The only defense against fate

 is words

 

The only answer to death

 —is life

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2018)

Look with your eyes,

  until you see with your mind

 

Listen with your ears,

  until you feel what you hear

 

Laugh with each breath,

  until you smile with your heart

 

Love with your will

  —until it releases your soul

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

 “Indians have a saying,” she said

    from across the fire…

 

“Until you have heard the roar

   of the bear

     —you will not know its heart”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

From My Novel: ‘Revenge Along The War Trail’

 

Refusing to fight the major war,

  the war based on principles,

  the one we can win

 

We’re forced to fight a never-ending series

  of political wars,

  ones that we can only lose

 

We’re trapped in the middle of Appeasement River

  and headed for Chamberlain Falls,

  terror awaiting in the rapids now ahead

 

Slowing down the current or rowing harder wont

  save us, it only extends the time of our demise,

  capitulation pulling us under toward the roar

 

As a country, we’re now in the middle of that river

  arguing over who has the water rights,

  arguing over whose paddle is best

 

Until we get off the river and back on dry land,

  Chamberlain Falls will continue to pull

     —and Armageddon will continue to call

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Beyond academia…

  its cause and effect

 

Lies a power inherent

  above judgment and theft

 

Atop its ivory tower

  and smothering vine

 

Consensus is trembling

  —with truth on the line

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

The older I get,

  the shorter the lines become

 

The older I get,

  more welcome is each morning’s sun

 

The older I get,

  those words rented are now mine to keep

 

The older I get,

  dreams follow me out of my sleep

 

The older I get,

  less rules to impose on the game

 

The older I get,

  hopes and wishes of youth to reclaim

 

The older I get,

  new laughter recalls what I missed

 

The older I get,

  all goodbyes now embrace and dismiss

 

The older I get,

  what I searched for, my searching became

 

The older I get

   what’s forgotten—remembered again

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Can you paint without color,

  can you think without language

 

Can you dance without music

  —can you love without pain

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

 

After Midnight

The narcissists fall

After Midnight

A new lyric calls

 

After Midnight

Last bugle to blow

After Midnight

There’s more left to know

 

After Midnight

The lizards collect

After Midnight

Old tales to reflect

 

After Midnight

The ticking will stop

After Midnight

The bottom will top

 

After Midnight

A cancerous tome

After Midnight

Malignancy known

 

After Midnight

Betray and deceive

After Midnight

Alone in the siege

 

After Midnight

All footsteps fall deaf

After Midnight

Lost palates are cleft

 

After Midnight

New story to front

After Midnight

Two stars for the dunce

 

After Midnight

The comets rebel

After Midnight

The coroners yell

 

After Midnight

A suit made of steel

After Midnight

Its melting reveals

 

After Midnight

That voice in the back

After Midnight

There’s no turning back

 

After Midnight

A sacred oath sworn

After Midnight

All memory forlorn

 

After Midnight

The wheels bend and churn

After Midnight

Lost vision returns

 

After Midnight

False birth is stillborn

After Midnight

Old vestments are torn

 

After Midnight

The here and the now

After Midnight

That one sacred cow

 

After Midnight

Past-Future unseen

After Midnight

  —creation redeemed

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

 

Laid solid with words

  the writers stone

A fortress was columned

  my only real home

 

The poetry was safe there

  it stammered and tried

As my feelings unbridled

  from the outsiders lies

 

Each year added layers

  to this home of the verse

My thoughts never silenced

  or my feelings there terse

 

All that’s needed to go there

  …unfettered belief

All that’s needed to know

  is that time is the thief

 

My vision unshaken

  from this chair with two wheels

The advice from the experts

  “to wither and yield”

 

But my place more than sacred

  an invincible throne

Independent of body

  times seed to unsow

 

And the moment before

  I take my last breath

I will enter forever

  where before I had left

 

The trumpets will sound

  as immortality calls

To that space then my refuge

  the sum of it all

 

As the memories unreason

  the facts storm again

But the tents of my solitude

  keep out their wind

 

For generations that follow

  and their children that ask

This place I now dwell in

  for all hard and fast

 

Just believe in its message

  and its fortune to change

Just believe in transcendence

  with all things the same

 

Until the day that that final

  trumpet may blow

And all that you’ve loved

  is all there’s to know

 

Your message then solid

  as the door opens wide

And those moments you’ve gifted

  to the heavens arrive

 

And the joy that you feel

  thinking back on it all

From that place deep inside

 —where first destiny called

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

 

Turning words into feelings

  all description must die

 

The music taking over

  earth kissing the sky

 

Turning words into feelings

  we begin once again

 

Beyond all destination

  —beyond all journey’s end

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)