A shadow hides behind your smile

in the Riviera sun

Parisian moments long ago

our love had just begun

 

A child born then lost to time

whose laughter still we hear

As life took back its greatest gift

—his memory to endear

 

(Mayenne France: April, 1978)

The depth of your inkwell

the breadth of your pain

where life springs eternal

again and again

 

To suffer the moment

in timeless refrain

releasing the freedom

removing the stain

 

Each diamond unpressured

betrays like the night

whose darkness is fleeting

and gone with the light

 

Your quill reaching deeply

for what came before

and what lives forever

—in words evermore

 

(The New Room: May, 2022)

The encumbrance of peace

is war

 Silence remortgaged

—as payments begin

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

A madman’s humanity

of which we decry

When he has those feelings

the same, you and I

 

How can he commit

such actions of death

Then cry when a comrade

lets out his last breath

 

A madman with feelings

the concept abhors

That he loves his children

his dog and his whores

 

His body dies bloody

his legend to live

Embroiled in fury

—only time can forgive

 

(The New Room: May, 2022)

Watching ‘Narcos’ on Netflix

From the top of Penn Center

he chose his first victim

Twenty stories up

as the train rolls below

 

A solitary pigeon

breaks free of the pack

Its eyes focused downward

for scraps that might show

 

His wings ever silent

with talons extended

At over a hundred

he drops from the sky

 

The prey in his clutches

a nest on the spire

where eyas sit waiting

—their mouths open wide

 

(16^th & JFK Boulevard-Philadelphia: May, 2022)

No more white horses

or pretty ladies

No more bright mornings

or silver skies

No more engagement

with hopes and wishes

No more will promises

 cover lies

 

Once more the danger

is thrust upon me

Once more the mirror

reflects the shame

Once more the time

is left abandoned

Once more tomorrow

—myself to blame

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

So close to Heaven,

so far from God

The gate still locked

—the devil nods

 

A soul once bartered,

forever sold

Its mine shaft empty

—mirage of gold

 

All reasons barren,

the empty fields

The seasons wanton

—bereft to yield

 

So close to Heaven,

so far from God

Redemption fleeting

—as hell applauds

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

Better the will to know

—than to know the truth

 

(Re-reading Don Quixote: May, 2022)

A new beginning

begins the end

A different octave

whose voice portends

 

The circle squares

as angles form

escape your memory

salvation born

 

A new beginning

first and last

Once you enter

the past is past

 

All colors exit

as black meets white

gray indifference

to lace the night

 

A new beginning

storms on fire

 ice is raging

 polar spires

 

Eight directions

up is down

Buried mantra

—transcendence found

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

 

Where would we be

without the bomb

Was Einstein a savior

or devil aplomb

Our power the fire

all enemies dread

Till stealing its physics  

unmaking our bed

 

The world on the edge

of a looming abyss

Missiles entombing

a terrorist wish

Tomorrow unpromised

all time day to day

Eternity waiting

—forever to blame

 

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2022)