As answers deceive

The questions stand

And dancers leave

To track the sand

Round robin conspiracy

Threatening us all

The letters all lower case

Their finality tall

Butting my head

Inside of the line

“When does it end Father,

Maybe this time”

The black and the white of it

The tall and the short

The poisons the same

One knife for a fork

New action will free

What inaction restrains

To once again, once again

Once again drain

So back to the future

Back to the past

Choose not your weapon

You’ve had your last laugh

The wind’s in the vestibule

New breath in the hymn

Your darkness reveals

What the light needs to win

With seven unsavory

And eight left to roast

The turkey unstuffed

Leaving room for the ghost

So ride away, ride away

Ride away all

The damage inflicted

This hammer a maul

The blood’s in the alleyway

Life beckons on

Death has been slaughtered

  —as begins the new song

 

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: August, 2014)

We’re losing America

 while losing our minds

 

Our spirits in hiding

 our souls hard to find

 

The nation in freefall

 all fingers to point

 

One side at the other

 common values disjoint

 

We’re losing America

 in front of our eyes

 

A narcissists poison

  our heritage dies

 

Each part is now greater

 than the sum or the whole

 

What our patriots died for

 lost, forgotten—untold

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

The Citizens danced

 Romulus cried

 

Centurions posed

 in Legions wide

 

“The world is ours”

  they said in glee

 

“And death to those

 who don’t concede”

 

The past unyielding

 future loaned

 

The present flew

 like David’s stone

 

Their party ending

 candles burnt

 

With spoils poisoned

 lessons spurned

 

And history writes

 that in a day…

 

What once was Rome

 was cast astray

 

Whose legend carved

 in stone reminds

 

What young Narcissus

 hoped to find

 

The glory that once

 ruled the world

 

Now left in rubble

 myth unfurled

 

As time awaits

 to stalk our path

 

That wolf inside

 —as history laughs

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

    Up Or Down

 

Unchallenged,

  we have nowhere to go

    —but down

 

(Villanova University Campus: July, 2014)

 

 To Believe In Both

 

I can believe in you

  and not believe in your art

 

I can believe in your art

  and not believe in you

 

Wouldn’t it be nice

  —if I could believe in both

 

(Wayne Pennsylvania: July, 2014)

 

 The Bottom Line

 

What you get

  is not always

  what you choose

 

What you choose

  is not always

  what you want

 

(Bryn Mawr College: July, 2014)

 

Hiding inside the written page,

  reality slipped away

 

Buried inside a meaning deep,

  its wolves were kept at bay

 

With feelings ablaze, all answers were torched,

  a bonfire at the gate

 

New questions enshrined, false promises burned,

  with ash to mark the way

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

Purity weds corruption

 —a marriage unrhymed

 

An Angel having fallen

  —damnation defined

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

Between the lines

  you read my story

 

The pain I felt

  you washed in glory

 

New letters rose

  the words reformed

 

As Angel’s danced

  with time forlorn

 

On Satan’s grave

  a vesper bell

 

Salvation rings

  —all lies in hell

 

(Philadelphia Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

 

 

A man paints a picture

  outside on his teepee

 

A man writes a novel

  from inside his soul

 

Each message recorded

  to transcend the seasons

 

Eternity on notice

  —another black hole

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

When the world turns

   on a whisper

 

Why do we insist on

  shouting

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

For the lack of one letter,

  the word could not form

 

For the lack of one word,

  the entire sentence was wrong

 

For the lack of one sentence,

  the paragraph went astray

 

For the lack of one paragraph,

  the page lay undone

 

For the lack of one page,

  the chapter could not end

 

For the lack of one chapter,

  the book was now lost

 

For the lack of one book,

  its message unwritten

 

For the lack of one book

  —all promise was gone

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)