Caprice

 

The right moment

at the wrong time

The right rhythm

 with the wrong rhyme

 

The verse oft hidden

 between the lines

The Muse abeyant  

— till prescience shines

 

(The New Room: January, 2026)

 

 

In Plain Sight

 

You can hide

in the open

when you’re

somebody else

 

No need for

a mask

with your image

indwelt

 

You can hide

in the open

when nobody

stares

 

An orphan

in training

whose devils

— may care

 

(The New Room: January, 2026)

 

 

Alone

 

I hope that

you die

before

the new morn

 

The night holding

 captive

your future

forlorn

 

I hope that

you choke

on the words

you profane

 

A prisoner

convicted

alone

— in your pain

 

(The New Room: January, 2026)

 

 

Darkness Calls

 

Temptation rears

its ugly head

Deception hides

beneath our beds

 

The Angels

of our nature shunned

As darkness calls

— perdition comes

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

 

Those Few

 

Everyone

is born unique

But many die

as clones

 

Lost of promise

Grace endowed

With joy bereft

a drone

 

Everyone

His image shared

Till falling

from the Light

 

Beatific

Vision lost

Alone

— to face the night

 

(The First Book Of Prayers: February, 2026)

 

 

From The Maelstrom

 

We are

separate

We are

distant

We are

many

— we are one

 

From the

cities

From the

country

From the

maelstrom

— we become

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

 

So Close And Yet …

 

Feasting on the

lettered law

Abandoning

its spirit

 

Crippled by

the sanctioned rules

Afar

— when we’re so near it

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

In The Offing

 

Poetry

is the weight training

of writers

Building new couplets

 each musing

reweighted 

Lactic

endowment

new pain in old phrasings

Success

in the offing

— as writing expands

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

We dare not talk

of love

Time has robbed us 

of its spark

 

Ever since when

to forever and then

We live in its shadow

— holding hands in the dark

 

(Poems Of Love: February, 2026)

Infidels Mourn

 

Fools gamble

cowards ramble

but wise men ponder

 

Alone in a crowd

 silent out loud

 a sage to wander

 

Through pathways of old

with proverbs untold

he seeks transcendence

 

As time is reborn

and infidels mourn

— his soul’s quintessence    

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

  

Never And Always

 

A man’s ambition

should never

exceed his worth

 

A man’s ego

should never

invade his soul

 

A man’s fury

should never

exceed his cause

 

A man’s reasons

should always

— defy excuse

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

 This Present

 

Have you ever been

to yesterday

in search of tomorrow

False notions

that frame our thoughts

with despair

The past a deception

in search of

new victims

The future a myth

in this present

— we share

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

Do images

free language

or a metaphor

to note

Whose words embrace

unmarried grace

that lives    

beyond the rote

Can you espouse

that suitor’s vow

with kindnesses

unsaid

Time’s betrayal

a cuckold’s bond

with prescience

— left unwed

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

Damsel in

distress

Virtue

to redress

Reputation

scorned

Honor

most forlorn

 

On the field

we face

Lances

and a mace

Blood to burnish

clean

Lies

— that death redeems

 

(Rhymes From The Nursery: February, 2026)

Two plus two equals four

— everywhere but the Halls of Congress

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

A step ahead

of Satan

a lifetime

on the run

A pitchfork in

my rearview

the outlook

zero sum

My energy

depleting

my feet begin

to slow

His flames are

hot upon me

my fingers

start to glow

The years I’ve spent

and wasted

the loved one’s

in my wake

Their memory in

the ashes

Gehenna

— is my fate

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

My Rosary

— my life

 

(The First Book Of Prayers: February, 2026)

Once

you force

all existence

into this moment

 

You will

understand the

difference between life

— and its living

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)