I Charge Within

I put a saddle on the wind,

and rode it through the storm

 

The bridle placed, the buckle cinched,

the reins, my horse reborn

 

Inside each stirrup passion spurs,

the present now in hand

 

Behind whose mane I charge within

—in search of who I am

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Sages And Broomsticks

The temperature frozen

Old sticks in the mud

New tracks are untrodden

Lost dreams from above

The raisins in darkness

All pits buried deep

The moon shines unfaithful

Recounting of sheep

The doctors watch broken

Your time shorter still

His prognosis a token

Beyond suture or pill

He asks if you’re ready

You say that you’re not

He asks if it matters

You ask if it ought

And into the night

You begin once again

To hurry the ending

To reach beyond blame

And all of the hate

You then leave behind

To warn all those jaded

Of what they’re never to find

“Partisan dreamer

Audience of one

Killer of grammar

Words on the run

Paragraph’s jilted

The undotted ‘I’

The meaning now freed

All language denied

Rhythm of opportunity

Children of hope

Seizing the moment

Not dropping the soap

Stretching the limits

Crossing the line

To beat a new cadence

Time begs to shine”

You want it to make sense

You want it to seem clear

As your feigned self importance

No longer precious or dear

But the only one caring

And that still in doubt

A mirrored reflection

Of what time has cast out

You head off to work

Your laser untagged

The morning unvetted

Coworkers who brag

The lunch break upon you

Again eating alone

The steak is served raw

Chewed right to the bone

The banter around you

Seems damning at best

The shroud that surrounds you

To defile or to bless

“You gain nothing by trying”

You gain nothing you say

As you then begin crying

For that one gone away

That girl in the tall grass

That girl in your arms

Went to be with another

When you bartered your charms

Her daughter is grown now

Some say looks like you

Could it be then you wonder

When the times were so few

You pay the cashier

As you walk slowly out

This bill had been dear

More than you had allowed

With the bone in your pocket

You head back to your desk

As the cry of a mockingbird

Decries and behests

Your pen running dry

As your mind starts to write

On your third eye a sty

Melding vision with sight

And its then that you notice

Hanging pink and in front

And you know that your future’s

A dog that can’t hunt

So you walk to his office

And sit down in the chair

You look at him soulless

And try not to care

He explains “That he’s sorry”

That “The timing’s not right”

He says that you’re valued

But be gone by tonight

As you clean out your desk

A new feeling partakes

You look up to the ceiling

Lost in all that’s at stake

And that feeling is good now

That feeling seems right

As the feeling then pushes

As the feeling alights

You decide now emboldened

To stop on the way home

At the house of that one

You left forever alone

You heard of divorce

You wonder how bad

The damage it left her

Was it worse than you had

As you slow down your car

She stands in the yard

As you speed up your heart

She says “Directions, how far”

She does not recognize you

Have you changed all that much

She looks at you puzzled

As you long for her touch

And you drive away empty

As you drive away cold

And you drive away blackened

From your heart to your soul

But your path is now clear

You’ve just one place to go

As those things that you feared

Have now falsely been shown

And you walk in her kitchen

The door never had locked

Standing there and still smitten

The one you thought had forgot

“Was that you in the car earlier

Was that you, really you

I couldn’t believe it

Because I still love you, I do”

A reward wrapped in burlap

The priciest kind

Where if never rejected

You are never to find

So make just one promise

To then promise again

To be true to your feelings

From beginning to end

“Sages and broomsticks

motherless pearls

Witches who threaten

fatherless girls

New curse of the ages

old grudges remain

A coven of stages

to hide from the rain

And the mark then of Satan

the touch of the Lord

To the death plated sunset

and the winner forlorn”

The trap in this quandry

which you must break out

As with all dirty laundry

to first burn and then shout

As the truth is not distant

a true word never feigned

And the peace that you’re seeking

still inside and unclaimed

So let go of the dogma

and the medals will melt

Your deck full of aces

all cards are redealt

But the moment is now

and the moment is clear

Once the moment is chosen

new joy spun from fear

So to those who will threaten

with eternity damned

Say “Away with your blasphemy

stop where you stand”

Your wings have resprouted

your eyes looking in

A new life has been started

—you’re blessed to begin

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

Death Warrants

Paying for their own execution,

the collegians trod on

 

Trapped inside their smart cellular phones,

in groups, but still alone

 

The administrators harken back,

slave owners long outlawed

 

And charge the most outrageous sums

for ‘knowledge’ truly flawed

 

The best among them dropping out,

before real harm is done

 

Like Gates and Jobs and Zuckerberg,

the future on the run

 

As zombies risen from the dead,

they march from class to class

 

Chasing a fatal document

—death warrants duly cast

 

(Villanova University Campus: September, 2019)

Monument Row

The traveler journeys

His ship has gone far

The doldrums eclipsed

With the light of new stars

The lands seem foreign

The people are strange

But always they smile

And call you by name

You run, and you run, and you run

From it all

Charts lost in the maelstrom

Just the albatross’ call

Until delicious intention

Returns from respite

And phrases the unmentioned

Where maybe you might

All praise to the ointment

Its healing refrain

Right, left-side disjointment

To blow out the brain

The covers pull back

Each bone is stripped bare

The tiller is slack

And there’s no one to care

So you take to the helm

Hands firmly in place

And you care not a whit

If it’s all empty space

As a cardinal is perched

On the yardarm so high

A land bird at sea

Making all truth a lie

And you wonder then maybe

Have you wandered too far

As the cup pours the gravy

From a long empty jar

The wind yet to move

The day is late June

What’s whole has been halved

With the sun almost noon

The rigging is silent

The mast frozen tall

The wind has died down

With no new ports of call

A feeling still burns

In the fire within

To find that one thing

That unfound, to us sings

The ocean is flat

The sea is dead calm

Seasons repeat

Memories unresolved

The night sky is clearest

The darkest the days

Whose winds have escaped

Adrift to now play

But then just a wisp

Of a breeze on your cheek

Portends of a magic

And a future you seek

It strengthens and gushes

Throughout all the night

As the red sky last evening

Had hinted it might

As the headsails go up

The big linen comes down

And you climb up the mast

To nest in its crown

The creak of the lapstrake

Splashes over the bow

The futures in sight

Incarnate, right now

Looking down on a lifetime

A rare moment of joy

The smell of the brine

Covers anything coy

As an Island approaches

From the mist up ahead

And the stillness reproaches

Then retreats to its bed

The wonder returns

Speculation begins

Of the magic you’ll find

In a newness again

At the top of its mountain

Strange trees then appear

In a shape that you’re certain

Neither familiar nor clear

The closer you get

The more they seem to move

As their shapes become giant

And your hopes then behoove

Your ship anchors at rest

With the dinghy on shore

To see them more clearly

Each face to implore

Like monolith Gods

On top of the hill

Reigning down on those entering

With a welcoming shrill

But where are the people

The Island is bare

Just giant stone carvings

That linger and stare

And as you approach them

The ground starts to shake

From deep in your heart

A primordial ache

The mountain then trembles

All paths become closed

With the rain now a warning

Any trespasser knows

As you run to the dinghy

Its oars are found gone

And your ship is now missing

In its place just a song

Which sings to you words

Ones you already know…

“A price not paid dearly

Is only for show”

You turn back to the mountain

And in an explosion of light

You’re lifted up to the heavens

Spun around in a fright

You’re shot then straight downward

Toward the mountain below

And with force you are planted

Along monument row

And now that you’ve joined them

All questions abide

The distance and separation

In heaven collide

“Can I leave, am I destined

to be left here entombed?”

And in language you recognize

Providence swoons

From a choir immortal

Voices start to be heard

Your welcome now total

As your drown in their words

“You can leave if you want to

The choice is all yours

But this mountain goes with you

As all places detour

You’ve reached the first milestone

You’ve passed the first test

Old dye in the ointment

—now clear and at rest”

 

(Chesapeake Bay: June, 2017)