Once written,

 no longer in need of defense

 

Once spoken,

 no longer in need of repetition

 

Once embraced,

 no longer in need of approval

 

Once answered

  —no longer in need

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

Often,

Life’s greatest pleasure

  —is getting the pain to stop

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

Passion builds a home

  —that talent only visits

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

You hear the words calling,

  but what if they stop

 

What if the voice changes

  to cold what was hot

 

And it’s not yours at all

  but a squatter that hides

 

D.N.A. of its own

  new agenda of lies

 

Those messages before,

  were they gifts or on loan

 

Is the feast yours to eat,

  will meat stay on the bone

 

Will the Muse be unfaithful,
is divorce in the wind

 

Leaving words then unnamed

  —orphaned silent within

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

Not Before

 

Say what you will or wont

  but do as you pray

 

Bleed as you will in the night

  but carry the day

 

Take as your conscience directs

  but give all you can

 

Return when the fighting is done

   —but not before then

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

        A Final Amen

 

Through critical discussion

  he walked in the night

 

And passed all the doubters

  embracing their fright

 

After giving it once,

  he gave forever again

 

For that bigger than him

  —and that final amen

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

Never Act

 

Be what you are

  just don’t act like it

 

Be who you are

  —and never act at all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

 

      The Answer

 

Did you die alive

  or did you live dead

 

The answer saying everything

  —meant to be said

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

 

       Faithful And Alone

 

Writing to no other standard

   but his own

 

He was forever faithful

  —and forever alone

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

Is there a balance

Between poetry and prose

Anymore than a balance

between these and those

 

Is there a balance

Between poetry and prose

Or maybe a marriage

Where ‘heaven only knows’

 

If there’s a balance

Between poetry and prose

Are there rules to be broken

Where anything goes

 

Or is the real balance

Between poetry and prose

Truth sitting on top

  —their twin pillars below

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

 

 

The picture worth 1000 words

  is priced only one way

 

Its value screaming

  —until eyes close

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

In reference to nothing

Alone with itself

The truth burns in fury

Damnation to melt

Its legions are many

Believers so few

The stragglers all freezing

And lined in the queue

The mirror the liar

Death hiding within

The priest the deceiver

Who threatens with sin

But truth holds dominion

Setting fire to the throne

Rising above and beyond

What’s self-righteously known

It calls to you silent

As it calls to you loud

Do you hide in the shadows

Or answer back proud

That thing that you reference

From your prison within

Those things done in deference

Now caught in the wind

You lie as you bargain

You cheat and defame

One voice now your jailer

And calling your name

Your back to the altar

You hide in the pew

Before robbing the poor box

A new low for you

Your history tarnished

And legacy shot

Your name ill-begotten

From all you are not

But truth has no time stamp

No ticket to claim

One choice will release it

Life starting again

Your mortal days finite

You have to act fast

Will you ask for redemption

 —your soul to repast

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)

If ignorance is truly bliss,

  and the Emperor has new clothes

 

Then who am I to judge at all

  —where peace and freedom go

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)