With memory escaping,

 you stare down the hall

 

From that place where you hang,

 last nail in the wall

 

You once were a sovereign,

you used to be real

 

What death left in tribute

—your portrait conceals

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

We’re born,

as we start dying

 

We change,

while remaining the same

 

We search,

neglecting to find

 

We return

—while leaving again

 

(Ronald McDonald House-Phila: January, 2020)

Locking up a feeling,

its key now mine to own

 

Flashing back a memory,

its reborn image shown

 

Wooing that one lover,

whose vow unbroken lasts

 

Time the evil mistress

—these timeless things contrast

 

(Newtown Square Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

It’s easy to hide behind words,

with the truth left abandoned and stark

 

It’s easy to hide behind words,

with your feelings sharp pointed and dark

 

It’s easy to hide behind words,

when the emperor buys you new clothes

 

It’s easy to hide behind words

—whose deception dishonors you so

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

Once you had arms

that held me so tight

 

Once you had legs

that stood up for right

 

Once you had eyes

that could see in the dark

 

Once your strong hands

plotted courses to chart

 

Once we would walk

and the birds would proclaim

 

Once we would sing

and the heavens refrained

 

Once we thought time

was our servant and slave

 

Once, before war

we forgot and forgave

 

Now that you’re gone,

my memory’s gone dark

 

Now that you’re gone,

paths unwalked in the park

 

Now that you’re gone,

surname given and fast

 

Now that you’re gone

—my heart beats in the past

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

Dying alone on foreign ground,
death grips his blessed hand

Never choosing time or place,
uncharted
—the Angels plan

An oak to fall on alien soil,
all seeds to heaven thrown

His words cast free to light the dark,
that ‘Good Night’
—now his own

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

I swallowed hard the feelings scorned,

to finish off my plate

 

But filled I was in sated form

a glutton postulate

 

I bit off more than I could chew,

with meat still on the bone

 

My stomach full of fiery barbs

—leftovers unatoned

 

(Villanova University: January, 2020)

Religion in practice…

arms length from God

Close enough to see,

never to touch

 

Single lens focus,

vision for sale

Dogma as deity

—conscription at birth

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

To hide yourself in public,

and turn your back on fame

 

Choosing thence to be alone

—the fire without the flame

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2020)

Eternally poetic,

terminally bound

 

Musing uncourted

—death for a crown

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2020)