Elora

In winter, a ray fell on our chest 

On waves of joy rode grace-born cries

This light, new soul on mother's breast 

Piercing mist, cerulean eyes 

Love sings louder than the pain 

Elora illuminates a darkened room 

Our ears, our hearts, can not contain

This chord, three lives - entangled, renewed.

What have we done to deserve this child?

From nothing, through sorrow this particular gift.

May she warm the hearts & light smiles for many

For God - by Grace - may we never forget.

With Love,

Daddy

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;-) 

In Blooming Ruin

A boy who was proud - and wrong - and foolish

Was crushed by only one apathetic truth

There was not a hero to his story

A vessel to be used -  to be crushed - to be soothed

Now he would happily break his body

If purpose would deign to fall on his frame

But he can't remember the last time he's felt 

That breath in his ear or the spirit of shame

Is a man better in blooming ruin

or is prideful folly a gift for the son?

Now he's too humble to care for the difference

Not that it matters for all or for one.

My Love, My Heart, My Wife

By grace and laughter, in joy I fall 

Ever more deeply in love with you.

Through passion, intent on true desire.

In smiling eyes, coquettish fire.

In comfort or labor the peace I find. 

Unending patience, always kind.

My fondest thought each day's your face.

Freckled with charm, a warm embrace.

Through sadness & sorrow in hope we'll stand 

I will always hold your hand.

For nothing loved is truly gone.

My infinite rose - you are my song.

My love, my heart, my wife I know

Beauty in servant's hands will grow.

Through marriage I see and feel what's true.

The gift of God is hope in you.

The Mystic Chords of Memory

Unmoored.

    ...and drifting

                                        .shrinking to a fog-obscured 

               shade of what once was on

                               ...storming beaches.

Are you dreaming?

        Are you

 you.

                     ... i hear a cold 

and distant psalm

As mocking laughter

 ..the echo.

                of my hero...

      ..no longer in

                                        this empty vessel

       tied now...

      only by the blood

                and the mystic chords

                                                                 of memory

A Bird Took Flight

Kingfisher, Kingfisher

Spread your ghostly wings

I held a little bird

But the baby didn't sing

Blue feathers landing

In a clear, cruel light

Off a broken dock

A bird took flight

Kingfisher Kingfisher

Will you ever stay?

I held a baby bird

How can you fly away?

There's comfort in the wings

There's weeping in the night

Kingfisher flew away

And our bird took flight

Tower of Cloud

Frame of bone

corporeal home

colder darker shell

To a

Chasm of void

soul devoid

depth ne'er can tell

Or a

Valley of fire

hissing pyre

crimson pulsing hell

Is a

Tower of cloud

 His shining shroud

A wispy golden bell

?

Questions real

none revealed

ever fill this well

Birds of Paradise

 

Forged in the vast chasm of Kīlauea,

The blood of the Earth.

Pele's fiery angst, dashed upon

An inexorable Pacific chill.

Perfection in chaos.

Life born through death;

Verdant resurrection

On these molten wings.

The sword is removed; the garden is broken

Once more by God's own image,

Casually defiling divinity;

Through crimes of good intention.

Eden's lament echoes

Through Hawaiian valleys,

Warbling in extinct songs.

Ghosts of the birds of paradise.

Vacant Days

Let the air come fill your lungs

Words once scrawled, now be sung.

There can be no better way

To try and fill these vacant days

Precious metal, yet be wrought

With gleaming gems, light we've caught

Let whatever be displayed;

They cannot fill your vacant days.

Farmers call or curse the sun

Whether storm, or loaded gun

What'er your trouble, be not dismayed

It cannot fill these vacant days.

Time shall flow; words shall pass.

Kiss of death like broken glass.

When the Lord comes and stays

I know he'll fill these vacant days.

Mariana

Being grand in loneliness

No embrace in darkness

under such pressure

can highest heights 

match that depth

some were made

to be alone.

Mercenary Love

Flamethrower mouth
Lash your scorching, searing tongue
Leave the burned out towers
As tombstone to this mercenary man

Familiar

Stronger.

    The infant crying,

         first exhale of 

            new rain upon parched earth.

    Pulse gaining speed;

        the first thought when awoken from dreams.

    Sails bursting forth

        with God's breath 

           across endless seas.

Fonder.

    Fire blazing, 

        brazen along unknown horizon

    Igniting the courageous mind.

    Inhaling familiar scents

        through upturned nose, 

            with uplifted breast.

Deeper.
    Fathoming anew the oceans 

        as mysterious and briny
            as the Sun's dark memory on the skin.
    Beholding the promised land, 

        always before you

            clearer now than the grave.

Weaker.

    The perfected

        first wobbly-steps upon storied shores.

    Earth trod underfoot, 

        pliant as this clay-molded purpose.

        Still unclear, yet very dear,

            Listening to the voice;

                The tide, a rhythmic siren song.

.............
..................
.............

Poison Cup

Drinking in love

as cold, clear water,

But what we had was not enough.

I drank you in like a poison cup.

I kissed you in confusion

and left the same way.

It was a mistake, you said that you left me.

The greatest you'd ever made.

An apology, such a cruel thing to say.

I cannot stand this rejection

clinging to a bitter plank

And your unbearable humility!

Significance slips from me like a broken cistern.

Recklessness words leak from my lips.

From a dry well

I drank a poison cup.

A bitter draught, but I drank you up.

An empty man with no compassion,

perhaps has no love within.

Can I be made that well again?

Bitter

The fruit of the tree,

New soul, you see

Tastes sweet upon the tongue.

No better deeds

Or blooming seeds

Can stay forever young.

Why, oh God, does it taste sweet,

If we are all condemned to eat?

(found this laying around: written 2007)

Soma

Kiss me with your cruel lips

The taste of sin and sea.

Give me joy in tainted breath

With marked dishonesty.

For who could care, for one's self

Ever more than I?

Taste this indulgent selfish thought

Forsake this pain for pride.

Soma sweet, hades greets you

In a candy coated shell.

Chemical joy, deftly employed

By every hound of Hell.

Drug into the depths of passion

Every man will quickly drown

Beast and harlots soon to follow

Every one shall cast their crown.

For Julie

Life will stand the test of time.
Though you have passed
On to your children
Both word and flesh,
Memory and bone.
You do not live on through them alone.

Your kindness.
Your kindness is how I will remember you.
A motherly embrace,
and the lines of your face, in smile
though not traced on my own...
Your kindness,
I am thankful to have known.

The Winds of Time

The winds of time are speakin'

With words I cannot say.

In a language, long, and languid

But clearer day by day.

O, The winds of time are blowin'

And fallin' leaves are we.

With our weariness ashowin'

We'll crackle under feet.

The winds of time are callin'

You'd best incline your ear.

Cause tides of truth are flowin'

O'er every pain and fear.

O, The winds of time are comin'

Its fillin' angel wings.

Unfurl your sails and follow

Lest death the wind will bring.

Blades

Time shall cut you like a blade of grass

From endless emerald oceans, every vision cast.

Knives, verdant, voluminous speak not the past,

The future's not wanting; none of us last.

All men are grass... I am the same.

Temporal, visceral, mind cutting blade.

One and wonderfully, fearfully made.

Tongue like an serpent, hand like a spade.

Time cut you all; it's unending boast

Waste not this day all you knife holding host

With bodies of dirt and breath of a Ghost

Fight for your life; you'd best make the most.

Hope in This

Nothing humbles as a star-strewn sky.

Heavenly orbs mock the works of my hands,

Reminding me that I am but a passing breath;

My word will not remain when the stars pass away.

There is only comfort in this:

It was not in God's image these stars were made.

Though my breath escapes and becomes feeble,

It is God's breath within me.

Once Dear

I cannot forget you

Standing in the crisp September air 

Moonlight shine curled in your hair.

The stars above could not compare 

To the shimmer in your eyes;

Azure, deeper than truest skies.

Your laughter still echoes in the dark

Next to where my car was parked

When headlights first lit our kiss;

Lips now parched and loveless.

Now tastes of bitterness, forgiven 

Not forgotten; a lingering cloud. On the horizon, 

A dark smear of ink-soaked cotton

Blotting memories once dear.

Wished for more than to expect

Accepted less lest I forget

The deceit your serpent heart begat,

I have not forgotten...

Yet, I have no regrets to say,

I loved you once, 

But not today.

I loved you once...

Haiku

Cold wind whispering.

What is it saying to me?

Be thankful for warmth.

Fresh, white snow crunching;

In the cold we made a man.

He survived one day.

Inhale the sound of

Birds chirping soft symphonies.

Greet each day with song

High white clouds, blue sky.

Sweltering sunlight burns me.

Welcome cool shadows.

Rippling visage,

Heat obscures clear horizon.

We all move slowly.

Tree light, shadows dance

In Fall, with changing colors;

Leaves crack under foot.

Orange pumpkins glow

While the costumed children laugh

Trick or Treat, who knows?