There’s a great luxury

 in telling the truth

 

A richness verbatim

 no lies to refute

 

A strength of conviction

 beyond substance and style

 

Through the ages adopted

  —veracity’s child

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

I’ve looked and watched

 you turn away

 

Seeing things

 you’ve long denied

 

I grabbed the lion

 by his mane

 

Staring through

 the devil’s eye

 

I bought

 a one-way ticket

 

While never

 looking back

 

I’ve sailed and searched

 the roughest seas

 

My rigging

  often slack

 

I gave away

 all that I had

 

And asked for

 nothing more

 

I played the game

 and damned the rules

 

Rejecting

 any score

 

I stole my fate back

 from the wind

 

Which blew

 from side to side

 

And asking once

 my only wish…

 

  —to leave this world alive

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

Identity,

Born from a kernel of inheritance

Planted deep within a furrow of pain

Growing in the light of new discovery

Reseeding itself

  —waiting for the rain

 

(My Son Trystan & I: May, 2016)

The notion of time

  a potion sublime

 

A bottomless pit

  the physicists fit

 

Today or tomorrow

  the future or past

 

As your arms wrap around it

 —your hands lose their grasp

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

Nobility,

 in debt to all virtue

  —on loan to the truth

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

 

How important is the music

 to your verse

 

How important is the blood

 in your veins

 

How important is the picture

 to the words

 

How important…

 let me ask you once again

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

Tonight,

I was ready to die,

But death

Wasn’t ready for me

 

Tonight,

I was ready to die

From the past

And a future unseen

 

Tonight,

I was ready to die,

But the light

Of salvation rechose

 

Tonight,

I was ready to die,

But the door to eternity

 —was closed

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

Papa Blues

  and Momma Jazz

 

But ain’t that baby

  —Rock and Roll

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

You can take the verses with you,

  but false riches stay unrhymed

 

With love as wings, to heaven brings

  —your gold all left behind

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

Being more than a woman…

 your vision enraptured

 making me more than a man

 

Being more than a woman…

 my thoughts solely focus

 doing all that I can

 

Being more than a woman…

 my days are too long and

 our nights are too short

 

Being more than a woman…

 my ceiling is raised

 with new feelings to court

 

Being more than a woman…

  my virility strengthened

  my bravery charged

 

Being more than a woman…

 all pettiness gone

 with my choices enlarged

 

Being more than a woman…

 your breath is on fire

 your touch turns to gold

 

Being more than a woman…

 new promises to keep

 vows to never grow old

 

Being more than a woman…

 past-future rejected

 time stops at your door

 

Being more than a woman

 our love you’ve protected

 —and released ever more

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)