Behind the mask, 

only truth gets told

 

Its covering sacred

—eyes behold

 

(Kabuki Theater: April, 1973)

Rebel’s highway,

toll free line

Drifting median,

ill defined

 

Sirens distant,

flashing lights

Mocking laughter

—death’s delight

 

(Memories Of September 30^th, 1955)

Born to the same words as you,

the feelings were my own

Language shared, intention spared,

a vision fully grown

Our words converse, beyond my verse,

your prose unto my rhyme

To search that darkest hidden place,

each footstep out of time

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

Twilight beckons

a wavering moon

Chasing the sunset

from darkening skies

 

Clouded reminder

renewal has come

Birthing new shadows

in fresh summer rain

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

The present is in your future,

the present in your past

The present a sacred mystery,

its moment to unmask

The present is in your memory,

the present in your dreams

The present neither begins nor ends

—eternity set free

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

Dipping his toe

in the river’s denial,

uncertain of its depth

 

Floating his memories

on ripples of fate,

his deepest secrets kept

 

Refusing to sink

excuses cut free,

his reasons left to buoy

 

Erasing his doubts

 the island ahead

—all sharks turned into Koi

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

The wandering Poet,

so wild—so free

 

With each mile walked,

a new reverie

 

Eight Muses to guide him,

his steps fall in line

 

Their prophecy calling,

their message sublime

 

The wandering Poet

won’t stop till he’s done

 

All motion incessant,

all verse zero-sum

 

His trail can be seen

by those willing to climb

 

Their destiny’s marked

—their pasts left behind

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

 

I dress up every Sunday,

but only in my mind

My coat and tie in tattered shreds,

the past and future bind

 

To celebrate in peasant rags,

as memory dances free

Imagining in formal garb

—what only I can see

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

Some days my mind is hardened,

on others like a sponge

 

Today my thoughts are heartened,

with feelings on the run

 

Tonight as light transitions,

and darkness fills the void

 

My mind and heart will lay as one,

true lovers—dreams of joy

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

Wedded to a grownup dream,

betrothed to whom I sleep

My lover laced in shades of gray,

her shadow most discreet

 

Vows of heartache lost in time,

one chance to pledge again

to tend her garden—heart unbound, 

and till her love unstemmed

 

(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)