Bittersweet memories

Bittersweet memories

Like knots in shoelaces

Unable to undo

The names and old places

Remembering the when

The mind is still clutching

Young hearts that held hands that

No longer are touching

Too much peripheral

Too much peripheral

Constellations abound

Hearing a symphony

And not a note of sound

Trying to concentrate

To remove a loose thread

The fabric gathers as

A snag becomes widespread

Drowning in past tenses

Drowning in past tenses

An old coat or sweater

Witness to the moments

And the changing weather

With shoes showing the wear

That travelled the distance

Avenues change to trails

Living to existence

This is how I found you

This is how I found you

Like unearthing a gem

I happen to dig here

On circumstance and whim

And to the very day

And after all these years

Your voice still sings out and

Attracts the passing ears

Accomplished yet failing

Accomplished yet failing

The best losing the race

Forget the triumphant

Or coming in first place

Just lucky to finish

Expectations were high

Yearning for applause but

Only hearing a sigh

Here on the shortest day

Here on the shortest day

Caught longing for the past

A year ahead waiting

This year, just days to last

The gray clouds are raining

The snow melting away

Looking back at the words

And what they had to say

Somewhere in the pauses

Somewhere in the pauses

In between the black notes

Waiting for the inhale

Not the melody wrote

Is where the music sleeps

Cradled in the rhythm

In the movement of the

Performing musician

In the darkness of night

In the darkness of night

The absence of sunlight

The snow falls, white on white

While heading off to bed

The last hours are shrinking

The eyes slowly blinking

In a deep sleep sinking

Another day ahead

Great within its timeframe

Great within its timeframe

Its beauty has expired

Replaced by something new

That is now more desired

We used to wait decades

For signs of advancement

Now a matter of months

Pass between enhancements

Captive without prisons

Captive without prisons
Caught in an open door
Free to wander far but
Only circle the floor

Exist with useless wings
Beneath a cloud filled dome
See lights in the distance
Yet cannot find a home

Trading the fire for flint

Trading the fire for flint

To go back to the source

Far from the consuming

And all powerful force

Yearning for ignition

For the initial spark

Small fragment of friction

That dazzles in the dark

Making up for lost time

Making up for lost time

Rushing to get things done

Tying up loose threads and

Instead of walking, run

Working under deadlines

Important to complete

Making quick decisions

While thinking on my feet

The future has arrived

The future has arrived

It is now present tense

Ready to leap forward

Up and over its fence

Abandoning the past

It can not be more clear

What was once far away

Now suddenly is here

No greater or less than

No greater or less than

Simply equality

The equation includes

Responsibility

Rights for one, then for all

For we cannot divide

The human race deserves

Respectfulness and pride

To begin at the end

To begin at the end

At the finish, a start

A new chapter or book

A new science or art

To venture out further

Raise a flag on fresh ground

Originality

For just making a sound

Exposed but never learned

Exposed but never learned

The mind no longer maps

Left or right, front or back

No way to fill the gaps

Remembering details

From years and years ago

Yet yesterday is lost

The present turned to snow

Falling far from the tree

Falling far from the tree

Did the wind carry me

This field may as well be

An ocean full of tears

And gone is my childhood

Always misunderstood

But striving to be good

While facing all my fears

Failing to live by such

Failing to live by such

Narrow criteria

Only charters a course

North of Siberia

Unable to comply

Yet wanting liberty

Better to be cold than

Warm in captivity

A snowy afternoon

A snowy afternoon
The snow clouds grey and cold
Corn fields alternating
With rows of white and gold

Hawks sitting in bare trees
No sun to lead us west
The snow forming pillows
As nature takes a rest

Neither time nor distance

Neither time nor distance

Can make me lose my place

I am here, still waiting

A pin in outerspace

Neither weather nor change

Can stop this absolute

A universal truth

That no one can refute

Yesterday's clouds are gone

Yesterday's clouds are gone
My childhood disappeared
My youth spent getting wise
Now old age has appeared

So much for the journey
No use turning around
The turns in the road hide
The past and travelled ground

Once at the beginning

Once at the beginning

From crawl to being tall

Took time to recover

From an initial stall

Can’t erase but fading

Feelings no longer raw

Life is never perfect

Just living is a flaw

The paintbrush tipped in blue

The paintbrush tipped in blue

The yellow of the day

Has gone and disappeared

The melancholy way

A canvas without sun

The blue, a deep midnight

Everything in shadows

Without a source of light

Pardon the mystery

Pardon the mystery

There is no true and false

Except we live and die

From heartbeat to no pulse

So it all means nothing

Enjoy it while you can

Live life to the fullest

With or without a plan

Did all the trees just sneeze

Did all the trees just sneeze

Before the coming freeze

Their leaves are in the breeze

Across the flat landscape

And the warmth of the sun

Is quickly on the run

The setting is all done

When the last rays escape

Is it impossible

Is it impossible

Out of time, out of place

To find our hearts empty

Love gone without a trace

Vessels without content

Feelings thrown overboard

Letting memories go

Resigned to cut the cord

Unable to improvise

Unable to improvise

Like clockwork precision

Designed for answers while

Not making decisions

Mathematically

The universal laws

Evident, abiding

Existing without flaws

Sadness in deep blue skies

Sadness in deep blue skies

And in the sun drenched trees

After a rain shower

That woke the sleeping bees

Sadness like big boulders

Fallen and disheveled

That won’t move again and

Gravity won’t level

In all its true glory

In all its true glory

A spectacular spark

That lights the universe

Like a star in the dark

A moment so shiny

And reflecting the sun

A beacon of beauty

The perfection of one

No invitation, no

No invitation, no

Beckoning open arms

No about face as Life

Nears the final alarms

Soon the equation ends

Divided by zero

The last moment standing

A victim or hero

The oxygen of life

The oxygen of life

The next essential breath

Inhaling happiness

Escaping certain death

The exclamation point

Alive until dotted

Life is not done until

Still fingers are knotted

The sun setting through trees

The sun setting through trees
The last aria note
A day disappearing
And another verse wrote

Try to find the beauty
Fleeting and passing by
The briefness of sunset
And then a sunless sky

Is this a step into

Is this a step into

The past or are we just

Trying to arrive at

A family or bust

No interest or want

Or better yet, no need

To interpret the tree

Or to question the seed

Every day a hurdle

Every day a hurdle

Racing to the finish

Survival critical

Energies diminish

Celebrations are few

The nose kept to the grind

No time to find answers

What's the use, nevermind

The silence surrounding

The silence surrounding

The peace of outerspace

The hush of a snowfall

In a cold winter’s place

In darkness or in white

The purity and grace

The taming of the wild

And raucous human race

In this arid desert

In this arid desert

Sand no longer inspires

Too much of one thing just

Extinguishes the fires

My soul now wants the sea

Without a patch of land

Until too much ocean

Leaves me begging for sand

To find this strange detour

To find this strange detour

Unknown destination

Familiarity gone

Demands concentration

No way to turnaround

Both distance and time lost

Forge ahead, move onward

No matter what the cost

Here I am, can you see

Here I am, can you see

Can you hear me calling

Running and shouting, yet

My message is crawling

If you should read these lines

Then I am not alone

Tear me apart until

You discover the bone

Absent in the present

Absent in the present

Wallowing in the past

Ignoring the future

Plans never seem to last

The details swallowing

Magnificent visions

Sketches fail to blueprint

Thoughts full of divisions

Moments become minutes

Moments become minutes

And minutes become hours

Days into weeks and months

Into years as time devours

And now I am older

And so the world has spun

I can see the ending

Feels like I just begun

Here again the winter

Here again the winter
The falling of snowflakes
With long nights of darkness
And cold morning daybreaks

Shadows of bare trees fall
On white blankets of snow
Where Spring bulbs are sleeping
Deep in the ground below

Yesterday is a blur

Yesterday is a blur

Today doesn’t matter

Layers of graffiti

Splatter over splatter

This daily coat of paint

Tomorrow just the same

The walls keep on mounting

Without a picture frame

More like Spring than autumn

More like Spring than autumn

But apples on the tree

And leaves changing color

Tell me differently

Feels like the end of snow

Yet it’s about to start

Although it’s October

April is in my heart

Why relight the candle

Why relight the candle

If not to shed some light

Or find a source of warmth

For the encroaching night

If not for a signal

Or a symbol of peace

Why relight the candle

If only to appease

To stand as an equal

To stand as an equal

To pull at my heart strings

As if clouds could whistle

As clear as the bird sings

In the morning of Spring

When the light shines above

Two shadows become one

And our souls are in love

We strike a chord when we’re

We strike a chord when we’re

Together, you and I

In a flash, an instant

In moments passing by

And when we separate

The chord becomes a note

Singular and unstrung

No melody is wrote

There’s a wall with one side

There’s a wall with one side

Thinner than rice paper

So thin, it is almost

Mistaken as vapor

Yet on the other side

It is thicker than thick

As if it were made of

Impermeable brick

The moon has released us

The moon has released us

Our crests have been set free

We crash against the shore

And head back out to sea

No longer relevant

No footprints on the sea

Our time has come and gone

Another wave will be

Restless and exhausted

Restless and exhausted

Never out running time

Unable to find peace

And always on the climb

Every day spent in dirt

Rare to find purity

Losing foolish youth for

A hard reality

Ask no questions today

Ask no questions today

Wearing weather’s light coat

The sunlight on seashores

Is falling on white boats

There’s no need to ask why

Or what will happen next

Life is multiple choice

With all the answers checked

Let there be light and yet

Let there be light and yet

It shines on pain and hurt

Disease, crimes, death and war

Destruction, hate and dirt

Is this perfect design

It begs for revision

If you could rewrite it

What would be your vision

The cornrows are curling

The cornrows are curling

Up over the hillside

The occasional tree

Spreading its branches wide

The hand catching the breeze

Racing through fingertips

The sky is an ocean

Full of floating white ships

Seeking infinity

Seeking infinity

A shout that never ends

A radio signal

Progressing as it bends

Past the rings of Saturn

And the moons of Neptune

Leaving the galaxy

All perfect and immune

Struggling to examine

Struggling to examine

The forces deep inside

Never looking outwards

At the great open wide

At the company of souls

Staring into their eye

And those within the scope

Beneath this patch of sky

Are the petals intact

Are the petals intact

Are the blossoms broken

Have all the words been said

Or still to be spoken

Living in the fractions

Wanting to be complete

Heroic in battle

And refusing defeat

Yet another corner

Yet another corner

Where there’s no turning back

Everything here and now

Disappears in the black

A new chapter or book

Bridges crossed just collapse

Too late to ask why or

Suppose, maybe, perhaps

Rub it out, erase it

Rub it out, erase it

This ugly blemish flaw

Rid it, release me from

Its tight and pinching claw

Scrape it until it’s gone

It’s deep as tattoo ink

All my efforts fail, it

Won’t disappear or shrink

Transparent moon above

Transparent moon above

My day has just begun

Here you are setting slow

And in the East the sun

Is rising in your place

Another day living

Full of demand and take

As it is of giving

No teachers, no rulebook

No teachers, no rulebook
No markers on the road
No hand cart, no sack to
Carry this heavy load

Out in the wilderness
Like a true pioneer
Each day discovering
Life's difficult frontier

The whole World became big

The whole World became big
When I lost something small
No one else cared for or
Showed emotions at all

A shrug of the shoulders
An indifferent view
The World swallowed up the
Insignificant you

The summer is ending

The summer is ending
Evening shadows are long
The harvest moon rising
The cicadas in song

Near to the equinox
A day folded in two
The autumn is coming
Cool weather overdue

Alive in the great void

Alive in the great void

Staring at stars in space

Clinging to passing time

And to the human race

The World spins without sound

The brief noise that we make

A disappearing wind

A boat without a wake

Even great distances

Even great distances

Can be measured in steps

The distance between us

Though is measured in lepts

With neither one willing

To take the giant leap

We’re only together

In daydreams or night sleep

The city down below

The city down below

Skyscrapers are scraping

The occasional street

Running on, escaping

The vertical rising

Each urban canyon wall

The flight of the falcon

Soaring higher than tall

No universal love

No universal love
Some get this, other's that
Favoritism abounds
Pet the dog, kick the cat

Want or abjuration
Wavy lines or lines flat
Come closer, go away
Pet the dog, kick the cat

Lost opportunities

Lost opportunities

Chances that came and went

No recalibration

To alter the events

The inclement weather

Harsher winds are more brisk

To find nothing at all

From failure to take risks

Alternating shadows

Alternating shadows

The sun has gone out West

Rolling rows of corn plants

Ready for the harvest

So few dreams remaining

They’ve nearly gone extinct

Conserving energy

Trying to be succinct

We are not compasses

We are not compasses

Change is always a choice

Not everything true north

Deviate and rejoice

Do not follow the sun

Or the stars up above

Travel the less travelled

Chase the things that you love

Frozen, flying, floating

Frozen, flying, floating

Out moments in stillness

The passing memories

Round notes in pure shrillness

Brief, blind, bewildering

Our lives quickly expire

From sparks to tender flames

And then out goes the fire

Finding the unvarnished

Finding the unvarnished

Beneath the wood veneer

A different wood grain

Just waiting to appear

Removing sediment

To let the heart lay bare

Discovering a trait

That had always been there

This carrot that dangles

This carrot that dangles

Wishes on lazy stars

Promises unfulfilled

Now ancient wounds and scars

The new day unwrapping

Blooms about to unfold

Sparks flying from the flint

And new tales to be told

Oh for the excitement

Oh for the excitement

Watching the trees race by

The slow circles of hawks

Against a cloudless sky

It’s the journey, the road

Uninitiated

And new as my fingers

And wind become braided

No inspiration here

No inspiration here

The rising moon is dead

The stars cold and distant

No wishes to be said

Thoughts wither on the vine

Grand becomes too little

No time to tend fledglings

Yet time left to piddle

The white egret flew by

The white egret flew by

The turtles bobbed their heads

The dragonflies hovered

The swallows swooped and fled

The evening carried on

While the moon rose up high

Tomorrow is coming

For those who are alive

Far from the beginning

Far from the beginning

No longer at the start

No answers in science

And more questions in Art

And so it’s the journey

The company we keep

The time spent together

Until the final sleep

Searching the universe

Searching the universe

Beginning with the palm

From a living room chair

The stirring of the calm

To crawl out from the skin

And with a naked eye

Stare into outerspace

The who, what, where and why

Past the summer, the fall

Past the summer, the fall

Is waiting for the call

The writing on the wall

Another year ending

Canada geese flying

Annuals are dying

Sun no longer trying

The narrow road bending

Remove another sword

Remove another sword

Another wound to heal

Harsh words of injustice

Heighten the sense of feel

Denounce our existence

Herding us like cattle

To fight ignorance we

Enter into battle

Little time for writing

Little time for writing

Always on a deadline

From sunrise to sunset

Between the horizon lines

Chasing, racing, bracing

Impact is sure to come

But where is the breathing

And the creative hum

Between youth and old age

Between youth and old age

The stars become just stars

The moon is just the moon

And Mars is only Mars

And useless wishes cast

Into this empty place

Are wasted on the stars

And all of outerspace

Still trying to achieve

Still trying to achieve

While time is running out

Looking for the closure

Of dreams immersed in doubt

Pushing through the veils of

Uncertainty and fear

With dreams so far away

But to my heart are near

Nothing is worth noting

Nothing is worth noting

Not a cloud in the sky

And the streets are empty

Not a sole passerby

All the birds are silent

And the bees are napping

No breeze through the window

And no front door tapping

Monumental feeling

Monumental feeling

Like a big gulp looming

Inhaled and held until

The small heart starts booming

Then exhaled and passing

Normal Life resuming

What was overwhelming

Becomes unassuming

Useless infinity

Useless infinity

No want of forever

Unable to retrieve

Just one day whenever

We were touching souls, the

Past and future missing

Intersecting comets

Two entities kissing

Beneath a summer sky

Beneath a summer sky

With clouds from a whistle

The red-winged black birds perch

Near the prairie thistle

On cattails tall as corn

Like gargoyles on church spires

Forming lookouts from here

And the telephone wires

Left with all this wreckage

 Left with all this wreckage

Letters not making words

Nothing is complete now

All quarters, halves or thirds

Or slivers and pieces

Covered in its own dust

All remnants of a joy

That tumbled from its cusp

Where has the love gone to

Where has the love gone to

The performance ended

Do we no longer care

The garden untended

All at once pure brilliance

Like a comet, not stars

Blazing, burning, leaving

For a moment, just ours

There is a true sadness

There is a true sadness

In the leaves, in sunlight

In the way shadows move

Like the head of a kite

Or slow waves of a hand

Not greeting, waving bye

As the sun bears down and

Moves slowly through the sky

A Life without prospects

A Life without prospects

Unmovable fences

Unable to break through

There’s no future tenses

Nowhere a beginning

Fighting feeling flustered

Bang and beat the drums with

All that I have mustered

Between the words, the pause

Between the words, the pause

Like a sky through the leaves

A soft place to land where

The words are sure to breathe

When the heart doesn’t beat

For a second at rest

Then life resumes again

With the thump of the chest

Not enough to survive

Not enough to survive

Needing validation

It’s hard to find justice

Let alone salvation

Searching for the moment

When Truth stands up with pride

And the wielding gavel

Passes laws to abide

On a Tuesday evening

On a Tuesday evening

I sang a song to you

It was the month of May

Yet nothing felt brand new

This was our last moment

Before the great divide

Our hearts were Empire tall

Victoria Lake wide

There is the overwhelm

There is the overwhelm

In sunlight, in the breeze

Permeating through Life with

The sound of jingling keys

Closer to the locks and

Solving the mystery

And then the underwhelm

Never in history

Refusing a rescue

Refusing a rescue

Continuing to tread

Dreams in outerspace float

Like clouds above my head

Reality like rain

Make puddles at my feet

Not willing to turn back

On this long, dead-end street

Brave enough to speak out

Brave enough to speak out

A backbone made of steel

Truth perseveres while there’s

No fear of how we feel

Patience in the progress

We stand on wide shoulders

With hammer and chisel

That breaks up the boulders

Not connecting the dots

Not connecting the dots

Falling short of reason

Time progresses quickly

Like each passing season

Another year blank, yet

Nowhere to mark my spot

A perfectly tied bow

Can untie in a knot

No brushes, no colors

No brushes, no colors

I’m unable to paint

World drawn with a pencil

Inaccurate and faint

No yellow, no oranges

Or green grass and blue seas

Just a sketchy outline

Graphite clouds and grey trees

The past is dead and gone

The past is dead and gone

The future, yet unborn

The present is alive

Each moment, a new morn

In this fleeting, breathing

Time, this very second

Never repeating,  it’s

Only here to beckon

Mental Siberia

Mental Siberia

Thoughts like stars out of reach

In the dark, questions with

Answers you cannot teach

Is it barren wasteland

Is it Life sustaining

Questions for outerspace

And my Life remaining

There sits the mournful goose

There sits the mournful goose

Next to its dying mate

On a busy highway

It waits and waits and waits

When does it choose Life then

Decide to up and go

How long does a heart break

The everlasting woe

Another year woken

Another year woken

Still we have not spoken

Our clocks must be broken

We are frozen in time

We can sense the outcome

The rhythm of the drum

It will end with us numb

Life sentence for no crime

No air or combustion

No air or combustion

Choosing vacuum or fire

Each poison is painful

And equally as dire

Better to have nothing

Or let the flames consume

No chance of us breathing

While these two choices loom

Born in February

Born in February

Each day getting longer

The winter winding down

The spring growing strong

Not time for transplanting

Only garden planning

With the future in mind

Horizon line scanning

This is my point of view

This is my point of view
From all my days thus far
Days spent with sun or rain
And nights with clouds or stars

A long path to this spot
But not a place to stay
More vantage points await
Soon I'll be on my way

Even the weeds flower

Even the weeds flower
Something must come of this
Out of the wreckage of
Our most destructive kiss

Is it enough to know
Truth resides in the heart
Gravity everywhere
Yet here we are apart

Together, time rushing

Together, time rushing

The day is to devour

Stretch out the sun and make

Every second last hours

Shadows like flags waving

Apart and become one

The memories we make

While we escape and run

Discard the mystery

Discard the mystery

Existence is power

Embracing a new life

An opening flower

Our season of living

And the years that we spend

Are brief and exquisite

From beginning to end

No justification

No justification

No reason to deny

If joy is forthcoming

Then how can you defy

The wishes and wanting

Seeking closure and peace

It is never too late

To find new Life and lease

First the distance of space

First the distance of space

It is too far to go

Then, the distance of time

April flowers to snow

Last, the distance of mind

A feeling seldom sought

A lost, forgotten seed

A rarely occurring thought

Don’t mistake silence as

Don’t mistake silence as

A means for me to judge

Nor is it anger for

Some long revengeful grudge

My retreat from battle

Happened so long ago

Your sword may still be drawn

But I’m a clear no-show

This instance exists now

This instance exists now

It’s breathing and basking

The past has been answered

The future still asking

So Life is but moments

Brief statements to revere

The regret and the dread

At present but not here

Trying to stay ahead

Trying to stay ahead

Looking for perfection

But only to find fault

And need for correction

Sometimes skies are cloudless

So where is the clean slate

Feeling marked and dinged up

Far from a perfect state

This is not confession

This is not confession

Or outbreak of glory

No painting of portraits

Or telling of story

Not even a statement

Just a tick mark in air

Counted in the moment

And then no longer there

What if I am absent

What if I am absent

And choose not to partake

 Will I look back at this

And think it a mistake

If silence is golden

I have invested well

No message, no echo

No tongue inside the bell

I will not take the bait

I will not take the bait

Ignoring the carrot

Nothing at face value

Chance disguised as merit

Fool’s gold is abundant

Nothing perfectly clear

Best to ignore my wants

And do nothing but fear

No energy to climb

No energy to climb

Aspirations aside

For more mundane things that

Neither lengthen or wide

The backyard needs cutting

And the dishes aren’t done

Chores require attention

Dreams are left to be shun

To find indifference

To find indifference
After love and anger
After all this time of
Emotional danger

No longer have feelings
Also mute, deaf and blind
Like becoming a stone
From my core to my rind

Childhood is like a coin

Childhood is like a coin

Dated and imprinted

Lifelong disposition

Stamped metal and minted

Wondering who you are

Genetics decided

Ingredients have been

Already provided

Another full circle

Another full circle

I am back at point A

Repeating again but

On a different day

The scenery the same

Like being lost at sea

Like running a lap, how

Can I get to point B

From the spider's new web

From the spider's new web
To the evening firefly
A day in the yellow
Beneath a painted sky

With white clouds expanding
Without shadows or time
Spinning on a plateau
With no valleys or climb

Apart without reason

Apart without reason

Separated by time

The distance grows greater

Like the numbers of prime

If we can’t say hello

Are we bidding adieu

As our parallel lives

Are becoming so skew

Where's the revolution

Where's the revolution
Raised fists in defiance
Can we forge ahead with
Fight and noncompliance

No anger or outrage
We've become complacent
If we don't speak up now
Send in a replacement

Making up for lost time

Making up for lost time

Unable to compose

Situations I can’t

Imagine or suppose

Left with paint by numbers

The mechanics and gears

Nothing original

No new joys just old tears

The dark is just the dark

The dark is just the dark

No doors remain ajar

No movement coming back

No voices from afar

And time is here and now

On the head of a pin

The tip of the needle

This second of the spin

What is left to be said

What is left to be said

The bridge is gone, the hand

Is not reaching out as

Time passes the last sand

Can you hear me shouting

But what does it matter

I speak a language that

Only sounds like chatter

If I venture forward

If I venture forward

Beyond the crowds standing

Hopeless with religion

And misunderstanding

And find myself alone

In a moment of grace

I’ll be the butterfly

Anonymous in space

The aging descendo

The aging descendo

No longer remembers

A life full of fire now

Just flickers and embers

Love is not strong enough

To break the darkest wall

The memory sealed up

Without any recall

When our future becomes

When our future becomes

Non-existent, no more

When one of us exits

Closing the final door

Hope will become resigned

A large oak uprooted

Locks securing a safe

That’s already looted

I give to you silence

I give to you silence

But not the gift of peace

The stillness of vacuums

Where pressure does not cease

Wounds that don’t stop bleeding

The bandage always red

And time that rushes on

Until the final thread

Less sound than a conch shell

Less sound than a conch shell

No voices and no words

More quiet than a woods

Without the call of birds

No whispers or shouting

No breathing or a sigh

Just two clouds traveling

Across a peaceful sky

Out on the curvature

Out on the curvature

Cornfields slowly bending

High above hawks have a

View that’s never ending

And the road ribbons on

With its white lines dashing

Berries ripe on trees, the

Cedar waxwings thrashing

All of the bridges out

All of the bridges out

The dove never returns

All of the flowers cut

The fire no longer burns

Our continents breaking

Oceans between us lay

An equator divides

Other stars on display

Broken relationship

Broken relationship

No quantity of glue

To hold it together

And make it seem brand new

And as the years go by

Pieces we discarded

Ditching all our hopes to

Mend the broken hearted

It’s not always the weight

It’s not always the weight

Of the heavy boulder

The burden on our backs

From shoulder to shoulder

But the stone in our shoe

Every step a fraction

Of a longer leap that

Can’t gain any traction

Saving happiness for

Saving happiness for

A rainy day ahead

Let the sunshine pass

And holding back instead

Moments for tomorrow

Are existing today

Demanding attention

Without any delay

Tired of endless fighting

Tired of endless fighting
I need an about face
Accept without reason
Embrace a new found grace

Not the end of the World
Or the edge of the map
Surrender to win to
Take a victory lap

Into the blue again

Into the blue again

Immersed in a deep hue

Searching for the yellow

That’s nowhere in the blue

Like the bluest ocean

Without a touch of green

A promise of yellow

That’s nowhere to be seen

The sky full of rain clouds

The sky full of rain clouds
The pond reflecting sky
Turtles raise their heads up
The frogs are far too shy

The swallows swoop and swerve
Dragonflies just hover
And when it starts to rain
I run fast for cover

Existentialism

Existentialism
A tree is just a tree
There's no more meaning than
To be is just to be

Again the fading light
Each moment depleting
Existing and breathing
Then exhaled and fleeting

After all the questions

After all the questions

And their endless pursuit

The canvas is blank like

A fruit tree without fruit

Nothing on the surface

And nothing in the deep

Like a night without dreams

Just a vast, empty sleep

There are no guiding stars

There are no guiding stars

And the moon makes the wave

No secrets in the night

No voices from the grave

The tilting of the spin

The years just come and go

Around the sun revolve

 The rain, the rays, the snow

Maybe there is no gold

Maybe there is no gold

The pan full of gravel

And no destination

Only just the travel

And when I reach the top

It’s only for the view

Maybe there's no answers

Just questions overdue

Far from the tragedy

Far from the tragedy
Nowhere near the center
Yet here I am again
The same door I enter

Into the tragic room
As if it were today
Collecting more feelings
Discovered on the way

With a raised flag we run

With a raised flag we run

Across the battlefield

We’re fighting ignorance

Our destiny is sealed

Standing on the right side

Of history making

The Truth triumphs all with

The ground we are breaking

A reluctant dancer

A reluctant dancer

This wallflower wilting

Barely standing upright

When the world is tilting

In a pool around me

My petals are falling

The dancing continues

My motion is stalling

Winter white has vanished

Winter white has vanished

The blank canvas is gone

Spring greens dominate from

The treetops to the lawn

All across the landscape

The birds are flying low

Clouds are moving quickly

The sun is going slow

Set this raft of flowers

Set this raft of flowers
Afloat, the water waits
Once alive, now leaving
Pass through this garden's gate

Everything forgotten
No meaning in this walk
Or shouting in the air
That can't remember talk

Two solids now liquids

Two solids now liquids
Run together as one
No law to define us
We are nature and sun

Unique and existing
Yet we haven't a name
We're running and racing
We are free and untamed

These scratches on paper

These scratches on paper
In graphite or black ink
Are remnants of feelings
Or images I think

Captured in snapshots like
Moments frozen and framed
Details not forgotten
Existing and proclaimed

Fear of the tired and strained

Fear of the tired and strained

Is there eternal Spring

A cherry blossom or

Continuous oak ring

A sense of avant-garde

Where everything is new

A true discovery

From a different view

To wander in dismay

To wander in dismay

Has my time exhausted

Not sure of who I am

The mirror is frosted

With age comes wisdom but

I am not feeling wise

Am I too old to change

Do I get countless tries

There are seas we must cross

There are seas we must cross
At times, kick off the moss
Old dreams set free and lost
We arrive in one piece

Looking back we were there
At times, sitting on stairs
Still we had our own flair
Passing days just increase

Passing through like the wind

Passing through like the wind
Begin only to end
Moments spent while spinning
Our Life, the latest trend

These are our mere moments
Like shadows losing light
Falling into darkness
The never ending night

Afraid that I repeat

Afraid that I repeat

The same intersection

Again this scenery

From the same direction

Finding the heart again

Another dissection

Believing in failed dreams

And their resurrection

I am panning for gold

I am panning for gold

Or a diamond in coal

An epic in the clouds

The make-up of my soul

But I only find sand

And coal dust in my lungs

The clouds gather and rain

My soul speaking in tongues

My old friend is here now

My old friend is here now

The language free flowing

No guard, no pretenses

Each seed is fast growing

The world can be seen through

An identical lens

A single dove of peace

And the message it sends

The enemy is clear

The enemy is clear

Their tongues are not silent

The battle lines drawn with

Protest and violence

We’re here at the frontline

Like pawns or sparrows

The olive branch replaced

With a sheaf of arrows

Again the cottonwoods

Again the cottonwoods
Bring a snowfall in May
Canada geese are home
The warblers on their way

And the yellowwood blooms
Nearing the month of June
Longer days, shorter nights
The solstice coming soon

Somewhere in the distance

Somewhere in the distance

Past this horizon line

Maybe not the next day

But in some future time

We will be together

Arm in arm as we age

Old and getting older

Until the final stage

Might as well stop breathing

Might as well stop breathing
Words are feeling lonely
Sentences sentence me
To confinement only

Have I filled my thimble
Do I no longer yearn
Where's my sense of wonder
When there's so much to learn

There is a darkness here

There is a darkness here

In a puddle of rain

The deep black color of

A locomotive train

It’s a bottomless pit

That swallows me up whole

I no longer exist

When under its control

Perhaps I am sketching

Perhaps I am sketching
My brush not in the paint
I'm working in graphite
The lines I've drawn are faint

I want to work in oils
My sketchbook is complete
Where is the masterpiece
On canvas, not the sheet

A sense of urgency

A sense of urgency
The desire to complete
With hurdles before me
And chances of defeat

Striving for the laurel
The ribbon and the line
Reaching for the finish
And the win that is mine

Sometimes the road just ends

Sometimes the road just ends

Simply no longer bends

It stops, doesn’t extend

You can only return

Your steps must be retraced

Past the struggles you faced

Reaching this dead end place

There’s something to be learned

No questions or answers

No questions or answers
Or great sense of wonder
No wild strikes of lightning
With echoes of thunder

Resolved in the moment
With this one breath of air
I am one with the World
Without a pensive care

Not wanting, not wishing

Not wanting, not wishing
Content from left to right
Not seeking the answers
In the middle of night

To own just enough and
Not need anything more
Possessions and purpose
Are stripped clean to the core

The quiet of morning

The quiet of morning
The silent sun  rising
The day is brand new and
Before compromising

The cardinal is here
And it's calling its mate
One of the first to rise
After staying up late

Without inspiration

Without inspiration

Clouds are shapeless gray

The stars are just the stars

A day is just a day

But with inspiration

Clouds are hieroglyphic

The stars, constellations

And the day, prolific

A slow dirge for a dream

A slow dirge for a dream

Pulling out the last threads

When hope is no longer

And abandonment spreads

To exist in theory

Without realization

And fragment and fizzle

Untouched celebration

Running while others fall

Running while others fall

Swimming while others drown

Flying up above while

Others are on the ground

Thinking for the future

Halting the back pedal

Molding the clay sculpture

And forging the metal

Here’s my declaration

Here’s my declaration

I shout it to the sky

It fails to reach the clouds

And receives no reply

And so I’m left with thought

The contents of my head

Questioning myself and

My direction instead

Just a simple hello

Just a simple hello

Is sounding like goodbye

These are the last moments

Filled with an empty sigh

What a wonderful time

Loving one another

A strong bond between us

And eyes for no other

Unable to escape

Unable to escape

And so the river churns

Beyond the waterfalls

Into the twisting turns

Someday to find the sea

And lap up on a shore

Evaporate in space

And find the next downpour

Out on the limbs of Art

Out on the limbs of Art
Where the new leaves begin
Far from older branches
Deeper and closer in

Tender to the weather
The first to touch the rain
All fresh and exciting
But for one season reign

Answers in the darkness

Answers in the darkness

Questions that come to light

Distance from our loved ones

Enemies here to fight

And stars that are long gone

Still sparkle in the night

All the colors combined

Produces only white

Start at the finish line

Start at the finish line

Work backwards from the end

Back down the same hillside

Just before the ascend

To the child left behind

To when the World was small

And dreams, big and bright, were

The answer to it all

Rhythms without rhyme or

Rhythms without rhyme or

Reason are waking me

Breaking the silence that

Was clearly meant to be

The World is wide awake

No longer sensing dark

Beside the nightingale

Is a rambunctious lark

For an instant, rejoice

For an instant, rejoice

The moment swells with grace

Life and light and shadows

Fall perfectly in place

Movement turns to dance steps

A song swirls in chorus

And a shy heart opens

And becomes more porous

A broken ornament

A broken ornament

A burn hole and dead spark

Here’s the conclusion and

The indelible mark

No vocabulary

A silent alphabet

Another Life finished

Another sun has set

The urgency, the rush

The urgency, the rush

Trying to get somewhere

The indifferent crowd

The few inches per square

Buildings shadow the street

Narrow pieces of sky

Pushing past equally

Determined passersby

Perhaps there’s nothing more

Perhaps there’s nothing more

Nothing behind the door

Gone, the existing floor

No chances to repeat

Perhaps what we hold dear

Are these moments so near

The joy, the thought, the fear

The striving to complete

Farms and the horizon

Farms and the horizon

Stretching from left to right

With the occasional

Oak announcing its height

Here where the land is flat

Sensing the curvature

The clouds casting shadows

On fields and harvesters

Even this memory

Even this memory

Begins to fade with time

The words no longer right

Motions becoming mime

Who spoke the last goodbye

I’m losing what was said

Images now ghostlike

And haunting in my head

Seeking eternity

Seeking eternity

With tomorrow unknown

The demanding of time

That is merely on loan

No plans for the evening

The sun has reached the ground

Seeking forever as

The day is winding down

Searching for the essence

Searching for the essence

A pure recognition

Mathematical truth

A sure definition

Fiber of my being

Beyond the bone and blood

The seed,  not the fruit nor

The flower or the bud

Nowhere an equal sign

Nowhere an equal sign

It just never adds up

Differences dividing

Worlds colliding, erupt

Can’t reach a decision

Elusive conclusion

No math in the feelings

No logic, confusion

Not a gem, not a pearl

Not a gem, not a pearl

Just a pebble, a stone

Not a tune for a song

But a hum, monotone

No monument standing

Or a great crescendo

Just a breeze or a wave

That begins and ends slow

Slowly, the forgetting

Slowly, the forgetting

Time washes us away

Like the crashing ocean

On beaches by the bay

Briefly, time together

Our little thread of love

Insignificant sand

With far more stars above

The magnolias have

The magnolias have
Flowered and cherry trees
Are covered in blossoms
With cool air in the breeze

Waiting for doors to shut
And the impending doom
Life can end in Springtime
When the daffodils bloom

The future before me

The future before me

Like a dangling carrot

Chasing the potential

All effort, no merit

The inevitable
A left or right hand turn

On a Mobius to

The edge of no return

What are these words breathing

What are these words breathing

They have inhaled me whole

Their lungs are expanding

And exhaling my soul

Spewing sound graffiti

On the World’s noisy wall

Like a melting snowflake

In a quick passing squall