What Bells

If not a Poet

what would I be

A soldier, a sailor

a fading marquee

 

If not a Poet

whose soul would I claim

a saint’s or a sinners

to praise or defame

 

If not a Poet

which path would I choose

the known or untraveled

which one did Frost use

 

If not a Poet

what hills would I climb

what bells could I ring

— in place of the rhyme

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

An Angel Appears

Battling each

paradigm

I wandered alone

Straight into

the maelstrom

of thundering tomes

 

My nose

pointed North

spitting into the wind

Decision once made

a line crossed

from within

 

Reciting

a dogma

both precious and torn

The words fill my spirit

once lost

and forlorn

 

Chasing a promise

that’s eluded

so long

An Angel appears

to whose will

— I belong

 

(The New Room: January, 2025)

 

Just What …

What would you pay

to erase a memory

 

What would you buy

to blot out the stain

 

What would you give

to not be forsaken

 

What would you take

to lessen the pain

 

What would you know

if the words came unstrung

 

What would you hear

if the silence prolonged

 

What would it be

if time was delinquent

 

What would it mean

— if the meaning was gone 

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)