The Double Edge

Cowardice and bravery

Not either/or

But different levels of…

 

Valor and shame

A swinging door

Whose facings change when swung

 

A foil to confound

The poets dream

With glory and disdain

 

Bravery and cowardice

Not zero-sum

 —but often look the same

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)

No Blank Degree

Go to school,

 and load your gun

 

The man is coming

 the cradle shunned

 

Do your homework,

 obey the rules

 

The exam’s been written

 that dunce a fool

 

Go to school,
and stack the deck

 

Each grade a face card

 full house respect

 

Dot your I’s,

 and cross your T’s

 

Your promise written

 —no blank degree

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

Leaving This World

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)

Eternity’s Door

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)