ni yo, si con mesura, cautos).
Fui entrenador (no estrenador) de Aspasia y Mesalina y de Popea y de María de Mágdalo
e Inés Sorel, y marmitón y pinche de cocina de Gargantúa
-Pantagruel era huésped no nada nominal: ya suficientemente pantagruélico-.
Fui fabricante de batutas, quebrador de hemistiquios, requebrador de Eustaquias, y tratante en viragos
y en sáficas -algunas de ellas adónicas- y en pínnicas -una de ellas super-fémina-:
la dejé para mí, si luego ancló en casorio.
A la rayuela jugué con Fulvia; antes, con Palamedes, axedrez, y, en época vecina, con Philidor, a los escaques;
y, a las damas, con Damas de alto y bajo coturno
-manera de decir: que para el juego en litis las Damas suelen ir descalzas
y se eliden las calzas y sustentadores -no funcionales- en las Damas y las calzas en los varones.

Tañí el rabel o la viola de amor -casa de Bach, búrguesa- en la primicia
de La Cantata del Café (pre-estreno, en familia protestante, privado).
Le piqué caña jorobeta al caballo de Atila
-que era un morcillo de prócer alzada: me refiero al corcel-;
cambié ideas, a la par, con Incitato, Cónsul de Calígula, y con Babieca,
-que andaba en Babia-, dándole prima
fui zapatero de viejo de Berta la del gran pie (buen pie, mejor coyuntura),
de la Reina Patoja ortopedista; y hortelano y miniaturista de Pepino el Breve,
y copero mayor faraónico de Pepe Botellas, interino,
y porta-capas del Pepe Bellotas de la esposa de Putifar.

Viajé con Julio Verne y Odiseo, Magallanes y Pigafetta, Salgan, Leo e Ibn-Batuta,
con Melville y Stevenson, Fernando González y Conrad y Sir John de Mandeville y Marco Polo,
y sólo, sin De Maistre, alredor de mi biblioteca, de mi oploteca, mi mecanoteca y mi pinacoteca.
Viajé también en tomo de mí mismo: asno a la vez que noria.

Fui degollado en la de San Bartolomé (post facto): secundaba a La Môle:
Margarita de Valois no era total, íntegramente pelirroja
-y no porque de noche todos los gatos son pardos...: la leoparda,
las tres veces internas, íntimas, peli-endrina,
Margarita, Margotón, Margot, la casqui-fulva...-

No estuve en la nea nao -arcaica- de Noé, por manera
-por ventura, otrosí- que no fui la paloma ni la medusa de esa almadía: mas sí tuve a mi encargo
la selección de los racimos de sus viñedos, al pie del Ararat, al post-Diluvio,
yo, Beremundo el Lelo.

Fui topógrafo ad-hoc entre El Cangrejo y Purcoy Niverengo,
(y ad-ínterim, administré la zona bolombólica:
mucho de anís, mucho de Rosas del Cauca, versos de vez en cuando),
y fui remero -el segundo a babor- de la canoa, de la piragua
La Margarita (criolla), que navegó fluvial entre Comiá, La Herradura, El Morito,
con cargamentos de contrabando: blancas y endrinas de Guaca, Titiribí y Amagá, y destilados
de Concordia y Betulia y de Urrao...
¡Urrao! ¡Urrao! (hasta hace poco lo diríamos con harta mayor razón y con aquese y este júbilos).
Tras de remero de bajel -y piloto- pasé a condueño, co-editor, co-autor
(no Coadjutor... ¡ni de Retz!) en asocio de Matías Aldecoa, vascuence, (y de un tal Gaspar von der Nacht)
de un Libraco o Librículo de pseudo-poemas de otro quídam;
exploré la región de Zuyaxiwevo con Sergio Stepánovich Stepansky,
lobo de donde se infiere, y, en más, ario.

Fui consejero áulico de Bogislao, en la corte margravina de Xa-Netupiromba
y en la de Aglaya crisostómica, óptima circezuela, traidorcilla;
tañedor de laúd, otra vez, y de viola de gamba y de recorder,
de sacabuche, otrosí (de dulzaina - otronó) y en casaciones y serenatas y albadas muy especializado.
No es cierto que yo fuera -es impostura-
revendedor de bulas (y de mulas) y tragador defuego y engullidor de sables y bufón en las ferias
pero sí platiqué (también) con el asno de Buridán y Buridán,
y con la mula de Balaám y Balaám, con Rocinante y Clavileño y con el Rucio
-y el Manco y Sancho y don Quijote-
y trafiqué en ultramarinos: ¡qué calamares -en su tinta-!,
¡qué Anisados de Guarne!, ¡qué Rones de Jamaica!, ¡qué Vodkas de Kazán!, ¡qué Tequilas de México!,
¡qué Néctares de Heliconia! ¡Morcillas de Itagüí! ¡Torreznos de Envigado! ¡Chorizos de los Ballkanes! ¡Qué Butifarras cataláunicas!
Estuve en Narva y en Pultawa y en las Queseras del Medio, en Chorros Blancos
y en El Santuario de Córdova, y casi en la de San Quintín
(como pugnaban en el mismo bando no combatí junto a Egmont por no estar cerca al de Alba;
a Cayetana sí le anduve cerca tiempo después: preguntádselo a Goya);
no llegué a tiempo a Waterloo: me distraje en la ruta
con Ida de Saint-Elme, Elselina Vanayl de Yongh, viuda del Grande Ejército (desde antaño... más tarde)
y por entonces y desde años antes bravo Edecán de Ney-:
Ayudante de Campo... de plumas, gongorino.
No estuve en Capua, pero ya me supongo sus mentadas delicias.

Fabriqué clavicémbalos y espinetas, restauré virginales, reparé Stradivarius
falsos y Guarnerius apócrifos y Amatis quasi Amatis.
Cincelé empuñaduras de dagas y verduguillos, en el obrador de Benvenuto,
y escriños y joyeles y guardapelos ad-usum de Cardenales y de las Cardenalesas.
Vendí Biblias en el Sinú, con De la Rosa, Borelly y el ex-pastor Antolín.
Fui catador de tequila (debuté en Tapachula y ad-látere de Ciro el Ofiuco)
y en México y Amecameca, y de mezcal en Teotihuacán y Cuernavaca,
de Pisco-sauer en Lima de los Reyes,
y de otros piscolabis y filtros muy antes y después y por Aná del Aburrá, y doquiérase
con El Tarasco y una legión de Bacos Dionisos, pares entre Pares.
Vagué y vagué si divagué por las mesillas del café nocharniego, Mil Noches y otra Noche
con el Mago de lápiz buido y de la voz asordinada.
Antes, muy antes, bebí con él, con Emmanuel y don Efe y Carrasca, con Tisaza y Xovica y Mexía y los otros Panidas.
Después..., ahora..., mejor no meneallo y sí escanciallo y persistir en ello...

Dicté un curso de Cabalística y otro de Pan-Hermética
y un tercero de Heráldica,
fuera de los cursillos de verano de las literaturas bereberes -comparadas-.
Fui catalogador protonotario en jefe de la Magna Biblioteca de Ebenezer el Sefardita,
y -en segundo- de la Mínima Discoteca del quídam en referencia de suso:
no tenía aún las Diabelli si era ya dueño de las Goldberg;
no poseía completa la Inconclusa ni inconclusa la Décima (aquestas Sinfonías, Variaciones aquesas:
y casi que todello -en altísimo rango- tan Variaciones Alredor de Nada).

Corregí pruebas (y dislates) de tres docenas de sota-poetas
-o similares- (de los que hinchen gacetilleros a toma y daca).
Fui probador de calzas -¿prietas?: ceñidas, sí, en todo caso- de Diana de Meridor
y de justillos, que así veníanle, de estar atán bien provista
y atán rebién dotada -como sabíalo también y así de bien Bussy d'Amboise-.
Temperé virginales -ya restaurados-, y clavecines, si no como Isabel, y aunque no tan baqueano
como ése de Eisenach, arroyo-Océano.
Soplé el ***** bufón, con tal cual incongruencia, sin ni tal cual donaire.
No aporreé el bombo, empero, ni entrechoqué los címbalos.

Les saqué puntas y les puse ribetes y garambainas a los vocablos,
cuando diérame por la Semasiología, cierta vez, en la Sorbona de Abdera,
sita por Babia, al pie de los de Úbeda, que serán cerros si no valen por Monserrates,
sin cencerros. Perseveré harto poco en la Semántica -por esa vez-,
si, luego retorné a la andadas, pero a la diabla, en broma:
semanto-semasiólogo tarambana pillín pirueteante.
Quien pugnó en Dénnevitz con Ney, el peli-fulvo
no fui yo: lo fue mi bisabuelo el Capitán...;
y fue mi tatarabuelo quien apresó a Gustavo Cuarto:
pero sí estuve yo en la Retirada de los Diez Mil
-era yo el Siete Mil Setecientos y Setenta y Siete,
precisamente-: releed, si dudaislo, el Anábasis.
Fui celador intocable de la Casa de Tócame-Roque, -si ignoré cuyo el Roque sería-,
y de la Casa del Gato-que-pelotea; le busqué tres pies al gato
con botas, que ya tenía siete vidas y logré dar con siete autores en busca de un personaje
-como quien dice Los Siete contra Tebas: ¡pobre Tebas!-, y ya es jugar bastante con el siete.
No pude dar con la cuadratura del círculo, que -por lo demás- para nada hace falta,
mas topé y en el Cuarto de San Alejo, con la palanca de Arquimedes y con la espada de Damocles,
ambas a dos, y a cual más, tomadas del orín y con más moho
que las ideas de yo si sé quién mas no lo digo:
púsome en aprietos tal doble hallazgo; por más que dije: ¡Eureka! ...: la palanca ya no servía ni para levantar un falso testimonio,
y tuve que encargarme de tener siempre en suspenso y sobre mí la espada susodicha.

Se me extravió el anillo de Saturno, mas no el de Giges ni menos el de Hans Carvel;
no sé qué se me ficieron los Infantes de Aragón y las Nieves de Antaño y el León de Androcles y la Balanza
del buen Shylock: deben estar por ahí con la Linterna de Diógenes:
-¿mas cómo hallarlos sin la linterna?

No saqué el pecho fuera, ni he sido nunca el Tajo, ni me di cuenta del lío de Florinda,
ni de por qué el Tajo el pecho fuera le sacaba a la Cava,
pero sí vi al otro don Rodrigo en la Horca.
Pinté muestras de posadas y mesones y ventas y paradores y pulquerías
en Veracruz y Tamalameque y Cancán y Talara, y de riendas de abarrotes en Cartagena de Indias, con Tisaza-,
si no desnarigué al de Heredia ni a López **** tuerto -que era bizco-.
Pastoreé (otra vez) el Rebaño de las Pléyades
y resultaron ser -todellas, una a una- ¡qué capretinas locas!
Fui aceitero de la alcuza favorita del Padre de los Búhos Estáticos:
-era un Búho Sofista, socarrón soslayado, bululador mixtificante-.
Regí el vestier de gala de los Pingüinos Peripatéticos,
(precursores de Brummel y del barón d'Orsay,
por fuera de filósofos, filosofículos, filosofantes dromomaníacos)
y apacenté el Bestiario de Orfeo (delegatario de Apollinaire),
yo, Beremundo el Lelo.

Nada tuve que ver con el asesinato de la hija del corso adónico Sebastiani
ni con ella (digo como pesquisidor, pesquisante o pesquisa)
si bien asesoré a Edgar Allan Poe como entomólogo, cuando El Escarabajo de Oro,
y en su investigación del Doble Asesinato de la Rue Morgue,
ya como experto en huellas dactilares o quier digitalinas.
Alguna vez me dio por beberme los vientos o por pugnar con ellos -como Carolus
Baldelarius- y por tomar a las o las de Villadiego o a las sus calzas:
aquesas me resultaron harto potables -ya sin calzas-; ellos, de mucho volumen
y de asaz poco cuerpo (si asimilados a líquidos, si como justadores).
Gocé de pingües canonjías en el reinado del bonachón de Dagoberto,
de opíparas prebendas, encomiendas, capellanías y granjerías en el del Rey de los Dipsodas,
y de dulce privanza en el de doña Urraca
(que no es la Gazza Ladra de Rossini, si fuéralo
de corazones o de amantes o favoritos o privados o martelos).

Fui muy alto cantor, como bajo cantante, en la Capilla de los Serapiones
(donde no se sopranizaba...); conservador,
conservador -pero poco- de Incunables, en la Alejandrina de Panida,
(con sucursal en El Globo y filiales en el Cuarto del Búho).

Hice de Gaspar Hauser por diez y seis hebdémeros
y por otras tantas semanas y tres días fui la sombra,
la sombra misma que se le extravió a Peter Schlémil.

Fui el mozo -mozo de estribo- de la Reina Cristina de Suecia
y en ciertas ocasiones también el de Ebba Sparre.
Fui el mozo -mozo de estoques- de la Duquesa de Chaumont
(que era de armas tomar y de cálida sélvula): con ella pus mi pica en Flandes
-sobre holandas-.

Fui escriba de Samuel Pepys -¡qué escabroso su Diario!-
y sustituto suyo como edecán adjunto de su celosa cónyuge.
Y fuí copista de Milton (un poco largo su Paraíso Perdido,
magüer perdido en buena parte: le suprimí no pocos Cantos)
y a la su vera reencontré mi Paraíso (si el poeta era
ciego; -¡qué ojazos los de su Déborah!).

Fui traductor de cablegramas del magnífico Jerjes;
telefonista de Artajerjes el Tartajoso; locutor de la Esfinge
y confidente de su secreto; ventrílocuo de Darío Tercero Codomano el Multilocuo,
que hablaba hasta por los codos;
altoparlante retransmisor de Eubolio el Mudo, yerno de Tácito y su discípulo
y su émulo; caracola del mar océano eólico ecolálico y el intérprete
de Luis Segundo el Tartamudo -padre de Carlos el Simple y Rey de Gaula.
Hice de andante caballero a la diestra del Invencible Policisne de Beocia
y a la siniestra del Campeón olímpico Tirante el Blanco, tirante al blanco:
donde ponía el ojo clavaba su virote;
y a la zaga de la fogosa Bradamante, guardándole la espalda
-manera de decir-
y a la vanguardia, mas dándole la cara, de la tierna Marfisa...

Fui amanuense al servicio de Ambrosio Calepino
y del Tostado y deMatías Aldecoa y del que urdió el Mahabarata;
fui -y soylo aún, no zoilo- graduado experto en Lugares Comunes
discípulo de Leon Bloy y de quien escribió sobre los Diurnales.
Crucigramista interimario, logogrifario ad-valorem y ad-placerem
de Cleopatra: cultivador de sus brunos pitones y pastor de sus áspides,
y criptogramatista kinesiólogo suyo y de la venus Calipigia, ¡viento en popa a toda vela!
Fui tenedor malogrado y aburrido de libros de banca,
tenedor del tridente de Neptuno,
tenedor de librejos -en los bolsillos del gabán (sin gabán) collinesco-,
y de cuadernículos -quier azules- bajo el ala.
Sostenedor de tesis y de antítesis y de síntesis sin sustentáculo.
Mantenedor -a base de abstinencias- de los Juegos Florales
y sostén de los Frutales -leche y miel y cerezas- sin ayuno.
Porta-alfanje de Harún-al-Rashid, porta-mandoble de Mandricardo el Mandria,
porta-martillo de Carlos Martel,
porta-fendiente de Roldán, porta-tajante de Oliveros, porta-gumía
de Fierabrás, porta-laaza de Lanzarote (¡ búen Lancelot tan dado a su Ginevra!)
y a la del Rey Artús, de la Ca... de la Mesa Redonda...;
porta-lámpara de Al-Eddin, el Loca Suerte, y guardián y cerbero de su anillo
y del de los Nibelungos: pero nunca guardián de serrallo ni cancerbero ni evirato de harem...
Y fui el Quinto de los Tres Mosqueteros (no hay quinto peor) -veinte años después-.

Y Faraute de Juan Sin Tierra y fiduciario de
ty Oct 2012
half way through my run i forgot how to breathe
i also forgot how to forget,
about you
its been beading-
across my body's threshold, drenching
morning with whirls of
c a r d i o
spasms and poetic flux-
inhaling something new,
while exhaling
*the particles of memory
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Before they fought, they had simple lives.
Remember them, their loves and their wives.
Others they served and many came home.
They parted from service but went on alone.
Heroes; the wounded, the brave or the scared
Each one fighting hard, standing tough, as he dared.
Returned to their homes, they remember alarms;
Soldiers they served with, their Brothers In Arms.

Into their minds, memories battle their war.
Now home in safety, miss them once more.

All go into battle, braced for the fight
Remember their Brothers In Arms in the night.
Memorial Day calls them, witness to bear -
Such Brothers In Arms, they will always be there.

Lin Cava©
Creative Commons
Lin Cava Mar 2013
Tide

It washes over me like an errant tide
pushing and pulling; leaving me off balance.
I reach out without thinking, and feel rebuffed.
It arrives as a hot flush, color rises, blooming in my face
as though the aftermath of a slap; true enough to fit.

But the pain envelops my heart, the center of me,
the place I escape to, curl up in, like a comforting chair
to be alone, undisturbed; often my balm, my cure,
and steals from me the peace I search for to heal.
He is gone, softly, but thoroughly, like an old song I recall.

I try not to open my heart for want to pull back,
in denial of the pain that will come; but I am compelled.
I gasp in grief – no longer surprised at the emptiness
and am wounded by loneliness – the heart’s prison.
I am stabbed with pain in the knowledge he feels it too.

No caring soul could pull away from another
once connected at their very core, regardless of the mind’s decision -
Not without the pain of sadness, or of grief in the loss
for one so dearly loved.  The pain is mirrored -
the gossamer thread that connected them – near severed.

A part of me bleeds, but I gather it up, and hold it close.
I cannot let it pale me, nor shall I harden my heart –
a rigor-mortis to set in.  I shall bear the pain, perhaps until my end.
There is no release for me, no happiness, no vision into tomorrow.
Joyful events pale, as the paled blood of loss drains me.

I hear the call of the zephyr; see his face in the stars
Always, a scent of limes, of sea breezes and salt water
and that gossamer thread bears ever weakening vibration,
once alive and electric, or soft, quietly humming with life.
I worry, and deny that it is fading – a self-serving trick of my heart.

It washes over me like an errant tide.
In time, I may find comfort in the pain -
knowledge in the rhythm of its pounding waves
and hope it washes away this loneliness,
far and away out to sea; if he shall not answer again.

©Lin Cava
10-March-2013


©Lin Cava
revised 12-31-2017
Lin Cava Oct 2010
The city falls away, gray, as I rise,
my ladies cozy in the glass lift – to seven.

Ten to four. Spot on. No need to worry.
You’d think it were High Tea – be late; no break.

Between five and six, the blasted thing stops!
Me, stuck in a fog, with the Barrister’s waiting.

Before they moved in, taking up all of seven,
I stayed in the mezz., tipping my ladies to the cups.

The lift jolts, jostling the ladies, rattling their tops.
I move out; cups, cakes and savories in rows, like ducks.

“English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earle Gray”, I say,
wishing the solicitors away, in court today.

A pinched-face woman, aghast at her clocks, rushes in.

I made inquiries today; for the lease of a storefront next door.

Lin Cava ©
Creative Commons Copywrite
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Autumn’s snap is in the air
Like the crisp crunch of a ripe apple.
I want to gather them up from
The trees, take them home in bushels
Make apple compote,
Apple strudel,
Apple pie!

I want to stuff them into roast duck
With black walnuts and chestnuts.
I want to poach them with some pears
And sour cherries.
I want to make apple tarts with cranberries.

And feed them all to you.

Flour dust still in my hair,
Powdered sugar on my face
To make love to your appetite
With bits of apple goodies
In the crisp Autumn air - somewhere
On beds of leaves bursting bright
All in the colors of Autumn.

You’ll never think of apples
(or tarts) the same way again.
And Autumn, a little more exotic
A little bit ******, something
To look forward to
When Autumn’s snap is in the air!

© Lin Cava
La soledad es un oasis
    está en litigio
    no tiene sombra
    y es puro hueso

la soledad es un oasis
    no hace señales
    pesa en la noche
    lo ignora todo

la soledad no olvida nada
    cava memorias
    está desnuda
    se encierra sola
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Reflecting Pool
Revised 12-31-17

The mirror never tells the story,
no matter how we live our lives;
Never shines upon our glory.
When all is said, it's who survives.

I was there when those twin towers
became a shadow in the sky,
Now we go and toss our flowers
and leave; a tear in every eye.

Where have we come today -
from such a yesterday?
What will tomorrow have us say?

When the snow comes down
And covers sacred ground
Listen for their hallowed, whispered sound.

So I turn my eyes toward learning
Future times already flying by.
Ignore the pain that's borne of yearning
To bring back simple days run dry.

Where have we come today –
from such a yesterday?
What will tomorrow have to say?

The mirror never tells the story,
no matter how we live our lives;
Never shines upon our glory.
When all is said, it's who survives.

When the snow comes down
And covers sacred ground
Hear their hallowed whispered sound.

Lin Cava ©


In 2001, in a multitude of coordinated acts, the United States of America was attacked on home ground.  We must never forget the fallen.
WE MUST NEVER FORGET THIS ACT OF WAR.
There must be a time when we collect a debt for a Nation, the survivors of those lost and the thousands of lost souls.

During the September 11 attacks of 2001, 2,996 people were killed (including 19 terrorists) and more than 6,000 others wounded.[1][2] These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes (including the terrorists), 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.[3][4] The attacks were the deadliest terrorist act in world history, and the most devastating foreign attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.[5]


Lin Cava ©
Creative Commons
Recuerde el alma dormida,
avive el seso e despierte
  contemplando
cómo se passa la vida,
cómo se viene la muerte
  tan callando;
  cuán presto se va el plazer,
cómo, después de acordado,
  da dolor;
cómo, a nuestro parescer,
cualquiere tiempo passado
  fue mejor.

  Pues si vemos lo presente
cómo en un punto s'es ido
  e acabado,
si juzgamos sabiamente,
daremos lo non venido
  por passado.
  Non se engañe nadi, no,
pensando que ha de durar
  lo que espera
más que duró lo que vio,
pues que todo ha de passar
  por tal manera.

  Nuestras vidas son los ríos
que van a dar en la mar,
  qu'es el morir;
allí van los señoríos
derechos a se acabar
  e consumir;
  allí los ríos caudales,
allí los otros medianos
  e más chicos,
allegados, son iguales
los que viven por sus manos
  e los ricos.

  Dexo las invocaciones
de los famosos poetas
  y oradores;
non curo de sus ficciones,
que traen yerbas secretas
  sus sabores.
  Aquél sólo m'encomiendo,
Aquél sólo invoco yo
  de verdad,
que en este mundo viviendo,
el mundo non conoció
  su deidad.

  Este mundo es el camino
para el otro, qu'es morada
  sin pesar;
mas cumple tener buen tino
para andar esta jornada
  sin errar.
  Partimos cuando nascemos,
andamos mientra vivimos,
  e llegamos
al tiempo que feneçemos;
assí que cuando morimos,
  descansamos.

  Este mundo bueno fue
si bien usásemos dél
  como debemos,
porque, segund nuestra fe,
es para ganar aquél
  que atendemos.
  Aun aquel fijo de Dios
para sobirnos al cielo
  descendió
a nescer acá entre nos,
y a vivir en este suelo
  do murió.

  Si fuesse en nuestro poder
hazer la cara hermosa
  corporal,
como podemos hazer
el alma tan glorïosa
  angelical,
  ¡qué diligencia tan viva
toviéramos toda hora
  e tan presta,
en componer la cativa,
dexándonos la señora
  descompuesta!

  Ved de cuán poco valor
son las cosas tras que andamos
  y corremos,
que, en este mundo traidor,
aun primero que muramos
  las perdemos.
  Dellas deshaze la edad,
dellas casos desastrados
  que acaeçen,
dellas, por su calidad,
en los más altos estados
  desfallescen.

  Dezidme: La hermosura,
la gentil frescura y tez
  de la cara,
la color e la blancura,
cuando viene la vejez,
  ¿cuál se para?
  Las mañas e ligereza
e la fuerça corporal
  de juventud,
todo se torna graveza
cuando llega el arrabal
  de senectud.

  Pues la sangre de los godos,
y el linaje e la nobleza
  tan crescida,
¡por cuántas vías e modos
se pierde su grand alteza
  en esta vida!
  Unos, por poco valer,
por cuán baxos e abatidos
  que los tienen;
otros que, por non tener,
con oficios non debidos
  se mantienen.

  Los estados e riqueza,
que nos dexen a deshora
  ¿quién lo duda?,
non les pidamos firmeza.
pues que son d'una señora;
  que se muda,
  que bienes son de Fortuna
que revuelven con su rueda
  presurosa,
la cual non puede ser una
ni estar estable ni queda
  en una cosa.

  Pero digo c'acompañen
e lleguen fasta la fuessa
  con su dueño:
por esso non nos engañen,
pues se va la vida apriessa
  como sueño,
e los deleites d'acá
son, en que nos deleitamos,
  temporales,
e los tormentos d'allá,
que por ellos esperamos,
  eternales.

  Los plazeres e dulçores
desta vida trabajada
  que tenemos,
non son sino corredores,
e la muerte, la çelada
  en que caemos.
  Non mirando a nuestro daño,
corremos a rienda suelta
  sin parar;
desque vemos el engaño
y queremos dar la vuelta
  no hay lugar.

  Esos reyes poderosos
que vemos por escripturas
  ya passadas
con casos tristes, llorosos,
fueron sus buenas venturas
  trastornadas;
  assí, que no hay cosa fuerte,
que a papas y emperadores
  e perlados,
assí los trata la muerte
como a los pobres pastores
  de ganados.

  Dexemos a los troyanos,
que sus males non los vimos,
  ni sus glorias;
dexemos a los romanos,
aunque oímos e leímos
  sus hestorias;
  non curemos de saber
lo d'aquel siglo passado
  qué fue d'ello;
vengamos a lo d'ayer,
que también es olvidado
  como aquello.

  ¿Qué se hizo el rey don Joan?
Los infantes d'Aragón
  ¿qué se hizieron?
¿Qué fue de tanto galán,
qué de tanta invinción
  como truxeron?
  ¿Fueron sino devaneos,
qué fueron sino verduras
  de las eras,
las justas e los torneos,
paramentos, bordaduras
  e çimeras?

  ¿Qué se hizieron las damas,
sus tocados e vestidos,
  sus olores?
¿Qué se hizieron las llamas
de los fuegos encendidos
  d'amadores?
  ¿Qué se hizo aquel trovar,
las músicas acordadas
  que tañían?
¿Qué se hizo aquel dançar,
aquellas ropas chapadas
  que traían?

  Pues el otro, su heredero
don Anrique, ¡qué poderes
  alcançaba!
¡Cuánd blando, cuánd halaguero
el mundo con sus plazeres
  se le daba!
  Mas verás cuánd enemigo,
cuánd contrario, cuánd cruel
  se le mostró;
habiéndole sido amigo,
¡cuánd poco duró con él
  lo que le dio!

  Las dávidas desmedidas,
los edeficios reales
  llenos d'oro,
las vaxillas tan fabridas
los enriques e reales
  del tesoro,
  los jaezes, los caballos
de sus gentes e atavíos
  tan sobrados
¿dónde iremos a buscallos?;
¿qué fueron sino rocíos
  de los prados?

  Pues su hermano el innocente
qu'en su vida sucesor
  se llamó
¡qué corte tan excellente
tuvo, e cuánto grand señor
  le siguió!
  Mas, como fuesse mortal,
metióle la Muerte luego
  en su fragua.
¡Oh jüicio divinal!,
cuando más ardía el fuego,
  echaste agua.

  Pues aquel grand Condestable,
maestre que conoscimos
  tan privado,
non cumple que dél se hable,
mas sólo como lo vimos
  degollado.
  Sus infinitos tesoros,
sus villas e sus lugares,
  su mandar,
¿qué le fueron sino lloros?,
¿qué fueron sino pesares
  al dexar?

  E los otros dos hermanos,
maestres tan prosperados
  como reyes,
c'a los grandes e medianos
truxieron tan sojuzgados
  a sus leyes;
  aquella prosperidad
qu'en tan alto fue subida
  y ensalzada,
¿qué fue sino claridad
que cuando más encendida
  fue amatada?

  Tantos duques excelentes,
tantos marqueses e condes
  e varones
como vimos tan potentes,
dí, Muerte, ¿dó los escondes,
  e traspones?
  E las sus claras hazañas
que hizieron en las guerras
  y en las pazes,
cuando tú, cruda, t'ensañas,
con tu fuerça, las atierras
  e desfazes.

  Las huestes inumerables,
los pendones, estandartes
  e banderas,
los castillos impugnables,
los muros e balüartes
  e barreras,
  la cava honda, chapada,
o cualquier otro reparo,
  ¿qué aprovecha?
Cuando tú vienes airada,
todo lo passas de claro
  con tu flecha.

  Aquel de buenos abrigo,
amado, por virtuoso,
  de la gente,
el maestre don Rodrigo
Manrique, tanto famoso
  e tan valiente;
sus hechos grandes e claros
non cumple que los alabe,
  pues los vieron;
ni los quiero hazer caros,
pues qu'el mundo todo sabe
  cuáles fueron.

  Amigo de sus amigos,
¡qué señor para criados
  e parientes!
¡Qué enemigo d'enemigos!
¡Qué maestro d'esforçados
  e valientes!
  ¡Qué seso para discretos!
¡Qué gracia para donosos!
  ¡Qué razón!
¡Qué benino a los sujetos!
¡A los bravos e dañosos,
  qué león!

  En ventura, Octavïano;
Julio César en vencer
  e batallar;
en la virtud, Africano;
Aníbal en el saber
  e trabajar;
  en la bondad, un Trajano;
Tito en liberalidad
  con alegría;
en su braço, Aureliano;
Marco Atilio en la verdad
  que prometía.

  Antoño Pío en clemencia;
Marco Aurelio en igualdad
  del semblante;
Adriano en la elocuencia;
Teodosio en humanidad
  e buen talante.
  Aurelio Alexandre fue
en desciplina e rigor
  de la guerra;
un Constantino en la fe,
Camilo en el grand amor
  de su tierra.

  Non dexó grandes tesoros,
ni alcançó muchas riquezas
  ni vaxillas;
mas fizo guerra a los moros
ganando sus fortalezas
  e sus villas;
  y en las lides que venció,
cuántos moros e cavallos
  se perdieron;
y en este oficio ganó
las rentas e los vasallos
  que le dieron.

  Pues por su honra y estado,
en otros tiempos passados
  ¿cómo s'hubo?
Quedando desamparado,
con hermanos e criados
  se sostuvo.
  Después que fechos famosos
fizo en esta misma guerra
  que hazía,
fizo tratos tan honrosos
que le dieron aun más tierra
  que tenía.

  Estas sus viejas hestorias
que con su braço pintó
  en joventud,
con otras nuevas victorias
agora las renovó
  en senectud.
  Por su gran habilidad,
por méritos e ancianía
  bien gastada,
alcançó la dignidad
de la grand Caballería
  dell Espada.

  E sus villas e sus tierras,
ocupadas de tiranos
  las halló;
mas por çercos e por guerras
e por fuerça de sus manos
  las cobró.
  Pues nuestro rey natural,
si de las obras que obró
  fue servido,
dígalo el de Portogal,
y, en Castilla, quien siguió
  su partido.

  Después de puesta la vida
tantas vezes por su ley
  al tablero;
después de tan bien servida
la corona de su rey
  verdadero;
  después de tanta hazaña
a que non puede bastar
  cuenta cierta,
en la su villa d'Ocaña
vino la Muerte a llamar
  a su puerta,

  diziendo: "Buen caballero,
dexad el mundo engañoso
  e su halago;
vuestro corazón d'azero
muestre su esfuerço famoso
  en este trago;
  e pues de vida e salud
fezistes tan poca cuenta
  por la fama;
esfuércese la virtud
para sofrir esta afruenta
  que vos llama."

  "Non se vos haga tan amarga
la batalla temerosa
  qu'esperáis,
pues otra vida más larga
de la fama glorïosa
  acá dexáis.
  Aunqu'esta vida d'honor
tampoco no es eternal
  ni verdadera;
mas, con todo, es muy mejor
que la otra temporal,
  peresçedera."

  "El vivir qu'es perdurable
non se gana con estados
  mundanales,
ni con vida delectable
donde moran los pecados
  infernales;
  mas los buenos religiosos
gánanlo con oraciones
  e con lloros;
los caballeros famosos,
con trabajos e aflicciones
  contra moros."

  "E pues vos, claro varón,
tanta sangre derramastes
  de paganos,
esperad el galardón
que en este mundo ganastes
  por las manos;
e con esta confiança
e con la fe tan entera
  que tenéis,
partid con buena esperança,
qu'estotra vida tercera
  ganaréis."

  "Non tengamos tiempo ya
en esta vida mesquina
  por tal modo,
que mi voluntad está
conforme con la divina
  para todo;
  e consiento en mi morir
con voluntad plazentera,
  clara e pura,
que querer hombre vivir
cuando Dios quiere que muera,
  es locura."

  "Tú que, por nuestra maldad,
tomaste forma servil
  e baxo nombre;
tú, que a tu divinidad
juntaste cosa tan vil
  como es el hombre;
tú, que tan grandes tormentos
sofriste sin resistencia
  en tu persona,
non por mis merescimientos,
mas por tu sola clemencia
  me perdona".

  Assí, con tal entender,
todos sentidos humanos
  conservados,
cercado de su mujer
y de sus hijos e hermanos
  e criados,
  dio el alma a quien gela dio
(el cual la ponga en el cielo
  en su gloria),
que aunque la vida perdió,
dexónos harto consuelo
  su memoria.
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Quiet night, the darkness illuminated by a silver moon
Punctuates my solitude, exposing thoughts restrained by day.
Tip a toast to all I have loved and lost, much too soon
Closing in upon the time, I too, will slip away.

Silver moon, carry me on a winsome dream,
That a night zephyr might take my heart
take this love I hold inside, delivered as a moonbeam
through distances beyond the plotted chart.

Bring my Love safe passage, held within your song
that he may feel my presence, hearken to my call -
an embrace to touch him, hold him fast and long –
to have his heart think of me, in all he can recall.

Silver moon, these gifts must travel true
they must bear up to last throughout the years
to fulfill a need and share as time comes due
memories to comfort a once lost love’s soft tears.

© Lin Cava
Creative Commons
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Dewdrops on silk web
Shiny black spider spinning
A blackbird watches.

Lin Cava
Creative Commons
Got Guanxi Apr 2015
Deep ridge,
deplete elitists.
Gold flows, layers,
Dbridge,
enriched tone, gates golden,
heavenly.
San Francisco, incomplete,
switch robes.
Can't be beat, Klitchschos,
barking up the wrong tree,
rich tones.
Switch flows, risk it,
rich tea, gifted.
Unwritten, no gimmicks,
smooth months,
pale ale Guiness.
Wrap presents,
gift wrapped,
signed sealed delivered.
Dispatched,
Spit fires, spit facts,
die for the art.
Mismatched.
Calamity believe, nose dive.
Kamikaze.
No harder, fuel,
nose powder.
White knight in shing armour.
1688,
Spanish Armada.
Cut sharp like barber,
bananas,
permanent like markers,
malleable like lava,
pop like cava.
Polova.
Inscribe minds,
magna carter.
Magnificent bars,
gold tales told.
Slaves sold, reigns over.
Cold shoulder,
rainbow coloured mistakes,
shoulders shudder,
steer clear brother,
execute rudder.
Destitute,
Scuppered.
Destination under breath muttered.
Spread like wildfire,
butters, blindman, blackout,
blinds again, shutters.
Dunces, run ****.
Jump ****, loose lips,
loosing grip.
Tip of the iceberg.
Tip of the tongue,
no nice words.
Stigmata.
Godfather,
go harder for our forefathers.
The time is ours.
I have no idea what this.
Why I enjoy writing so much just some of the random things that end up coming out...
Not to be taken too seriously :)
Cali Jun 2013
you played me like a mandolin,
striking notes like broken glass
in the space between your wayward sheets.
your hands were my compass,
your eyes the Adriatic Sea-
and I plunged into the depths
like an albatross,
fawning over wide open spaces
and beautiful colors.

yes, you played me like a symphony,
my body ebbing and flowing
in ghastly syncopation.
notes like honeysuckle and lilac
coursing through my bloodstream-
capillaries to venules to veins to the vena cava
and straight on into my heart.

and you'd be ecstatic to know
that I haven't heard such a haunting refrain
since you went away.
Lin Cava Aug 2013
The Kestrel and the Dove

Friday night
Saturday afternoon
Sunday in the morning
you are quiet
a ghostly wisp;
a gossamer veil:
a scent on the breeze

I recall the doves
cuddled together in their tree
coo-cooing gentle love songs
even as they sleep
and I wonder
Are you coo-cooing once more?
…and is she of the same feather?
…does she sing to you a different song
in the same coo-cooing voice she crooned
before
in your not so long ago past?

Your need is strong
to be turtle-doving,
softly loving
and though your tune
is soft and haunting
in those refrains from long ago
you are different,
forever changed.

You are a kestrel,
set free, at last.

The Kestrel and the Dove
though together for this brief hour
can never again
be bound by love.

Lin Cava
31-August-2013
Lin Cava Oct 2010
I hear her call me now; Calliope.
She dances in rooms made all of windows,
In delicate tones her calls reach sweetly
Stands naked amongst cast off silken bows.

So lightly she leaps among the sunbeams
Her gift bestowed, poetic cache replete
A tiny figure, seen only in dreams
On her face, her happiness shines complete.

I hear her laughter, tinkling playful sounds -
In her mischief, she will often refuse
To part with her gift, of which, she abounds
I’m glad you found me again, little muse.

© Lin Cava
Creative Commons Copyright
Shelby LoAnn Dec 2012
Intertwine our pulmonaries
Pull tight, tie together our coronaries

My superior vena cava resting near yours
Hear that, the sound of opening ventricle doors

Beautiful looking aortas fixed
Winding together as a double helix

This heart of mine will skip a beat
Just so my arrhythmia and yours might meet

This ticker will only continue to tick
If next to yours it may stick

Not a murmur because of bad health
A murmuring of loves bountiful wealth

Atrium to atrium, heart to heart:
Blood's continual pumping, so long as our valves never part.
Lin Cava Oct 2010
I have built this wall,
brick by brick.
I’ve mortared it all,
sturdy and thick.

I remember the time
I was washed in forgiveness
my face wet with tears -
my sense of self released
as I lost that heavy load.

I turn, and start another
line of bricks,
heavy with the mortar
until it sticks.

Each year the wall gets thicker
and the light is sometimes thin.
Each week the wall gets higher
so that nothing will get in.

Still, I can remember when
I was stripped of all my woes,
the weight of sin washed clean,
burdens lifted from me
to feel that touch within.

I turn, and start another
line of bricks.
Heavy with the mortar
Until it sticks.

It has been many years
since I began this wall.
I've spilled too many tears
as the bricks built up so tall.

And though the memories
allow the light’s way in,
I know - deep inside of me,
I’ll not break down again.

I have built this wall,
brick by brick.
I’ve mortared it all,
sturdy and thick.

I know that when it’s done,
I've placed the last brick of this room,
that when, at last, I’m through,
it will become my tomb.

Lin Cava©
Creative Commons Copyright
Lin Cava Oct 2010
[Fairchild Republic, Long Island NY]

A multiplex movie theater sits there now.
Behind that a row of common eateries;
an Italian place, a mattress store, a stationery.
On the corner sits a Chinese buffet,
always busy.

Around the bend, a computer chain-store,
one of those trendy places that serve
fast food and ‘sports’ under the same roof,
overpriced spirits with kitschy, sticky bar offerings
whose names lean heavily upon original drinks
that they are not.

Across the lot,
the newest outlet of a chain liquor store;
a shoe store; cell phones and ‘stuff’...
some empty stores remain.

The last leg comes around,
the home of a national office supply store,
its sign stark red on white,
and a big box hardware store,
clashing its orange in reply.

A faux aviation tower tops the corner roof
of a well known sporting goods store -  
the builder’s hat tipped to this place
as once it was.

Beyond the façade a small airport still operates,
its real tower the same as years before
its runways dotted with lights, surrounded by roads.

Cemeteries always do well by airports.
Silent neighbors don’t complain about the noise.
Grandma is buried there.  Every person I know
who has history here, has someone buried there.
They are linked together but separate;
one Catholic, one Jewish, another a National
with its white simple stones lined up
just so, row upon row upon row.

I don’t know why it is easier to stand here
in this lot of the disingenuous,
rather than recall
what that place of the genuine became;
left to crumble, left to slowly die.
For here was the home of Republic Fairchild,
now among the dead,
as those cemeteries know.

And in the lot,
places that call themselves restaurants,
an intentional misnomer.
The multiplex, a huge construct,
only places a minor footprint
upon what was once the parking lot
to a national achievement.  

The Italian place, the corner to the
buildings that housed the offices,
and behind, the hangars to the war planes,
built with honor
and pride.

Where I stand now,
the ground once trembled
beneath the rumbling power of jet engines
built to near perfection,
to almost impossible tolerances.  
Their roar still haunting -
recalling the sound
of the free and the brave

In sorrow I watched as the buildings,
behind chain link
suffered blows from rocks thrown
by those too young to care or understand.  
Busted windows, shattered dreams.
I saw the tarmac split under natures call to green.  
Intrepid little weeds grew through each lot
and along each runway line.

The service road, now public -
beside it, overgrowth
still hides the tracks and rails
that once delivered beds of covered secrets
to be tailored and trimmed,
riveted and polished,
tested and tested
and flown
above these skies,
above proud faces,
eyes squinting upward in the sun,
above this place.  
This place, as it was then.

Lin Cava © 29-February-2008
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Beating of drums and the midnight fires;
heroes and children shed blood in the sand
waging war for political liars.

Do what the situation requires.
through strikes of panic in a foreign land -
beating of drums and the midnight fires.

Desert beauty, a thing that inspires,
won’t save child martyrs, dead by their own hand,
waging war for political liars.

Sacrifice all, for Allah admires
a strong willed martyr to play as they can;
beating of drums and the midnight fires.

Light up the night for wasted desires.
Mother will love you as part of the plan;
waging war for political liars.

Heroes or children, each of them tires -
forfeit of future; all he acquires;
beating of drums and the midnight fires;
waging war for political liars.

Lin Cava©

A Villanelle has some very specific rules for the form.  The repetition sets up a cadence; a particular rhythm.  This is one of my first of the form.
Creative Commons Copyright
Lin Cava Oct 2010
When tenderness turns away,
Hope breathes a final sigh.
Life reverts to shades of grey –
Love, once fluid, turns brittle and dry.

Zephyrs that often piqued an interest
And brought exotic dreams to fore –
Die as doldrums, unimpressed;
To leave one haunted, wanting more.

If Passion is Love's celebration,
The verve and spirit of its vigor -
Then Tenderness is its reflection –
In absentia; brings callousness and rancor.

In the quiet times, when passion sleeps -
Touch me softly in tenderness-
Delicate wonders that Love's company keeps
To remind me again with sweet gentleness.

Alas, when tenderness turns away,
Lost to deaf ears, that final sigh –
Love is loathe to wait or to stay,
Hearts cease to beat and Love does die.

Lin Cava©
Creative Commons Copyright
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Kiss me only with sweet poetry
Dance with me only with your words
I live in a room there
Hidden between the lines

Carry the touch of your heart on wings
Given flight in lyrical symmetry
So your music can play me safely
Where my heart answers back

A taboo – never to be
Examined like lost stones -
Mettle never to be tried
By time or hardship.

The gift, a safe harbor
To immure stubborn affections
For what can never be.

Lin Cava ©
Creative Commons
Lin Cava Mar 2013
-Remembered-
*
He is gone
has been gone
long before his life-light
blinked out.

In the wake of who he was
is emptiness
a chasm only he could fill -
now barren of his uniqueness

In his lingering
I saw the proof
that life is neither
fair, nor just

We have but one life
and many choices
When it’s through
there is no more

We bear our burdens
of poor choices
bearing witness to our
mistakes, or lack of purpose

And we ponder
near the end
feeling the hard pain
of having wasted time

Never wasteful, he was a man
who did not need to ponder
he took up the cause
of his fellows in life

Life’s circumstances; beyond the control
of the accident of our birth
become our burdens,
and change; our redemption

He filled the many lives he touched
with happiness, support and reason
He helped, when help was needed
and he Served; hard but well

For such a man is a hero
in many ways
and should not pass
through a lingering chasm

But life is not fair, nor just
and mankind has tinged
our natural outcome
by un-natural measures

He is missed, and the emptiness
more pronounced for the living
because of who he was
how he filled their lives and hearts

In memory, we must celebrate
for we all were touched
by a quietly remarkable man
Our lives ever improved for it.

I shall return to his gravesite
And place a stone upon it
For as long as a stone, is a stone -
He will be missed.

©Lin Cava
14th March - 2013
I don't want to write about the cold, the wind,
The rain or these January doldrums.
England at this time of year is desperate and depressing,
And I'm longing for warm breezes, nighttime teases
A pregnant, chuckling moon at midnight. August dances,
Wild advances, stolen, secret, hungry glances.
Magic, confusion, summer scents
BBQ, Samsara, Bacardi and Cava,
And the kind of flowers that try to impregnate you with their scent;
Smell me! they plead,  then kiss as I burst, spilling my pollen,
Blessing the union of your hungry, eager mouths.

January is barren but August is ripe, heady, ready,
Moist and pulsing, life is in the air,
Flee the doldrums, take me there.
Lin Cava Oct 2010
To think we might go terraforming;
When we cannot save our own green earth.
Bulldoze, clear, hydrate, land conforming -
Leave behind the trash with carefree mirth

Lost to eyes that have never perceived
Intrinsic beauty within a leaf
The song of nature, gifts we’ve received
Perfumed zephyrs, their aroma brief

A symphony of insects and birds
Trills and whistles, loud winds and soft sighs
Music here that needs no spoken words
Had they noticed how it softly dies?

We’ve pushed beyond a safe redemption
Killed off species never discovered
So much more of which we can mention
Some, much too late to be recovered

And yet, we plan on terraforming
Move on to a new place, start out fresh
Some might see it as bullish storming
With ways unchanged, new worlds we enmesh.


Lin Cava©
Creative Commons Copyright
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Etta James, singing “At Last” behind me now,
lights turned low, ******* of Drambuie on ice
the air carries the aroma of desert roses,
green fern and damp mossy bark; the gift of a posy.

The scent reminds me of the quick light rains
tapping in the afternoon, making love to thirsty
new greens, coaxing them up to reach for more.
My body reacts to the thought, arching up.

Sips of warming golden liquid, the cold ice
a give-and-take of restrained contrast,
until the liquid has all been consumed –
and the ice remains, bearing the spirit upon it.

Contributions to reflections in sensuality,
The ice, captured up quickly from the glass
held in deft fingers, neatly, to paint their
cold upon my lips, sipped within a warm mouth.

The cold, diminished cube, dances on the tongue.
I rise; the glass left behind, and come to you –
Face to face, eye to eye.  The kiss shares the cool
as the ice passes between us, to melt in loves flame.

Eyes close, now drinking in another kiss,
I feel myself surrender to the flame that rises up.
Once more I am arching within your arms,
strong, gentle hands contain me, stoking the fire.

I am released, free to feel all that is within –
to bring it to the surface; without question - to share…
The heady scent of longing fills me, fueling passion
The ice, a forgotten prelude to love’s rendezvous.

Lin Cava ©
Creative Commons
Mol Nov 2018
people come into your life and grow on you like wild flowers.
sometimes they grow upon your skin, present but not deep,
others will grow so so so far down, their roots will rupture your skin and wrap themselves around your brittle bones.
eventually growing through the vena cava of your heart, reaching deep inside the vital chambers.

and these people, no matter how hard you may try,
you cannot rid them from your heart,  they will always be there, growing deep inside of it,
feeding off the oxygen in your blood. even their flowers and foliage may wither with time but their roots will always exist, the blood from your heart running through them.

you will never cease to love these people,
for to pull out the roots of these flowers would rip your entire heart out of your chest,
and though that might hurt less than the roots these people may leave,
the only possible result is death.
Lin Cava Oct 2010
Armed with toy sword and shield
He goes outside to play
His faithful steed, Abby the dog
Will serve him well, today.

He runs in circles about the yard
And behind the wide oak tree
Searching to the East and West
For wherever the enemy may be.

Something moving gets his attention
A daddy long-legs scurrying by
In his mind, takes enormous proportion
“I slay you, giant spider, die!”

He stabs into the air with his sword,
At the long legged monster he sees there
Running away to avoid the great topple
To surely escape from both spider, and lair.

So he continues to brave great adventure
To conquer all challenges to his domain.
Boldly he stands, sword held high
When sadly, the game is called, due to rain.

Lin Cava©
Creative Commons Copywrite

— The End —