Take it …

but don’t take it lightly

Step up …

but don’t miss a step

Reach out …

both hands clasped together

Arrive …

without having left

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

You might not like it

you may not agree

But religion’s the problem

the real enemy

A blind ideology

that kills to maintain

A false image of God

to blaspheme and profane

The Koran—the Crusades

the excuses—the lies

Fanatical visions

the death they imply

The future will judge

what the present impales

The shame and the heartbreak

humanity failed

As ill-fated dogma

kills the innocent child

The real God enrages

his judgment on file

So spew out your maxims

and dig in your heels

As millions will die

for what you think you feel

The universe watches

eternity waits

For this plague to be over

—this damned human race

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

The farther I get from religion

the closer I get to God

Clouds blown free—new imagery

a seed in Heaven’s pod

 

The farther I get from the papal bull

the closer His voice I hear

Grace so blessed—divine GPS

directions loud and clear

 

(Dundale: September, 2023)

The distant echo

of my lost awareness

rings the canyon walls

 

No clear way out

one final shout

—benighted to recall

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

 

The universe got smaller

as my mind expanded out

The limits of imagination

endless in redoubt

 

Each flash the moment changes

passing light that rushes in

The cosmos but a blinking eye

—when out beyond the rim

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

 

Bloom where you’re planted

teach what you know

Love who you married

reap what you sow

 

Question the answers

mean what you say

Turn up the music

—live for today

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

A bigger bite of life

for a hunger meant to last

Insatiable inherence

starvation my repast

 

Partaking of tomorrow

in dreams of future feasts

Anticipations banquet

—where ravenous I eat

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

 

My heart stays in Wyoming

but Montana calls my name

My spurs and bits ‘a jingling’

as my soul goes north again

Cody up through Beartooth Pass

Cooke City just below

The Great Divide off to my left

the glaciers ringed with snow

I stop to mourn the western tribes

as dark clouds form above

The war chant of Tasunka-Witko

crying out with love

My spirit loose to roam the land

the great Oglala’s words I hear

Two kindred souls in one last dance

—as Wakan Tanka draws us near

 

(From ‘Searching For Crazy Horse’: February, 2017)

Not connected

end to end

each prayer

stands alone

 

The beginning, middle,

end of each

unleashed, untethered,

homage shown

 

But when

they find each other

in a prescience

most sublime

 

An Angel sings

their wedding vows

with Heaven’s light

—to shine

 

(The 1^st Book Of Prayers: September, 2023)

Deadly to his enemies

confusing to his friends

 

While faithful to his writing

injustice he portends

 

Furious in times of war

in peace his vision burns

 

But past the fray inside his words

a gentler spirit yearns

 

Salvation long then sacrificed

a fate he can’t deny

 

A cross that’s left for him to bear

but still his spirit cries

 

Through battles mostly heaven sent

and victories sealed with death

 

This guilt the price he’s had to pay

now felt with every breath

 

One wish at last he prays out loud

one cry is sent above

 

“My spear, my pen, my will to live

I trade all back for love”

 

(The 1^st Book Of Prayers: February, 2017)