Our Father, life giving light,

Redeemer of the plains

Carry our offerings into your heart,

remember, we serve in your name

Spirit Redeemer, the mountains and hills,

distant and barren in lore

The drums have restarted, the chanting begun,

the People despairing no more

(From ‘The Book Of Prayers:’ September, 2020)

We cannot eat lies

or feast on empty promises

No more than the bison,

starving in the desert sand

We cannot clothe our children

as we run from the Wasichus

Our teepees torn and freezing

amidst the winter snows

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: Late September, 1994) 

Revisiting places,

a fresh pair of eyes

 

All time reimagined

—the how and the why

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2020)

A watch is forever subservient

to time

 

As each day bows down

to the sun

 

Remeasuring infinity

from end to end

 

Orphaned between

—and left to beguile

 

(Villanova University: August, 2020)

 

If conflict is human,

is violence a game

 

The law of the jungle

by some other name

 

A mortal endeavor,

to choose when we fight

 

With nature in judgment

—the wrong from the right

 

(Wayne Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Imperfection keeps me fertile,

like the storm upon the plain

 

Measuring the distance,

of what’s lost and sometimes gained

 

With my thoughts I mark the hours,

left uncounted looking back

 

The choices made and prices paid

—endorsing what I lack

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

If reality is meant to change,

Buddhists may be right

 

The stops and starts of wasted dreams,

to bury in the night

 

With truth in self-denial,

our awareness springs and grows

 

The burdens of all conscious thought,

released—once letting go

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Cheating death…

the myth we tell

—when life seems all the more

 

(Villanova University: August, 2020)

 

My door is made of solid bronze

but doesn’t have a lock

 

Patina’d with the stain of blood

from all the battles fought

 

It swings upon a rusted hinge

and creaks when open wide

 

To welcome back the future-past

the present safe inside

 

(Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

I know more things

than I can tell

 

The water deep

within my well

 

I wish for more

than hope can stand

 

Obeying Thee

—my heart commands

 

(From ‘The Book Of Prayers’ August, 2020)