Embracing the present,

  freeing the past

 

Abandoning the future

  —eternity’s mask

 

Seizing the moment,

  lies tumble and fall

 

Salvation perpetual

 —this instant and all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Easily measured,

  not clearly defined

 

Often lamented,

  more often unkind

 

Its loss we all mourn,

  searching heaven to find

 

The time to become

  —a new past to rewind

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Your arms lift me up,

  as your words take me down

 

And I’m caught in-between

  your smile and frown

 

Your eyes making promises,

  your words yet to keep

 

My spirit in limbo,

  my heart left to weep

 

A soul now in turmoil,

  my mind double dealt

 

As your fear and your passion

  collide

 

What’s to be known,

  and what’s to be felt

 

Is it your words or your actions

  —that lie

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Certificate unsigned,

  pen firmly in hand

 

The bliss not for barter,

  its insight free-stands

 

Faith and acceptance

  may go where they please

 

To my grave and beyond,

  the verse teaches and frees

 

No savior I ask for,

  forgiveness I shun

 

Redemption for others,

  new ink on the run

 

Till one day uncovered,

  hidden deep on the shelf

 

A message unchristened,

   buried dark and unfelt

 

Where the voice I was gifted,

  and the music I heard

 

In themselves live forever

  —free unbaptized words

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

 

Writing in meter, ending in rhyme,

  the journey became clear

   —destination in mind

 

Writing in meter, ending in rhyme,

  my words tunneled inward

   —their meaning sublime

 

Writing in meter, ending in rhyme,

  free of the ramble

   —heartbeat aligned

 

 Writing in meter, ending in rhyme,

   the feeling immortal

    —remembered in time

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

 

Is God to interpret,

  and religion the why

 

Is forever too heavy

  to pledge bye and bye

 

Does the Devil provide balance

  to a concept in stone

 

Is he laughing inside us,

  mocking all that we know

 

Is the Lord left to children

   and those purest of heart

 

Is all truth chained to symbols,

  has its lock come apart

 

Are the years there to change us,

  is each day meant to count

 

Are the scriptures worth hearing,

  if belief has to shout

 

To those fanatics among us,

   yes, you know who you are

 

A power looms distant,

  beyond testament’s scar

 

Its claim staked by no one,

  its icon’s unseen

 

And its reckoning comes

  —when you wake from this dream

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Not to argue about Poetry

  or justify Prose

 

Not to discuss their many virtues

   or interpretive flows

 

I choose to remain quiet,

  and let the words carry on

 

Where in magnificent silence

  —they turn into song

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

I asked for your blessing,

  instead you explained

 

What I should be paying

  to garner acclaim

 

You told me if only

  I’d do it this way

 

My words could have meaning

  and influence—sway

 

But power and fortune

  are not what I sought

 

If influence only

  gets brokered and bought

 

So the blessing passed over,

  no bribery done

 

A last vow to myself

  —from you I must run

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

My cup runneth over,

  your chalice half full

 

The emptiness suspect,

  both murky and dull

 

It shines on the outside,

  jewels christened with fire

 

But to drink from that potion

  —forever a liar

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

The Russians have taught me

  that nothing has changed

 

Instead of Nazis and Fascists,

  we have terrorists to blame

 

Whether Turgenev or Chekhov,

  Tolstoy or Marx

 

When our nature’s in play

  —much of life remains dark

 

(Wayne Pa.-Minella’s Diner: June, 2016)