He wandered to the rim

looking over and down

Lost in a memory

his fear as a shroud

As voices from faces

that he never saw

Called out from the darkness

— with time overdrawn

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024) 

Innocence a foreigner

if beautiful or dark

No one who can lead the way

— has purity of heart

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Killing shared values

our lives on death row

Kinship aborted

— the world soon to blow

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

The pendulum swings wider

both right and then left

Those things that divide us

fomenting unrest

The wasteland between

what was once common ground

A minefield of mutual exclusion

— profound

 

(The New Room November, 2024)

That one final

  bullet

That one final

dagger

To use

on another

Or to use

— on ourselves

 

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

“If thou wouldst 

be my critic

Thou must

— wear my soul”

 

(Woodland Avenue Philadelphia: May, 1973)

Stealing from a thief

those phrases gone

Scales rebalance

 words in song

 

Once recaptured

then released

The chorus joyful

— the world at peace

 

(The New Room: September, 2024)

Be home

when opportunity

knocks

Your door

 left open

— lights aglow

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Trapped in a

ditch

on the highway

of life

Comings

were going

all motion

had gone

 

Till fates

saving whisper

in the ear

of tomorrow

Granted me

traction

in search

— of the dawn

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

You can’t destroy

a word

like vanquishing

an enemy

 

Its meaning cast

immortal

beyond

— victory or death

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)