If it can happen for me,
it can happen for you
If it can happen for you,
it can happen for me
When it happens for us,
it happens for all
When it happens for all
—the world is set free
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
If it can happen for me,
it can happen for you
If it can happen for you,
it can happen for me
When it happens for us,
it happens for all
When it happens for all
—the world is set free
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
Flying alone
over fury enthroned
Its colors reign free
and clear
The enemy stained
all freedom regained
Covered in blood
spent and dear
Stitched yellow and blue
its messages true
That Svealand does
not run
To hang steadfast
and slay the past
And carry our glory
sum
A crest ablaze
through fire and haze
Horses hooves high in
the air
Now honor bound
on sacred ground
Heralding death
—our cross to bear
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
There’s a gene embedded in every parent
to recreate
what their parents had done
Sometimes good, and sometimes bad,
passing it down
from father to son
To repeat family history through memories past
the circle
a lingering fate
Excuses come early with reasons
too late
DNA always proffered as bait
The young and the old both prisoners of time
their footsteps in sequence
to fall
And when questions are posed why they acted this way,
they’re too busy passing it on
—to recall
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
We should be freeing and emancipating
the poor with opportunity
—not underwriting their poverty with welfare
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Twilight falls onto my
windowsill
Demon fire in full
retreat
The stars return
glowing embers that burn
In whose radiance
an Angel will sleep
Days grip is unchained,
the cantor sings while he prays
As the chorus cries out
“It’s unplugged”
The sun has now left
with my hopes not bereft
Only the night
—points to heaven above
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
If you ask me to read,
I’ll say only the good
—in spite of what others might think
Once your blood has been spilled,
and the cut is deep
—my task to heal, not push to drug or to drink
If the pain is too great,
my heart you may take
—as I suture you back from the brink
From this deepest of wounds
that I surround and embrace, as a fountain
—where you may now drink
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Reborn a poet
and then set free
To live beyond wealth
—and majesty
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Overspending the bulk
of my temporal capital
Hourly deficits climb
and pile into notes
Debts I’ll never repay
stored in vaults I can’t find
Words lying uncashed,
as I write overdrawn
Pledging to go back
and re-sign what’s untendered
I’m unforgiven—overdue,
my fate unsecured
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Would you lease me your heart
if I gave you a dime
Would you lend me your trust
if I willed you my time
Would you seize my devotion
with its mortgage in tact
Would you love me just once
—or forever like that
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April. 2015)
Poetry is different
when spoken than read
The words more musical
outside my head
No longer imprisoned
or held on the page
Their freedom unharnessed
—the voice of an age
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)