Chevalier

“Mon Dieu, mon Dieu,”

   he screamed to the crowd

 

“On stage as a vagabond

   my home you enshroud

 

“My makeup—my armor,

   my performance—my cause

 

“Reborn with each act,

   as I hear your applause

 

“You take me each matinee,

   you take me each night

 

“To the depths of your hearts

   where my darkness alights

 

“Mon Dieu, mon Dieu,”

   he shouted again

 

“Forever my audience

   —forever my friends”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

The Chameleons

Bravery and fear

  not either or

 

But versions of…

 

Valor and shame

  brought heretofore

 

Mixed pieces of…

 

A riddle to confound

  the poet’s mum

 

As glory weds disdain…

 

Courage and fear

  not zero-sum

 

But oft times look the same

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

And You, To Me

I believe the last person I shall ever see,

  is you

    —and you, me

 

I believe the last person I will ever know,

  is you

   —and you, me

 

I believe the last person I shall ever love,

  is you

   —and you, me

 

I believe the last place I will ever go,

  is to you

   —and you, to me

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Tasunka Witko

The greatest of men

 he bled the truth,

 his wounds for all to share

 

A symbol relived

 a life unspoiled,

 courage all too rare

 

The towering hawk

 the thundering storm,

 hailstones mark the way

 

A moment in time

 a vision embraced

   —his name the children pray

 

(Plane From Detroit: August 21, 2018)