What was free now carries a cost
and I have no money to pay,
that account dried up a long time ago,
the last time I thought I was young

Now grandfather clocks know me by name,
chiming in their opinion,
pointing fingers in every direction,
signaling each passing hour like it is a celebration

Waking me from a peaceful moment
while an insulting dawn
hidden behind dark raspberry clouds
sings, “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone”

I see sunflowers staring through shutters
wondering why as
tear drops collect on their seeded faces,
salting their very existence

So I write out the reason
in the dust on this end table
Finger marks cutting through the dirt
that has gathered, forgotten and reminded

No poetry in those words, that has left me too,
my pen now passed on to someone “younger”
playing hopscotch and drinking cherry cola
stealing her heart as I

Fall into the unmade bed
where pillows are my only friends
Covering up...trying to hide from
the truth that scares me so..........who I am

Knocking down this broken fence,
I wander through the fields
Headed for a line of trees
to find what all it yields

Foot prints in the fresh plowed earth,
my mind so longs to see
What the world does have in store,
now offered up for me

The sun sits shining over head,
so bright its warming rays
Hanging from a sky of blue,
a beacon on display

Still I see horizon’s faire
of shadows on the wall
Wandering, I take a breath
and wonder of it all

I travel on my journey still
when there before my eyes
A flower like a special song
averts my lonely cries

Beautifully it stares at me
with hope for all to share
Bending down upon my knee,
this flower waiting there

Loveliness within I find
of petal'd smiling touch
For my dreams have found a truth
desires felt so much

Many were the days I lived
with nothing much so true
Until the sun did shine its light
and lead me here to you

I shall build a wondrous wall
to shelter you from harm
Tend you now and everyday,
protect you from the storm

Nourish you and keep you safe
for this eternity
So I may keep forever more
this joy you bring to me

Never more shall this man roam
beyond this valley view
For I accept you as my own,
my perfect flower, you

~

Darkness invades
The depths of your soul
You stare into nothing again

Tear stained illusions
Carved in the alley
Shadows foreboding descend

Labyrinth branches
Woven temptations
Blistering quick on the heel

Blind definitions
Of splintered emotions
Soiled the whispers you feel

Dance with the keeper
Slightly off balance
Break, never yearning to bend

Darkness invades
The depths of your soul
You stare into nothing again

So still, the air this night does sing,
beyond a truthful stare
A symphony on silent wing,
sweet lyrics on the air

Of every word my heart does find
in rhythmic tapestries
These choruses shall make you mine,
so soft upon the breeze

O’ wind come take this tender heart
and to the sky now lift
In solitude now weave the dark
in dreams of endless kiss

Imagine there are only two,
affectionate thy voice
In melodies of passion new
O’ starry night rejoice

I call upon this springtime moon,
bright sentry high above
Please sing aloud a wondrous tune
within the key of love

So that her ears may come to know
how sweet this world can be
When hand in hand through life we go
in perfect harmony

~

Standing before the microphone
Blank faces stare from cushioned chairs
Jewels sparkle, acting like they’re real
While bow ties just seem sad…it happens

Marching to the beat of clicking heels
Unbuttoned vests as strange eclipsed spotlights
Illumine smoke swirls in overhead rafters
Flowing from my ember’d fingertips

And my hair is a mess…but it always is
And I don’t care…do you?
I’d clear my throat but that does no good
Gravel has taken up residence…it pays the rent

The room goes dim, the audience worries
Glares spark like steel on asphalt
I can see them clear, slowly fading in anxious doubt
Scratching on some ink pad and dusty sheets…ideas

Yet I love you, I love everything that is you
Need surpasses desire, and I need
My arms long to cling you, crushed against me
Breathing as one, harmonious breath…thoughts…they come

The bass player plucks and that is my cue
Flicking my ashes I begin to read…poetry
And the audience smiles…I am a poet and poetry is cool
Leonard Cohen was right

Within
A realm of fantasy
My mind it takes control
Painting pictures
Photographs
Prepared within the soul

Imagination
Plays its hand
Cautions cast the style
What I see
Is what I am
And will be for a while

Perception
Leads a blinded eye
To where the path begins
For the moment
I shall wait
Right here so deep within

And the forest was silent again…

Splintering shadows creep slowly
across the overgrown footpath
frantic fingers slivering in sinister shapes

Slumbering moon beams cloaked,
abaft of a stately oaken veil,
a canopied thorn and branch woven tapestry

Wallowed whispers cling to cavernous winds
pushing chinaberry stalkers deep
under the cover of moss coated roots

When suddenly…

          Underbrush fantasies flourish
          behind vine wreathed curtains,
          on fallen leaf stages of assorted colors

          Foot light fireflies trim the edges
          in panoramic illuminations,
          flickering to tickle every fancy

          Fairies perform pirouettes on tippy toes
          Glistening wings flutter, shimmering to the
          melodic sounds of hedgehog harmonies

          As bullfrog baritones and spider web sopranos,
          sing the sweetest songs in the key of autumn
          bringing smiles to all of the creatures in attendance

When suddenly…

Far away on the eastern horizon
the faintest specklings of amber appear
slipping through the densest drapes

A great horned owl yawns and blinks,
gazing eyes follow the turning head
as he surveys another day in his life

Sounds of scurrying, bristled brush
echo through now glowing limbs
signaling the end of the evening

And the forest is silent again…

On the waves of a dream,
I lay waiting on shore,
a cold beach this night
beneath a burdened moon
crying stardust


I sink slowly
into the wet sand…
pleading with the waters
for answers to shamed questions,
while counting the shades of violet
framing a weeping sky


Thoughts flow like the tides
on an endless journey,
weaving contours and
bends deep within
this sorrow that washes
over me


I watch as these waves slip away,
carrying hopes still lingering
and exposing the loss
I feel, fiercely
crashing before my eyes,
in opaque foam


I can not move,
my body is still,
my breath salted and tethered,
as I reach
for shadows of my memories,
only to find them…


whispering goodbye
on the breeze

~

Dumb Founded

Falling
headfirst,
tumbling in the fever,
clawing at the sides,
though not really wanting to stop

(slowing the pace of pleasure)

Faster,
harder it comes,
long as it is wide,
visions pass in rapid colors,
scenes of grandeur and promise smile

(sandy shores whisper hello)

Deeper
into this world
I move, dreaming
carving a future
on an illusion’d desiring mind

(beautiful landscapes for two)

Endless?
So it seems,
for light emits
in rose colored filters
from reaches of heart shape eyes

(and I breathe in the exotic aroma)

Destiny,
fate holds
answers so long
of waiting and hoping,
when with a thud I reach the bottom

(no smiley face welcome mats here)

Darkness,
no one home,
only a muddied mirror hangs
swinging on a stone wall,
in its reflection is found my “deepest” fear

(I am indeed as dumb as I look)

~

As evening takes my hand




“For in your light I dream, as evening takes my hand”

Silently I find my thoughts illumined by your beauty;
In soft shimmers of dancing silhouettes
and patterns allowing breaths to sigh

Eyes peer into velvet skies,
visions set in motion eternally, find me
stranded within the confines of my heart…longing for you
Desperate for but a breeze, a movement of shadow,
a hope of wishes made upon the early arrival
of this crested view

Lonely among the sycamore, towering soldiers
lined at fielded boundaries, claiming wisdom
as they too reach for your smile

“And I yearn the knowledge of your distant view”

Do you think, do you feel, do you dream of me
from balconies high above hibiscus footpaths,
candle lit in passing moments which flicker…enchant

Drinking from a porcelain cup caressed by your hand,
a touch my body pleads, soft fingers on smooth surroundings,
ripples following moonlight sonatas,
days of spring blooms and whimsical showers,
flooding affections to wash over me…
carry me home

This moon, suspended in charcoal heavens
upon a beaded blanket of perfect pearls,
beckons our dreams in simultaneous fashion

*“Does your heart share this moon tonight…with me”

~


Wood grain suspenders on beams of unattractive thought
grasp paper cups holding the morning’s coffee just outside of
smudged glass reflecting off of these prison walls
in the heart of the shopping district,
where everything is on sale
and yet nothing is to be sold

as shoppers take advantage of nap time…and still I sit

Clinging to every hope a mind can cling to,
shadowed by my beliefs that it doesn’t matter when
grays pull years out of youthful smiles wearing ties,
for no good reason and
wasted breaths fall from hapless dreams caving in on the summit
where asphalt spills and curb side deliveries melt

rolling down the window to nothing…and still I sit

Limestone pillars stand guard in fours,
Cozying up to attached railings painted to match, but don’t where
empty tissue boxes wear a gaping mouth of perforated edges,
yawning with all of the enthusiasm of an Japanese translator
at a Metallica concert trying to sing opera in verses…
Collected but unseen or spoken of in black and white words

flickering and waiting a review…and still I sit
  
Poetry gathers in corners like food crumbs beneath the fridge,
hidden in the dark until the tile floor is replaced as
small piles of words are sifted through but not taken
for the sunlight changes everything
and this is not as cloudy a day as was forecasted,
though the gloom still exists

scribbling non-stop while leaving… and still I sit

~

~Marmalade skies~



one spoon at a time they feed

the morning horizon

Soft offerings of color

picked ripe from the vine



~Cantaloupe dreams~



a small slice of moon

the dawn’s crescent smiles on me

with a Cheshire grin

cocked slightly to the side



~Plum pudding blankets~



suspended above life, moving slowly

but coming of the day

as alarms break the solitude

nestled in down pillows



~Raspberry whispers~



singing the scent

of the fresh sunrise dew

on wishes coated in sparkling splendor

and footprints beyond the gate



~Nectarine blessings~



sweet on my lips

beneath an orchard arbor

I hold you close of my morning

and taste the bounty of your love

~

Deep within the patterns of a woven ember’s light
Truth becomes a filament that channels every thrill
Illuminating on the sky as features form the void
Culminating in our hearts that gladly find its will

Serpentine unwindings through the great expanse of space
Capturing a falling star for but a moment brief
Pondering our every thought as heaven sends its beam
Fueling both the fire and our happy hearts belief

Hand in hand we fly upon a moonbeam made of love
Dancing on a constellation, sharing of its light
Casting off the reasons why this day should ever end
Following the movements of this endless evening flight

Ours is but a journey that will bring us to the dream
Only in an atmospheric setting shall we play
Here before our eyes awaits the life we wish to start
While we row with happiness throughout the Milky Way

Ribbons of a cosmic flow now touch our every pore
Beauty calms the wake before the majesty we’ve seen
Safely carried by a stream celestial in design
As the night does paint the sky in volumes so pristine

Now we gaze upon this realm as wide as is our love
Time will be the portal which together we walk through
Welcomed in a fashion that invites our honest smiles
As this day the universe does know that I love you

While sleeping


Why is it mornings, so far in the distance,
flowing from beyond tempered shorelines
on lone standing bridges ~
always seem to call in the midst of a dream


When sunrise illusions now erase sleep
on meadowlark borders dotted in dew drops
built in the confines of spring
with fall fast approaching ~ featuring shadows stretched of time


Long on the porch, weathered and beaming,
tapping the front door with marching band fingers
in trumpet blares and bass drum beats ~
yet quiet in the state of mind seen through blurry eyes


Still ~ a before smile, brought about the prior evening
forces dimples once again in my cheeks
igniting the darkness with three-ring spotlights,
streaked of circus beacons on popcorn ceilings


Reminding ~ the dream I have found actually lives in my daylight,
slipping around corners and window sill gaps,
finding me on the brink of now,
stumbling my way to where I long to be ~ awake


For my dream is you,


who I so desperately miss ~ while sleeping

~

Know If I could I’d be mending your heart
With the thread of a silken cocoon
Stitched now as one on the eve of the weary
Bound by the light of the moon
Careful to touch with the soft of a feather
Gentle as spider web tears
Keeping you close on the edge of the storm
Shielding your soul from these fears
~
Dew drop beliefs on the lawn they are waiting
Prisms of lighthearted scenes
Dandelion clouds offer sweet pea protection
Butterflies float in between
Watching o’er breezes of painted day whispers
Woven on kite strings of fleece
Playing with echoes, repeating their wisdom
"Fear not for I have found peace"
~
Alas all I have is a poet’s rendition
Spilled now in ink filled with care
Hoping on dreams you will find a connection
Just a few moments to spare
Taking the hand of this forgotten hero
Trusting in him ever true
Open your eyes for a new day is dawning
Written because I care for you

.

We drink from the fountain of earthly delights
Sweet to the taste, ever cool to the touch
Blushing of purity bred in our hearts
Glistened enchantment now needed so much

Beneath a rainbow’s curved ribbon effect
Painted in singular motions of love
Rippled reflections bare moonlit disguises
Memories fashioned below and above

A ticket to heaven on silver cloud linings
With only the touch of your rose petal lips
Swallowing all that affection does offer
Consuming desire in delicate sips

Breathless endeavors of water fall shimmers
Deeper we dwell inside every dream
You in my arms on this aqua blue evening
Illumined in passion, aglow in the gleam

Softy your eyes shine eternal devotion
Your enchanting beauty now all I can see
There is no need for this ticket to heaven
*For heaven is anywhere you are with me

Miles away in my heart
Feeling your love in the distance
Together we know we're apart
Ignoring the pull of resistance

Watching the shadows at play
Hearing the echoes of passion
Closer we sit far away
Kissing in our wondrous fashion

Now as I look I can see you
Farther is right out the door
Messaging now just a preview
Of all our love has in store

O’er windswept conclusions a’ mist in the air
In fragrance that comes to my heart ever share
Of sundrenched magnolia beneath empty shade
To steal every ounce of your caring my way
I touch to the heavens a wing and a prayer
Belief in the joy that is felt everywhere
When the oceans fall further than all eyes can see
This love will eternally find you from me

When clouds of confetti, the song of the dove
The sweetest rendition of musical love
Does float on the breezes of everyday flow
A’ twisting and turning until it can show
Those mountains of glory that stand in the way
Exceeding the plan that we set forth this day
Can not comprehend what my pure love will do
No matter the hurdle, I send it to you

Since dawn hath approached in a place before time
So simple the earth as our life does unwind
Nor flowers of blossom still yet find the ground
A desolate nature lies lost in its sound
Lone rivers of feelings that one can not see
O’er rain cast endeavors drop life from the sea
Till all that is new shines a star up above
The light of its journey shall bring you my love

From deserts of sand to a sandy white shore
The pain shall be nothing each day I endure
I crawl through the thicket, my hands and my knees
If only a moment your sweet life to please
Not depths of the valleys found in them so deep
Nor locked away caverns of which I do creep
Shall keep me from finding the pathway to you
To bring you a love that is ever so true

~

I offered my hand like a wayward invention
From miles away to a thought we did share
Cradled intentions on soft silken blankets
Awaiting your heart on the scent of the air

Merely a photo and words written freely
Every day when the sun it did rise
Checking the map for my own destination
I didn’t notice the look in your eyes

You asked for trust, which I stood to deliver
Puzzled in pieces that just didn’t fall
Curves on the borders disguised every meaning
Broken, misshapen in spite of it all

Still I believed we could dust off these feelings
Particles float in the light through the door
You looked away as you found it was blinding
Closing your eyes not to see anymore

So here I sit on a chair that is leaning
Off to the side where my heart used to wait
Seeing the sunset in tangerine sorrow
Crying a tear for I know it’s too late

Windows only let us see
What doorways block from view
It doesn’t matter much to me
If what I see is you

Shutters locked to fend the cold
As winter winds now chill
Memories you can’t unfold
In knots to try your will

Teddy bears and butterflies
Upon your table sit
Beauty framed in sorrowed sighs
In moments felt to quit

Loneliness it seems your friend
Perhaps it just might be
Though if the darkness does offend
I hope you think of me

And if the frosted panes incite
Clouded thoughts to flow
And daylight brings the darkest nights
I just want you to know

Windows only let us see
What doorways block from view
It doesn’t matter much to me
If what I see is you

~

Cantilever wishing wells
Long about the winding path
Clover is the foot print maker
Sunlight brings a hearty laugh

Skies will whisper if you listen
Music plays upon the field
Breezes blow the horns of springtime
Blooms atop blue mountain yield

Dragonflies will touch your senses
Wings align the ancient trees
Branches filled of moss that’s clinging
Birds and now the buzzing bees

Come let’s walk in rows of promise
Take me by the waiting hand
This may be a dream we’re having
Sitting in this wonderland

Still if we would stand awakened
Leaving sheets and shoes behind
There’s no telling what will greet us
When we let our thoughts unwind

For you see we are the answer
If the two of us agree
There is nothing more we’re seeking
*Just this moment, you and me

Beyond the chipped paint and tarnished handle
of this old screen door once waited a garden,
a winding path of stone and dirt
I had walked many times in my life,
led to a place of wondrous beauty,
poetic blooms and intoxicating fragrances

Merely stepping beneath the Jasmine covered arbor
lifted spirits and illumined hope that all was right,
and the butterflies, oh the butterflies, winged effervescence in
sapphire, indigo, tangerine and lemon butter yellows
floated from flower to flower creating
the most wonderful dancing rainbow for the eye

I still smile when I hear those old rusted hinges squeak
and I feel that fresh air meet my face
For those memories linger in my mind,
as now I find the path overgrown, the arbor splintered and fallen
the vibrant garden a mass of **** and vine
strangling the beauty that once flourished

And I understand, life changes…slowly,
each of us deteriorate within time’s grasp,  returning
to where we began, covered in lawn and dew
beginning anew or to be forgotten…
an occasional thought that passes
down another path of another life

Now as I stand gazing at what once was,
a tear finds my cheek, meandering over these wrinkles
gathering in the corner of my mouth…salty
yet it is not the garden nor the whimsical path
that collects in my mind…it is the butterflies,
oh how I miss the butterflies…

~



Staring,
as I often do
This distant place of wondering

Afforded of a mystic view
Raising flags,
woven free upon the wind

Across the sea

In your pocket
to remain
A piece of me in charms upon
a silver coated chain

Floating of its own ebb and soul
Waving as forever comes
Sent of lost and feathered shore
Grinning ear to ear

Taken from a prison camp
Framed in ocean’s mist
Found and lost and found again

Something I can not resist

Each day I reach,
in lengthened gathered steam
Drinking of a lemon scent
and foaming parakeets

Dancing on the beach of wings
Searing on the feet
Floundering, dreaming, asking…

When will you come to me

Fingers shade the sun
Bleaching on its way
Bountiful of endless love

So, so far away

This distant place of wondering
As I often do,
staring

Hoping to find you

~

Naked?

On an island
in the midst of the crowded street
Traffic lights blink
as colored tear drops hit the pavement

One way signs
all seem to point in your direction
casting aspersions,
via black and white arrows

Sidewalks filled
with throngs of gawking onlookers,
mouths wide open,
peering from the side of their faces

You hang your head,
chin against your unclothed chest
and you see
not one, but two shadows on the asphalt

Suddenly you are
draped in the finest cloth money can buy,
shielded from the audience
who now divert their attention elsewhere

Turning, you see a friend,
naked, as his clothing now adorns your body
waving to the crowd
proclaiming…I have faced the same fate

Morning glows
upon wishing eyes
across dew drop horizons
and tree line kisses,
warming my heart
as my dawning thoughts
turn towards the beauty...

Another day begins
with smiles, with love,
with you...

~


Black on white
Scores in three quarter sorrow
Sharps and flats beneath heartbeats
Dust and cobweb mosaics
glistening in the key of pain

Scaled deposits wait
lonely in the corner
Replaying adagio chords of lost love,
composed in major and minor
on yellowed decaying paper

Tuning key locked away,
Forte expressions shackled
in sustain pedal nightmares
of faux concertos worn
in overture’d blistered edges
as empty fingers play on

Blood trickles on ivory,
cascading in mirrored visions
as I realize this candelabra’d composition
was written by me…in my hand, my notes
all the while knowing, the empty chorus performed
is the hurt I have staged upon your heart

Silence finds me sitting
on a wobbly bench, uninspired
attempting balance with a still metronome
living in the shadows of what I have become
decomposing your smile, ashamed at the lyrics,
cursing the music for it is the song
of your sadness that I should never have played

A Single Silhouette


Of an ending oh so hard, to feel the pain I do
When the sun it does not shine
to sing a song of you
An aching in my heart
as time is standing still
My heart will hold your love,
I swear it always will

In an instant you are gone, waving me goodbye
Standing on the streets,
the traffic rushing by
I think of different days
once waiting up ahead
Which matter not to me
I long for you instead

As nightfall wraps its arms, so silently the rain
My tears shall flood this earth
in saddened called refrain
Now barren sifts my soul
of arid, dry and tense
To live beyond control,
now peering through the fence

Along a tattered weave, of fabric worn to shreds
A single silhouette
is lying in my bed
The room about does spin,
so numb my ways do seem
For if I could but sleep
of you I’d surely dream

So please I beg of you, now kneeling in the mud
Clawing at the thoughts
that bring me to your love
And when the clock does strike
of moments I have missed
Stay with me forever  
my only happiness

~



Of broken branch and multi-colored stone façade
the pathway steals my outward glance
Winding through the cottage hills
like kite string freed by a strong wind, it spills
Patterns shadow in abstract array
through barbed wire and solid steel
barricades, creating menacing shapes,
criss-crossing narrow wheel ruts of long ago


“I tug my trousers in defiance and set my pace”


Obstacles, of stead and stood,
branded in a wilting wood…
directions carved to empty me of all I know as good


Within my chest sits a living compass,
beating my quest in a never ending melody,
sweet as creamed corn pie and pointing
towards the sun, which sits before me
two hills above the horizon on this new day
Temptation beckons over my right shoulder,
whistling in the breeze of delicious
offerings, and I do hunger…


“Still I stand firm of my journey back to your love”


Take your glow of nectarines
Cool refreshing summer streams
For I shan’t waver, not an inch, her love calls in my dreams

Midday, as the solar glow finds my shoulders red
and sweat clings like life in dampened conclusions,
blisters form bringing the pain of decisions made before…
and I would have it no other way…for this I deserve
Mountains faced of jagged stone break my crawl,
rubble sweeps my feet, as my knees bleed,
thirst speaks in the language of a long feared enemy…
yet I do not listen…


“No challenge shall be placed that will keep me from my return to you”


State your case in hammered stone
Tear my skin of broken bone
No tethered vines of loneliness shall sway me from my home



My shadow now waits before me, long and slender,
molded by dried weathered foot prints…my foot prints,
heading a direction opposite my heart
Many years old yet still their outline remains as a warning…
When I see it, the lilac arbor, scented in old desires and
new in life, encasing a glow, melodies of  gold finch sing
as my eyes find your smile, an extended hand, a soft touch
I have found my way home…


“My sweet love, this heart begs forgiveness and longs you eternally”


*Mistakes I’ve made, my journey far
on borrowed steps of distant stars
my every waking dream desires to be right where you are

~

3:15 am
~

3:15 am…blurred red numbers tell as
I stir, reaching for what I have seen,
grasping for the moments spent in the presence of beauty
as once again you have visited me in a dream…

Pure white flowing whispered fabrics and butterfly trails
awash of waterfalls cascading and mountain top zephyrs,
rock face delights collect on horizons of hope
as softness frames your luminescent face

My eyes focus in the darkness
as your touch remains real on my skin
I am still while stars sleep in crescent moon hammocks
How can this be, I am alone, yet I was not, for I could see

You were searching for me,
barefoot on lush green vistas, daisy paths and buttercup drops
neath cotton candy clouds suspended
above echoes of love songs harmonizing with our heart beats  

Night outside my window keeps time in silent motions,
slowly sweeping breezes form rhythmic patterns
and poetry settles upon my body
as I continue to write within my now awakened mind

Destiny beckons in fruited winds
as chocolate eyes find luscious views of nature’s majesty
Your skins glows of spring blooms in petal’d bliss
and opal desires in the warmth of the day

But I had found you…you had found me…
my desperate wanderings have shown me the prize, illumined the joy
lingering in your smile…your eyes
your touch which stays with me even as I lay alone…still dreaming

Sun beamed passions follow you, caress you in
dancing shadows of flowing brown hair
breathing of morning glory skies
and shimmering dragonfly wings

At this early hour, with an apricot moon peering through the curtains
and these words which have found me
playing among my thoughts, I now realize
that my every dream is you...you are my poetry

For what it’s worth, I understand…
to have that hanging over your head,
echoed threats vibrating concerns
as harmonic waves touch your heart

Blame sent in a plain envelope
addressing your need to be kind
It is your nature, they know it is…
even if postage is still due on their lies

Listen to me if you will,
hollow words are only meant to hurt,
cause pain where none is deserved,
to ease something inside of the sender

Let them cry their rivers
overflowing with requests for sympathy
begging forgiveness neath a reflective moon
as they attemp to eclipse your smile

You know who you are, you know the truth
and though you may sneak away
it is their loss not yours
and if I may…our gain

For you will see these arms are open
and long to keep you safe…forever