Veracity

Can truth exist

  within a vacuum

 

Can it stand alone

  without listener or teller

 

Can its words contain value

  left to themselves

 

Can its verity outlive

  its many disciples

 

Can its hope transcend

  all circumstance and change

 

Can truth given unto itself

  —exist at all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

The Cost

The more we are given

  the more that gets taken away

 

As Stephen Hawking looks out

  from his empowering inferno

 

His vision to create and inspire

  anew…

 

Exhausts the very flame

   —he lives to ignite

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

That Final Thing

Beyond genius

  the spirit flies

Beyond genius

  the mood decries

Beyond genius

  no courses rowed

Beyond genius

  all time disowned

Beyond genius

  the map refolds

Beyond genius

   a world untold

Beyond genius

  the critics gasp

Beyond genius

   no serpent asp

Beyond genius

  the telling stops

Beyond genius

  no on—then off

Beyond genius

  all sight and sound

Beyond genius

  the square is round 

Beyond genius

  no lies are told

Beyond genius

  what’s new is old

Beyond genius

  the heavens sing 

Beyond genius

  —that final thing

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

Oft Times

Oft times,

The smallest of things

Are the biggest of all

 

Oft times,

The softer you land

The harder you fall

 

Oft times,

Life is a present

Tied with ribbon and lace

 

Oft times,

The one’s you ignored

In your dreams have a face

 

Oft times,

The beginning and end

Join together attached 

 

Oft times,

Those doors that you locked

With new love come unlatched

 

Oft times,

The family lost

In new loyalty found

 

Oft times,

The things that you’re not

  —free your world to go round

 

(Airplane To Las Vegas: August 1, 2015)