In the darkest final hours,

  I began to write

And my words now spoken new

  from scattered ashes light the sky

To begin and end each day

  caught up in beauty’s distant wake

All loneliness filled by pages lined

 with happiness and joy

My fate betrothed, once mistress

  scorned

   —a lover more than wife

Whose vision so much sharper,

  her dissection cuts through bone

To slay the muted dragon’s fire

  in present elocution

Beyond all past and future clouds

  above the darkening storm

To live each breath and gifted word

  that heaven sends pristine

Never destitute in blessings shown

  —or in things I wish I’d said

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Only one thing calls out to heart, body,

  and mind

Causing seas to part—where yourself you will

  find 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

We’ve redefined God

Into someone

Who fits

His image

Our vision

His vision

Inconvenient

Alongside things

That won’t let go

His message untimely

With bills to pay

And concrete goddesses

To which we pray

  “a tail never tried to wag

   a bigger dog”

As we chant inside the

False rapture

Of our own

Becoming

Hiding from the very

Light

That promises

 —to show us the way

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Thinking too much

feeling too little

 —your message shrinks and fades

Forgiving yourself

holding others in sin

 —a soul that can’t be saved

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Not only did the words come,

  they brought their friends along

They pitched their tent—built their fire

  and began to sing their songs

The sparks flew as memory rose

  good tidings in the air

Phrases birthed, new families penned

 —brotherhood to share

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Will the words come,

  will the words go

Are they forever,

  how do I know

What do I think,

  what do I feel

Memory escapes

  a spoke off the wheel

Written in blood

  spoken in rhyme

Forever to echo

  forever sublime

Daffodils scatter

  a wolf howls at bay

Nighttime has answered

  —I kneel and I pray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Present ordained

  past future in shame

The Poet and Jester

  as one

Living unclaimed

  free and unnamed

Archangel and Devil

  —undone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Sleeping with the Muse,

  my nights have grown short

Sleeping with the Muse,

  my spirit comports

Sleeping with the Muse

  words dance with delight

Sleeping with the Muse

  confronting my fright

Sleeping with the Muse

  her will tests again

Sleeping with the Muse

  not lover nor friend

Sleeping with the Muse

  my dreams sacrifice

Sleeping with the Muse

  all rest put on ice

Sleeping with the Muse

  the whispers come clean

Sleeping with the Muse

  excuses demeaned

Sleeping with the Muse,

  my spool is respun

Sleeping with the Muse

  divorced from the sun

Sleeping with the Muse

  in darkness I learn

Sleeping with the Muse

  the day will confirm

Sleeping with the Muse

  till dawn’s freeing light

Sleeping with the Muse

  —new words to take flight

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016) On-Line

The light burns brightest

  at journeys end

     “Radiant Epiphany

       Seraph’s descend”

Its blaze to enrapture

  the love that you give

     “Celestial applause

       for a life well lived”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

If we were young men

  if we were strong

If we had fresh words

  to add to our song

If we were soldiers

  with war in our veins

If we were poets

  our voices reclaimed

If we were lovers

  of women that cried

If we went wandering

  our heart’s reapplied

If we were statesmen

  the world in our grasp

If we were sailors

  the wind at our backs

If we were farmers

  with meadows so green

If we were actors

  on stages supreme

If we were hunters

  new wolf on the prowl

If we were dreamers

  all wishes allowed

If we were young men

  still facing the sun

But alas, we are old

     —and darkness has come                 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)