When I want to visit God,

 I go to the Grand Canyon

 

Where she talks to me plainly

 and talks to me clear

 

Staring at eternity

 I look into her depths

 

As she calls to me familiar

 —and calls to me dear

 

(Grand Canyon South Rim: February, 2019)

With each step that I take,

 words jostle and form

 

Inside me they cluster

 deep down where it’s warm

 

At nighttime they visit

 in moments of peace

 

Defining my feelings

 —extending my reach

 

(Las Vegas Nevada: January, 2019)

Deep in the canyon with the grace of your souls

 carrying your memory inside me

 

Visiting places where we spent time before

 seeing each one of your faces

 

Hearing your voices whispering inside

 reminding of what we knew then

 

Sealing a vision all time has denied

  old beginnings freed from the end

 

Deep in the canyon, the cliffs high above

  the echoes like condors they climb

 

The river runs wild as it carries our dream

 like a mother in birth of a child

 

The wind calls out once, then calls out again

 its question defying an answer

 

As our souls reunite in the vastness below

  —the story of five canyon dancers

 

(Havasupai Indian Village: January, 2019)

 

 

Have you done enough

Have you seen enough

Have you loved enough

  —until an Angel sings

 

And the Heaven’s sigh

Your last goodbye

Your last goodbye

  —on spoken wings

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

If you ask the right questions

 expect silence to answer

 

When begging for the truth

 —your poverty shows

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

Can truth exist

  within a vacuum

 

Can it stand alone

  without listener or teller

 

Can its words contain value

  left to themselves

 

Can its verity outlive

  its many disciples

 

Can its hope transcend

  all circumstance and change

 

Can truth given unto itself

  —exist at all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

The more we are given

  the more that gets taken away

 

As Stephen Hawking looks out

  from his empowering inferno

 

His vision to create and inspire

  anew…

 

Exhausts the very flame

   —he lives to ignite

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

Painting myself into an emotional corner

 feelings trapped and staid

 

Family eliminated one by one

  old hurts and wounds replayed

 

Each year a brick in this wall of pain

 to shield me from the loss

 

Isolation my next of kin

 —love the only cost

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

 

 

 

 

Own that space

  you walk within

 

Show your face

  the same again

 

The facts will change

  the weather turn

 

But only deep

  within you’ll learn

 

To own that space

  you walk within

 

All fear delinquent

  —the renter’s sin!

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)

Can I still hate your politics

  and love your music

 

Do I have to hate your wife

  to feel your pain

 

Can I still love the message

  after rejecting its meaning

 

Do I have to choose between

  —again and again

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2015)