No More Could I Seek

When my words are read

  by the common man

 

No higher praise could

  any writer stand

 

Awards and cheer

  from the seasoned elite

 

Pale when measured

  against those ‘in the street’

 

As I’m embraced

  by those ‘salt of the earth’

 

My spirit lifts,

  and I’m home from my search

 

Steadfast and loyal,

  their voices repeat

 

No more could I ask

  —no more could I seek

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: Watching the New Hampshire Primary- February 9th, 2016)

Life

You can wish and hope for a hundred years,

  or play the game a day at a time

 

You can focus on what’s at the end of the road,

  or squeeze three nickels from your very last dime

 

You can pray for still more than some others might have,

  or be thankful for what lies at your feet

 

You can love in the face of jealousy and hate

   —or start downward on hell’s one-way street

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

 

Fate’s Retort

To live within the moment,

  and write as love does now befriend

 

      “Light shining brightest as

         hours grow short”

 

A beginning reunites with

  the journey’s end

 

       “Memory imploding

          on fate’s retort”

 

A window reopens,

  my heart beats faster still

 

      “Epiphany’s march

         neither to nor from”

 

To be saved in a final breath,

    one last line to say I will

 

      “The past and future

          left exposed—undone”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

War

A hemorrhaging madness…

  wounds bleeding again

 

Old stitches have broken

  death marking the end

 

Unsutured indemnity

  ensuring your pain

 

Flesh burning in enmity

  —uncauterized shame

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

What Souls Hope To Find

An abundance of denial…

  your mind turns away

What spirit embraces,

  wealth hides and delays

 

        “The dignity of the old man

           in worn tattered clothes 

         Frayed pants covering high

           button shoes, but not toes

 

         “He wanders among us

            just over the line

          As eyes fail to see

           what souls hope to find”

       

An elegance to rival

  your white tie and tails

Where life now stripped free

  of false richness—prevails

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

 

 

New Light Unspoken

Nocturnal flower

In need of sleep

Your petals wilt

The count for sheep

 

New dawn unpromised

The die is cast

A croupier wearing

Sun’s setting mask

 

Through endless courtship

Faith on the run

A Jester whispers

“Your dreams have come”

 

The meadow waiting

Its reaper gone

New light unspoken

  —your buds in song

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)