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