Time not only seems to be speeding up…

 it actually is

Perception trumping reality looking forward,

 not looking back

Undercooked moments blow into the future,

 their aroma unsettling

As tomorrow disowns today

  —lamenting the past

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

What if the Universe has always been here,

 defeating the concept of time

Never beginning and never to end,

 whose story you cannot define

What if the future, present, and past,

 are just crutches for the weakness we share

What if the answers lie beyond logic,

   inside us—our essence to bear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

Eternity shook,

   as the words fell free

    —startled, but unafraid

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

The baser instincts

  within a higher calling

  —pain rewrapped in joy

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

A great voice has been silenced

 the wind through the willows

 blowing once, never to return

His words left behind

 to inspire and remind

  —of those things that we still have to learn

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

Once you have everything

 you can give it all up

 gratuitous though it seems

But until that day

 we lust and pray

  for what alludes us

  —a prisoner of dreams

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

Are people religious because

   they’re good?

Or good, because they’re

   religious?

The question remains,

  its verdict unclaimed

The wrong answer deemed

  —sacrilegious

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

I’m covered in dirt,

  but my words are still clean

A vision half dried

  with stains running deep

With sinners and saints

  arm in arm at the bar

Each infection we share

  tonight’s hookup and score

Meaningless excuses

  all scandal affirmed

My bed made with sheets

  from a brothel once scorned

As I lie in the shadows

  with my soul partly damp

My words are set free

   —to the heavens restamped

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

Through the eye of the needle

Not to the left or the right

Dodging both on the comets tail

I streak into the light

My last wish out in front

As words melt in a fiery contrail

And with only one question

To weaken my heart

With only one thing to know

The seasons entwine

All beanstalks are felled

With the exit signs all aglow

I crash through the doubt

Releasing new hope

My affirmation now to reign

And look ever further

Beyond my scope

As my senses become untrained

I feel the loose pieces

Start to come off

A new lightness now abounds

The last burden has lifted

Burning bright in my wake

Crossing over—turned around

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016) 

Has your violence

 taken you to places

 I’ve not been?

Or driven you

 to things

 I’ve not seen?

Was your soul

 mired in conflict

 once raised from the dead?

Were your walls

 built to fortify

 excuses and blame?

Have your choices

 been forged by

 damnation and fear?

Did love matter at all

 when it cried

 through the pain?

Could you still hear its voice

 on those darkest

 of nights?

Are those places you

 conquered

 in tribute now shamed?

Did your victims

 kneel down

 their heads bowed in defeat?

Was mercy rejected

 your mistress

 defiled?

Has your violence

 taken you to places

 I’ve not been?

Or driven you

 to things

 I’ve not seen?

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)