An unopened present

An unopened present
No unwrapping or reveal
The moments left stranded
The emptiness we feel

Days discarded, destroyed
No foundation to build
Nature will come claim us
From the weak to strong-willed

Chin up feeling regal

Chin up feeling regal
Then taken down a peg
Simplicity of Life
Has become a bad egg

Counting moments like each
Penny, shilling, peso
No time to live but then
What the hell do I know

This desire for freedom

This desire for freedom
Only leads to hardship
The cement slabs slowly
Eroding chip by chip

Change is never peaceful
In soil that surely lacks
Like an Ailanthus tree
Growing in sidewalk cracks

No ifs just yes or no

No ifs just yes or no
Ignore options or chance
Find the inner oak that
Holds firmly to its stance

No time for wavering
So cast the final vote
Declare it and cry out
In just a single note

All above are gray clouds

All above are gray clouds
I can't escape below
As I travel this road
Between bookends of snow

So many dreams started
Now wear a strange disguise
Like a new moon concealed
Behind the cloudy skies

Let it happen outside

Let it happen outside
Among the passing crowd
With voices and traffic
And a car honking loud

People going somewhere
How quickly they scurry
And I'm the only one
Not in any hurry

Accept the tragedy

Accept the tragedy
In order to release
The anguish and sadness
So the trouble finds peace

Absorb the darkest truth
Drag it under the light
Prohibit its shadows
Thus reducing its might

My last word will be love

My last word will be love
Not some cryptic sentence
And not my life story
Failures or repentance

Just one word to describe
A radio wave thread
That traveled from our hearts
In space forever wed

Beauty has more chances

Beauty has more chances
To live long and survive
It begs for better care
With the hopes to arrive

Into caring hands to
Be sheltered and nourished
Sad only if it fails
Recalling it when it flourished

Gripping the evergreen

Gripping the evergreen
With my branches of oak
Both want and jealousy
Of luxury when broke

From season to season
Many difficult times
Bountiful and then bare
Descending then more climbs

Here in January

Here in January
A day that hints of Spring
As if February
Or March could never bring

The Arctic air or snow
Or blizzard conditions
Yet today feels like Spring
A juxtaposition

Loathing the majestic

Loathing the majestic

Wanting a Rothko scene

Roadway, cornfield and sky

Guard rails and trees between

Or sand, oceans and clouds

Thin waves crashing ashore

The other in between

A setting sun once more

Letters of engagement

Letters of engagement
Affection at distance
Yet close proximity
Is met with resistance

Just like the saying goes
About the fonder heart
Always growing stronger
When they're farther apart

Here at the start of Spring

Here at the start of Spring

The Icarus in me

Pivots towards the light

Like the leaves on a tree

Above the freezing mark

Snow shrinking on the lawn

Soon crocuses will rise

The initial Spring pawn

Our Sunday best and whales

Our Sunday best and whales

The film superimposed

In between waving hands

A dorsal fin has nosed

Too young to understand

That stars never twinkle

The fabric of our lives

Cannot be unwrinkled

Reality is not

Reality is not
Some form of invention
It's uncontrollable
With mere intervention

It's sloppy and cruel
Yet its errors precise
Both beauty and chaos
Stars thrown like they are dice

Past the center of mass

Past the center of mass
What we see becomes saw
The process of aging
Time and nature's one law

Yet no want of return
Spring and Winters old
There is yet a future
With petals to unfold

The grandest of hopes lie

The grandest of hopes lie
Lifeless in a prison
Never having freedom
Like light through a prism

Waiting to be buried
In a stoneless graveyard
They cannot exist when
Reality is marred

Surrender my future

Surrender my fortune
And give up my good name
Forsaking the future
For a moment, the same

Breathe light into darkness
The two of us as one
These fractions forever
Not loose pieces, a sum