The wise trees turning color.
leaves of hues of green
turn golden and crimson.
Faster day by day
almost hour by hour.

first, a last glow of magnificence.
Signifying the end of a life cycle
another ring in its trunk.

Even the Indian summer
belying the changing seasons
could not confuse them.

For as long as the earth has been
they know the season's.
Such knowledge it lives
in their deepest roots.
The very soil whispering
it's secrets to them.

Soon a rush to leave
the glorious branches.
The falling crimson rain
falls in torrents to the earth.

Free from their branches
the leaves float in freedoms delight.
Catching the cooler autumn breezes
and flying to see the world
for one last time.
Ffor one last season.

Children dance
in the rustling leafy beds.
Acorns and horse chestnuts
fall and seek a place to root.

squirrels build their  nest
taking the seeds to storage for
the harsh winter ahead.

Eventually the trees
are gray and bare.
Their skeleton fingers
pointing to a sad winter sky.
Patiently awaiting renewal
in a far off spring day.

As the first snows falls
I promise myself to be
as patient as the trees
A promise that
I break by lunchtime.

No moon or stars
To light my way.
No light or bright
To make me stay

In the night
A broken sound.
Muffled velvet
on the ground.

Lips that seek anothers mouth.
Stars forlorn now travelling south.
In my heart lives lonely pain
Bring me stars and light again.

Many years ago.
She said.
Everything is temporary.
Nothing is permanent.
We are but moments.
Before we pass
and fade away.

But I kissed her hungrily.
We made love like
animals in the wildest jungle.
And lay in each other arms
Spent and contented.
She said.

Maybe we all pass away.
But I want to spend
all my time
that's left with you.

She said she missed her prom.
So many years ago.
She had to work that night.

So I took her
to the local high school. Prom.
We danced all night
her in the prom dress.
I bought for her.
Me in my rented tux.
A gardenia corsage
on her wrist.

we are older
and past such things.
But they let us in.
The old school teacher
At the door
Perhaps a closet romantic.

But she took me home
to a beautiful place
In her heart.
That was made
for only me.
Where
I remained forevermore.

Two waifs lost in the mystery
Oo the endless universe.
Touched softly their lips
In its dimly lit streets.
And the thunder and lightning
exploded in the air.
For it is from
such cataclysmic accidents
that thunder and lightening exist.

Tonight the stars are gentle
Living in their indigo world.
The earth now  a dance floor
for lovers
as the mirror ball
of their quiet existence.
Sends a shower of hope
upon us all.

The twilight stole the last
of the remaining day.
And threw a crystal glass
Into the ceiling of the universe.
Each of a billion slivers catching
the sun's purest light far far away.
From the other side of oblivion.
And we called them stars.

Moment's
By
Jude Kyrie

Just as the morning light
melted the stars
She left me.

Jude Kyrie

Remember when we first met Ted.
You always made things right.
We used to always sleep together.
So I was not scared at night.

We used to travel everywhere.
I hid you so no-one ever knew.
You were always there for me Ted.
And I was there for you.

I always told you all my trouble's Ted.
You would listen all the day.
And when I got a tummy ache.
You took the pain the away.

Once I had the measles
I was six days in my bed.
You never ever left me, Ted
You slept right by my head.

When the thunderstorm scared me.
And the lightning’s flashing light.
You snuggled up and held me.
So safe all through the night.

The passing years they rolled along Ted.
And we got older too.
I was not frightened anymore
Oh! what could I do with you?

Now my little sons  in his room.
There is a bear next to his head.
With  one eye missing
and it has a patch or two.
It is his favorite  bear named Ted.
It's You Ted,  It is You.

How We Laughed
a 9/11 story
by
Jude Kyrie*


We laughed away our silly childhood
Swimming laughing all we could
laughing playing everyday
Together Covered in mud

We laughed all day
at a silly song.
You threw my homework
In the pond.

We laughed so much
I peed my pants
In a pool on the floor.
We laughed at everything
Everything that we saw.

After finals you threw your *******
from the car
And then I threw out mine
We got a ticket from the policeman
And laughed as we paid the fine.

We dumped two losers
on a date
Then went off to graduate.

The we both got wedding rings
Our bellies grew and grew.
How fast the time did fly
You laughed and laughed
And said at last
Weve learned how to multiply

In business you laughed
your way to the top
Who would haved guessed
You were to be the big  success

Then on 9/11 the planes came down.
And the towers turned to ash
You died and the world
Is  now a sadder place
Oh God!
How I miss your laugh

Jude's version of the
Glass menagerie*


She was ethereal in her beauty.
I always loved her of course.
But only from a respectful distance.
She collected glass animal's.
I always gave her one for birthdays.
She would kiss my cheek in thanks.
Not the kiss I craved but a kiss.
Her perfect French braids
Framing her lovely face.
I fantasized unfastening them
Slowly so her hair flowed
Like the soft spring rain
washing my bare skin.
She would show me the
intricate color mix
in her glass menagerie.
But I only saw the colors
of her hair her eyes her lips.
When the sickness came.
Her skin became
taught and translucent like glass.
The weight loss showing her frame
She looked more and more
Like one of her beloved
glass collection.
Then when we lost her
She left her collection to me.
But the one
I wanted and treasured
Was on a high shelf
Beyond the clouds
Far beyond my reach.

...Awakenings
By
Jude Kyrie*

The summer heat
seared the sand like fire.
She walked by me
stopping at my Cabana.

May I she asked?
So young lithe and beautiful.
Of course I say
but the breaking waves
and sea breeze whisper
Danger Beware Beware Beware.

I have not yet tasted
the pleasures of a woman.
Can this be the time?
The time for me.

My racing heart whispers
Quietly softly be still.
The salty sea breezes speak
Let it be it’s your time
Let it be.

Later I writhed under her.
Between heaven and the sand.
My hand holding hers
As she led me
through the door of manhood.

My boyhood left me
draining into her
as I cried out
in its irrecoverable loss.
The waves rolled relentlessly
breaking on the shore.
Undulating to her rhythm

I feel her soft gentle gifts
aching inside my body
is this it is this it?
My soul asks

Then the roar
of the crashing waves
on the rocky shore.
The tender moment
As close as two humans can be.

Emotions older than time itself.
I hold her as a lover
She rises from me almost shyly
and says Thank you

A seabird cries above
Don’t leave , Don’t Leave.
But her footprints
are washing away
in the foam.

Just her indelible
memory remains
Imprinted forever
like a tattoo
on my young heart.

Many long winters have passed
since I was a young brave.
My skills are now faded
with the light of my eyes.
In the great domain
of the Algonquin Tribes.
I hunted with my father
a wise and kind chief.
He taught me the love
of all the ways of the Great Spirit.
Who provides all we will ever need
to sustain our people.
The great buffalo
in their numbers too large to count
Would feed our people
until the end of all moon and stars.

Our ways were a gift of life
the ways of our lineage from start of days.
The newcomers took our land and our talk
The buffalo was wiped from the land
by their sticks of fire.
Their bodies left to rot in the sun.
What was the gift of Manitou they stole away.
The water in our rivers
is as poison from their waste.
The fish are sick and
cannot be eaten by our people.
What was our pride, they scorned.
Our children they took
to teach them new ways
Our blood they spilt
into the soil of our heritage.
Now we are imprisoned
on the land of our freedom.
I stay in my tipi old and frail
my face lined with many years.
I dream of a clear sky
an eagle flying to the mountain.
The herds of buffalo
thundering again on the plains.
To sit around the fire with the pipe again
telling the deeds of our forefathers.
No peace will ever rest my mind

The old pressed orchid
By
Jude Kyrie*

Within an old book in my library
An Orchid dried and pressed I see
Without color and fragrance a mystery
Romantic notions overwhelming me

Who made this volume an orchid’s tomb?
Forever hidden in a dark room
Perhaps a ladies hand from a long past year
A memento of her handsome lover so dear

Was it given at a meeting with hearts that soar?
Or a last goodbye as he went to war
Or as they kissed in heavens light
Sharing their love in the blue of night

Are they still together him and her?
Holding hands at this very hour
Or are they passed no longer here?
Love dried and withered
like this orchid flower

Clouds In My Coffee
The Poets Woman
By
Jude Kyrie*

She looked at him devotedly
already he was writing.
Or had he been there all night?
She read his poem
over his shoulder.
She loved it, so beautiful
like a painting in words .

She lifted a lock of his hair
away from his tired eyes.
More as a sign
that he still belonged to her.
Perhaps a statement
of her undying love.

His cup of coffee untouched
now cold and cloudy.
A cigarette burned into
a line of ash in the tray

Did you like it my love?
he whispered almost a plea
of her affirmation.

It is beautiful darling
it comes from
within your beautiful heart.
It flows like fresh coffee
smooth like black gold.

Bolero
By
Jude Kyrie*

Sitting at the edge of the sea,
evening breezes.
cool the  memory of our love
I see it burning in its early passions.

The waves softly sing love songs
As they break on my bare feet
In the distance of the night
Someone is playing Bolero on a flute

I can feel their fingers on my heart
The salty air purifying my senses
breaking into old lost memories
of lovers  never found.

In the distance in the night
Someone is playing Bolero on a flute.
Note by note touching my soul
I feel the passions red and on fire.

I need the sultry air to drown my needs.
Reflection of moon and starlight on the waves.
to bring solace to my heart
Now uneasy at this intrusion but spellbound
It is so beautiful soft and passionate.

In the distance on this summer night
Someone is playing Bolero on a flute
And my soul is aching

Heatstroke
By
Jude Kyrie*

The naked sun sets the world on fire.
A scalded sky like a funeral pyre.
No rain in sight as the heat goes higher
Like musical notes.
Sit the birds on the telephone wire

No peace for me no cool blue moon.
No respite from their crazy tune
The chirping crows turn the volume higher.
The birds are notes on the telephone wire

That awful hurdy-gurdy sound
Makes my head spin round and round
If I had a gun I would surely fire
At those infernal birds
upon the telephone wire.

Smoke Rings
By
Jude Kyrie*


Life is meant to look forward.
Not back where I should forget
Yet even will the faded years
When I see you Annette.

Misty colored memories come
From a time that’s long ago.
Drifting into the smoke rings
From a thousand cigarettes.

My cigarette is just an ash line
as it burns up in the tray
I am playing the piano
a tune from another day.

I see her clear and carefree
I remember her once again
She turns those lovely eyes on me.
I see my love for you back then.

We could have had a life together
If only I had been free.
I remember her lips
so curved and crimson,
As I dreamt them  kissing me


My fingers across the piano keys
Her favorite song I play
I can play this tune with ease.
Just like I did  back in the day

The old crowd they all sing-along
It"s such a catchy song.
Then I look beside me
you were standing there all along.

I say Its you there sweet Annette.
She touches my head
and says, Harry Are you alright?
Your eyes are red and wet.

I look up into her lovely face
I'm drowning in regret.
Yes, I am  just fine darling.
It’s just the smoke
from my forgotten cigarette.

After Daddy's passing the old house was sold.
I stood in the garden he loved so much.
and the years melted to times long passed.
The old shed where he kept all his tools.
the neat beds and glorious abundance of flowers.

Then I saw it.
In between the delphiniums and the hollyhocks
Sat the old wheelbarrow dented rusted and aged.
The thoughts of my childhood return
Daddy would sit me in the wheel barrow
and give me a ride when I was a child.
All about the garden as I squealed in delight

I have a need to see his kind eyes one more time.
Hear his soft gentle voice so mellow
I want to feel like a little girl again
safe and secure in my Daddy's arms.
The need to find him is overwhelming.
I look all over the gardens for him
Then I see him stood by the fruit tree
His old knitted sweater and his corduroy pants.
In his mouth his sweet aromatic pipe
that was almost an extension of him.

He said softly
" Hello Kitten"
my eyes misted
No one but my Daddy
ever called me that
I said "Hello Daddy"
He took his pipe from his mouth
His smile lit up the place
I was six ears old once more.
Bu he faded into the mist of memory.

My childhood was passed
replaced by my womanhood.
All that was left was
the indelible memories of times past
Tears fell from my eyes
as I wept to go back.

Then a noise
as I looked around at the
arrival of the new owners
A young handsome man
with his little son.
who shouted in joy.
"Daddy, there’s a wheelbarrow
can I have a ride"?

Silvered Screen Memories
By
Jude Kyrie*

The old Bijoux cinema closed today.
After all this time it closed its doors.
It is empty now overtaken by technology and time.
Perhaps a lot like me,
Its silver screens
have graced the best of Hollywood.

How often we sat there together my love.
Watching Bogart and Bacall share a kiss.
Later returning to our small flat
to make tea and love.

You were so beautiful my angel
All that I ever wanted or needed.
All that I ever prayed for.

Remember how I stood outside your flat

In the pouring Seattle rain
just to catch a glimpse of you.
I was young then and
so in love with you---So in love.

You have gone now of course
Such beauty is for the Gods
Not for ordinary men like me.
I shall miss this old place so much
Watching the old movies
flickering on the screen.
Thinking of our time together.

I know I did not move
on quiet as I should have done.
You see my love
My heart was very broken
and sadly
still remains so
even after all these years.

But sometimes in an old movie
that we had seen a hundred times.
Yes, I know the endings are always the same.
But In my heart.
I can feel your hand slip softly into mine
just like it used to.
And as I can feel it there,
just for a single moment
All is well in this world once more.

I would not change
a single thing about us my love.
Even knowing how broken
I would be after you left me.
And how my heart
would be vacant for evermore.

For once in my life,
I reached for a star,
and for a fleeting moment
I held it in my hands.

Inside a dark room.
In a locked box.
A lock of hair
a letter
A photograph
All my dreams
No one sees them
Brilliant Black

Inside a dark room
In a locked box
A love poem
A perfume bottle
A faded rose
All hidden in darkness
Brilliant Black

Inside a dark room
In a locked box
A house sad and silent
Full of lost shadows
No one knows
Brilliant Black

Inside a dark room
In a locked box
Dried tears.
My heart
shattered like crystal.
No one cares
*Brilliant Black

I was born in the waves of music
so long ago now as I look back on my life.
It was a time when the music was faint.
barely audible almost silent.
I was a accident a beautiful one
but still an accident.
She was a beautiful young concert pianist
he was a guitar player in a rock band.
They should have hated each other
but that's where I came in
they didn't.
Her father was a control freak
all he could see was advancing her career.
After my parents met
it was something like love at first sight.
They slept together
on a bench on a new York rooftop.
I guess you could say
that's where I really came in.
Her father took her away
to her recital in California.
She did not even know his name.
But I found out later
she never married
nor did he.
When Mom found she was pregnant
her father said it must be adopted.
I became an IT instead the baby
or my grandson or even the boy.
Mom had an accident
after the news she was
to put me up for adoption.
She ran into the street
and a bike courier hit her hard.
I was born early.
But her father;
I still cannot call him gandfather.
Forged her name on my adoption papers.
when she woke up in hospital
he said the baby was lost.
that I did not make it.
I was put into the orphanage run by the Catholic nuns.
I never got adopted.
I guess I was bit too weird to keep.
I listened to music everywhere
in the grass the street the wind.
In the noise of the clanging city
Or the pattering beat of the rain.
And I knew somehow
She was out there.
I could feel it I knew it for sure.
I became a musical prodigy at seven
I could write music without lessons.
I could play any instrument
you threw at me.
The nuns at the orphanage
sent me to juliard.
I was their youngest student at nine.
Far away in California.
My life was changing.
There her father confessed
what he had done with my adoption on his deathbed.
Mom searched and searched
until she released the adoption papers in court
with the forged signature.
She saw my photo for the first time.
She said that's him...that's my son.
At juliard I wrote a symphony.
it was put forward to play
in central park for best new young composers.
The moon played
its magical music loud that summer night.
The park was full of the heart of New York.
And she was playing
the concert piano.
When my music played
it awakened something in her heart
I could see her feeling it.
She felt me.
She felt my music.
She felt her son.
The concert finished
They called me to the stage
to take a bow.
But she came to me
in her beautiful gown.
she was so pretty.
she held me in her arms.
I felt for the first time
the softness of my mother.
Her eye makeup
was running down
her beautiful face.
is it ..is it... you ...she asked.
I kissed her cheek
and whispered yes Mom.
It's me
It's your son.
Thank you for the music.

He was beautiful but way too young for me.
I should have just walked away.
But God is no so kind to divorced women
close to the age of forty with a
lot of dissolutionment with modern urban life.
My husband cheated on me
with his secretary.
Tell me you haven't
heard that before.

I met him at a family get together.
a BBQ with awful food
and cheap wine.
it was his youth I think
it glowed like freedom.
So full of life.
All the emotions yet to happen.
Not all those that had already been.
He dumped his girlfriend
when he saw me.
I don't for the life of me know why.
She was pretty and perky
and so very young.
not like me at all.

He caught me looking at him
but I did not release my gaze.
That was cruel he was a just a boy
I found out later he was Twenty two
he gave me all I needed at that time.
All the things my rat ******* husband
had never given to me.

I admit I used him for his beauty
and his life that shone from him.
But I did not know
I was falling in love with him.
He undressed. me with his eyes ond smile.
I could not wait to undress for him.
My mother always so wise
said let him go honey it will end badly.
But I didn't.
He moved in to my urban nest.
The few hundred square feet
that was all mine
where the outside world ended.
After a while
I was miffed he did not have a job like I did.
That he sat around playing Nintendo all day.
But then he kissed me
and said I love you baby.
and I melted for him.

I got angry when he was drinking beer
with his friends
in my apartment.
When i got home from a hard day at work.
and I threw him out.

I told him he was never going to be what
I needed he was too young.
He moved into his buddy's place.
and called nme ten times a night.
Then I saw him again
it was in the local delli
I moved a can of caviar
and he was buying steaks
on the other side.

I took him home to my place
undressed as usual
he would not wear his ******.
He said I want you to have our baby.
I froze like a deer in the headlights.
I wish he had just ****** me.
All of a sudden
I saw his vulnerability
his youth his inexperience.
He was a baby and I was playing with him.
I knew it was a trap for him.
A trap I could not set.
so I opened the cage
the door left wide open.
and he flew out into
the wild rarified air
above the mountains.

I saw him again about a year later.
I was drinking wine at my favorite restraunt with a group
Of my friends.
It was near the holidays
The cold new York frost had formed on the window.
His breath melted a small section
Our eyes met and he he flashed his beautiful smile.
I caught my breath and my heart beat quickly..
But then he turned away.
And walked into the icy winter cold of the old city
Which had seen many such love stories before.

Paris
A story of first love.
By
Jude kyrie*

It’s like I am a guitar and the fingers
of lovers are strumming the strings
Spinning my emotions
Commanding me to stay
She said

We walked the busy streets of Paris
Too full of lovers overflowing in spring
To find us a little place
In a Paris with no space

Its fingers are making me sing love songs
I am so in love with you
So in love she sighed

We walked from room to room
seeking pure light from the north
to touch her beauty as I painted her

I feel like it is you inside me
Your fingers playing my heart
Allowing it to beat and flow blood
Keeping it safe and loved she said*

I entered her through
the door of her heart
That she left open
Only for me.
In Paris that
far away springtime.
And found my home
Where I would always stay

The falling snowflakes
cover the birdbath.
White and pure now
the winter torrid garden.
Gifted with the renewal
of a state of grace.
Like  a confessed soul.

The red candles flicker
and glow in my window.
Lighting the falling snowflakes
a kaleidoscope in motion.
Empty now your chair
your pipe still unmoved.
Remember how we loved
the first snowfall my love.?

Walking feeling the crunch
like glass shards
.beneath our winter boots.
The gift of the full bright moon
beaming on the boughs.
Creating daylight at nighttime.

All the pathways in
your beloved garden
,Are filled with fresh snow.
An even layer of purest white
filling all the voids
in the backyard.
Just as you once
filled all of mine.

You write poetry ?
she almost cackles in disdain.
Followed by an incredulous eyeroll
Who the **** reads poetry anymore.

She continued that's pointless
And unattractive.
How do hope to get a girl.
As though getting bedded
was the reason I write.

She introduced me to her sister
I wrote poems for her
Poems that spilled my soul
onto the paper.
She read them
and said she loved them.
She saved them
in a collection book.

Afew weeks later
She invited me to her bed.
A place where I still love
To read my poetry for her.
So many many years later.

I was shocked when she died
I always thought I would go first.
I was faithful even after forty years.
of our mundane marriage.

I know she did not love me
In fact I know I did not love her.
You are besotted with Anabel
She said so many times.

But Anabel was married
almost as long as I was.

I never lied and said
it was not true
Because it was.

After she passed away
Anabel's husband left her
He moved to the west coast
and played lounge piano
In a bar.

She came over to see me
Not carrying a *** of stew
Or a cake
like the other lonely vultures.

She was so beautiful
So much what
I had always wanted
Well it's time she said.
They both have gone.

She looked
so beautiful to me.
Kiss me honey
she purred.
I held her close to me.
Too close
Her softness
was beyond my limits.

I placed my lips
close to hers.
A fire burned in me
Like nothing before.
It was need and want.
covered in gasoline
And a match
applied igniting
an inferno.

Then on the mantle
I saw her picture
the one when
we got married.
She was so
beautiful then.
I am sure it
smiled at me.

I pulled away
from Anabel.
A magnet
that had held me
for nearly forty years.
And I started to weep
I realized after
Losing her.
I loved my wife
beyond belief.

In the night glow
The nightingale sang in joy.
Even the winds of the south
Sent fragrances from the Orient.
And the dew splilt from heaven
Glowed in bright moonbeams
From a joyful moon
Because
The beautiful lady
with eyes like
diamonds of blue
Had found her
true lovers kiss.

September  Rainbow
A 9/11 Story
By
Jude Kyrie
Dedicated to all who lost on 9/11
September 11, 2001


As a little girl,
he sat next to me
at junior school.
I always liked him.
No  much more than that.

Later at high school
we walked home together.
He would carry my books.
At graduation,
he was my date.
We even went
to college together.

That was when
we broke the chains
of friendship and
he became my lover.
My first and only love.

We married young
it was no surprise
to our parents.
They were expecting it.

Before I knew it
we had three kids.
Two girls and a boy.
Our son looks just like him.

September 10, 2001

It was just like any other day.
He came home from work
Cooked burgers
on the backyard barbeque.

We got the kids to bed
drank a glass of wine
went to bed at ten.
He wanted to make love
but I was exhausted
the kids had
been terror's all day.

September 11,2001

The next day
he kissed me goodbye.
With a see you later honey.
I got a call from my friend
She said quickly
put on the TV.

I saw the towers fall
Turning to ashes
Like my life did
at that moment.

All I could think was
I wish I had made love
to him last night.

September 11, 2015

The children are all
grown up now.
He would be
so proud of them.

I look at my strong
handsome son.
He looks like him exactly.

We stand at ground zero
and say a prayer.
I whisper
it was always you honey
Only you.

As if by magic
he answered me
A giant beautiful rainbow.
Circled over New York City.
And I know it was for me.

She was unique
that I know for sure.
She believed
there was no such place called hell.
But heaven existed
in every moonbeam that blossom.

She thought that
ice cream was for anytime.
She believed in
smiling and laughing.
And said frowns
were a crazy thing.

She believed in
making love,
oh boy!
Did she ever believe
in making love.

Then one magnificent
unbelievable day
She gave all her love to me.
She said let's fly
together for always.

I said that I could not fly.
But she said,
of course, you can fly silly.
Taking my hand in hers
We flew high
above the mountains.
Alongside the eagles.

In a place
where only true lovers
could breathe
the pure rarified air.

Maybe one summer night
a nearby star will
supernova
and create a giant black hole.

So powerful
the sun and moon
will be swallowed
into its unknown  depths.

so fast even
the earth will disappear
in lightening speed.

perhaps then my love
I would think of you
for the last time

Boys don't cry--Do They?
By
Jude Kyrie


You must know this  before I begin.
I was only  a teenage boy back then.
I was definitely not a safe place
to be called home.
She was even younger than I was.
We were not just ready—
for---marriage or anything close to it.
Since that long ago day
I have always wanted a daughter.
I know she will never come.
It is my burden--My fault.

I sat in the beat up old car
In the car park of the clinic.
Whilst she went through ---with ----it.
I am a man's man.
I never cry ever.
But the tears flowed then
down my young face relentlessly.
My breath was spent from sobbing.
I could not stop the tears.
I know now I should not
have tried to stop them.
For I was in mourning
for the daughter
I want so badly now.

On quiet summer days
when the lake shimmers
in the bright sunlight.
I see a young teenage girl
nubile and innocent.
swimming in the
calm waters of the lake
.
And for a moment
my eyes once more
fill with those long ago tears.

I was just a young girl when I met him
We were at the rock quarry pool.
Sat on a man made cliff
from stones taken
before I was born.

I stepped down to the ledge.
And looked down into the black water.
Which now looked a mile below.
Hanging onto a rock I was frozen
Like a deer in the night headlight beam.

Friends splashed into the water way below.
Shouting encouragement for me to jump.
But my legs turned to jelly
I could not climb up or jump down.
I was in the vice grip of all my failures.

He climbed up the rock face
The nerdy kid in my grade twelve class.
He was great at math and science
Wore thick glasses a bit of an outcast.

He reached my ledge of terror
I gripped his arm so tightly
He said softly don't be afraid
I am here and nothing will hurt you
I promise.

He was the smartest kid in the class
How do you know ?
I asked.
Because you are strong and can do anything
You have brains talent and good looks.
You are destined for greatness.
I just have brains he laughed
I am destined make others rich.

Now hold my hand
And we shall jump in together
He gripped my hand and it felt
Wonderfully safe.

On three he said softly.
What if we die I whimpered.
Then I shall die holding
The hand of the most beautiful girl
In the school he said almost smiling.
On three he said you count
One….t wo……...two and a half……...three

I felt myself falling falling falling.
Holding his hand all the way down.
It was so safe.
we slipped into the cold water

And we're in an embrace
when we surfaced
Everyone was cheering.

What I did not know
I was falling falling falling for him.
We finished college together
He became my first lover
And we married young
And had three of smartest children
Who fortunately got my looks
and his beautiful heart.

You are a Woman Honey
…Jude's advice to his teenage granddaughter


*If you grow up to be the type of woman
That men want to look at.
Well let them look at you
Show them what a real woman looks like.
Let's thier eyes learn your power.

If you grow up to be the type of woman
That men want to touch.
Well if it's right for you let them
But understand why they want to.

Are they reaching for a drug
A drink a fix to loneliness.
Are are they reaching to touch you
Your heart your spiril your beauty inside.
That wants to help every hurt animal
Or every lost soul.

You are strong not made of
Excuses promises and metaphors.
You are a Woman.

If you grow up the kind of woman
That men want to hold.
Well if it's right let them hold you.
Let them hold you as the woman
Who is smart equal and strong.

Not as the Oracle that can fix their
Lost identity with all the answers.
You don't have them
You are a Woman not a crutch.
Or a drink of wine
Ore a rose petal.
Help him stand
upon his own feet.
Not on yours.

If you grow up
to be the kind of woman
Men want to love.
That's ok
let them love you.
Just know the difference
between being loved
And falling in love yourself.

Falling in love
is flying to the planets.
When you have never left
the one traffic light town.
It is breathing the air
at the top of mountains
Where eagles fly.

And if it falls down
and love flies away.
Do not break up with
its crumbling dust.
Remember
you have seen the planets.
Been to mountain tops.
They will always be beautiful.
And love
will always be beautiful as well.

You will know you are not just
looking for a place to be.
And that you are the place.
A place to be shared with a worthy lover.
Who knows and loves your power
And the magnificent life you can build
With your woman's  hands
And strong woman's heart.

Grandad
Jude

At first I would have nothing
to do with him.
He waited outside my
small flat everyday
Soaked to the skin
in the November rains.

I asked him to go away
But he flashed his
beautiful Irish smile.
And said no
not until you go out with me.
I will wait here forever.

I thought a few more days
He will leave.
But that night I heard
a commotion outside.
He had a group
of Irish musicians
And was
serenading me with
I'll take you home again Kathleen
And
When Irish eyes are smiling.

I don't know when
I fell in love with him.
It might of been then.

All I know it was long ago
And they were
the happiest days of my life.

He sang to me everyday
And called me
his American Colleen.
He always
made me feel so beautiful.
I have lost my smiling
  Irish singer now.
When the sickness came
He just smiled
and say it was a bit of a cold
But I knew ...I knew….
Now on cold November nights.
When the Seattle rain is endless.
I look at the
bloom of the old lamppost
Outside my flat window.
Where he waited
and sang for me?

And in my head
I can hear his sweet Irish brogue
Singing so sweetly his soft celtic voice.

*I’ll take you home again Kathleen
To where you heart will feel no pain

Raindancing

a poem
by
Jude Kyrie

Do you remember my love
we were just children back then.
we played in the summer rain.
Dancing in puddles.
Splashing in rubber boots.

I think that's when
I fell in love with you.
I knew even then
we would marry one day.

Remember we always
loved walking in the rain
The olive green days
of our life my love.

Then the sickness came
you tried to hide it from me.
but I knew ...I knew.

Remember that last day
my love.
you asked is it raining
I said yes my love.

Take me outside you said.
Dance with me in the rain
just one more time.

Now  when I feel
lonely and sad
I stand in the pouring rain
and can feel you close to me.
and the gentle pure rain
washes away my tears

The fragrance of Jasmine
is sweet in the air.
And we shall be friends
this magic night and I.
Air as tender as
The perfumed dampness
of a lovers hair.
We shall mingle as one
this night and my soul.
If the nectar of heaven
filled my cup to the brim.
and I drank down
its heady brew quickly
becoming intoxicated
by its glorious flow.
. I would still remain transfixed.
Standing in my purest clarity
by the doorway.
Drowning in the falling blossoms
of this moonglow
Wth The wild clematis
tangled in its mystic light.
Drenched to the heart in the
sweetness of the evening hours.

I found her upon a high hill.
A wind was flowing through
her flaxen hair.
In her eyes
the blue of the skies
congregated in dazzling beauty.

She said she was an angel
waiting to return to heaven.
Where she would be given
Glorious white wings.

And she would come back
And fly over mountains
Where the eagles lay.

It was a sad
yet beautiful untruth.
But she is my angel
The only one
Who can make
my lonely heart sing.

The cool salty kiss of the sea wind
Soothes my cheek in soft embrace.
The sea has taken a tiny moment
away from her countless charges.
Teaming in the ***** of her cradle.
Only to notice my sadness
at the edge of her domain.

Her kiss is gentle soft and caring.
Send me your salted tears little one.
I am your mother.
Give me your grief.
I will take it to my depths.
Give me your sorrows
I will wash them away.
Give me your heart
I will bathe away it's pain.
For my waters are made of such things.
Collected from the first dawn

All of his life
His heart craved blue.
All of her life
Hers did too.
But they kept it inside.
Out of view.
Then passed each other by
and never knew.

The moonlight milky and pale
Reflected in her eyes.
Noticing the tears yet unshed.
As in her saddened heart
A single white rose
Bloomed in the precious
fertile ground.
That was all that was left
Of the love he gave to her.

September Song

Last night I dreamed
of the summer rain
Pouring in a summer deluge.
Cotton shirt soaking to the skin.
Translucent it sticks to my body.

The summer rain from my dream
Had drenched the woodlands
Greening the foliage.
Opening the parched flowers.
Filling the world with dreaming

Last night I dreamed
of the summer rain.
Pouring down my window pane
Distorting the outside world
Like a hall of mirrors

Last night I dreamed
of the summer rain
And when I awoke
The summer had ended
And the ground was carpeted
With bright vermilion  
maple leaves.

Lost at sea
By
Jude Kyrie

My poetry has become
a seagulls cry.
My soul is adrift
on a becalmed sea.
This sailors wife
knitted his death
into this sweater.
The sea shall swallow me
with its infinite greed.
The cloudless sky
will take my poems
and recite them
from a place on high.
The verses melt
to a single sound.
My poetry has become
a seagulls cry

Daddy

*I remember as a tiny girl
he held me close .
so safe so loving.
it is small wonder
I gave him my young heart.

he called me kitten
no one else
ever called me that.

I remember his sweater
he wore it near Christmas
evey year
even when it was faded.
And had holes in the elbows.

he said it brought Mom back.
But she had left him
and us.
it was my fault he told us.
it was my drinking.

he disarmed us all
with his honesty.
I loved him
even with his demons.

he always made me
feel beautiful.
I still don't know
how he did that.

I said to him
will you marry me
when I am older Daddy.

He smiled
put down his
glass of whiskey.
and said
it would be my pleasure kitten.

But his weaknesses took him
Before I got older.
On his last day on earth
he held me close.
he knew he
was leaving us.

he said almost in a whisper.
Remember kitten
you are a strong young woman.
you have your mother's spirit.
not my weaknesses.

but in the dark
when the world sleeps.
it's you daddy
always you.
only you
knew how to fix me.

the colors of lonely

Light grey rains that fall forever.
drenching me to the soul

White soft falling snow
endless and growing deeper.
Until it covers the world

Dark indigo blue nights
when the moon
Weeps in its sad memories.

The vapour of sea mist
On the foggy deserted oceans
with only the lost cry
of an unseen gull.

The red brick house
in its crescendo
of absolute silence.

A brown hope chest of dreams
that is full to the brim.

My red heart
on days like this one.

A Little Bloom of Moonlight
By
Jude Kyrie

Within the pristine stillness
Lies the soft velvet of night.
A sad moon peers down
Knowing all that has been.

A night bird sings his song
Softly with the pathos
Of a thousand years

Trees silhouette
in the moonlight
Reaching to the night sky
From their rooted life.

In the hedgerow
a white abundance
of tangled clematis
shine under its light.

The night world blooms
As the dust of sleep falls
into children's eyes.

The crimson leaves
Profilerate  the maples
Each breeze removing their
clinging fingers to the  beauty
of life.

Floating winding decending
to the fragrances of autumn.
That aroma of things to come
irresistible yet dangerous

They decend into
the the Maelstrom
of the season's.
As they always have.

No more the nightingale
Or the resting swallow
Shall adorn it's leafy conclave.

Only skeleton branches
Pointing like fingers
Into the breath of winter

Within its aincent tired roots.
Beating stronger
than any human heart.
It has a vision.

Of buds unfurled
A green that no other spring
has ever ever seen.
of renewal that lives
deep inside a knowledge.
Far stronger than human intellect.
Of a rebirth that
Perhaps lives in everything
Even creatures as temporary
and frail as us.

The crimson leaves
Profilerate  the maples
Each breeze removing their
clinging fingers of beauty
of life.

Floating winding decending
to the fragrances of autumn.
That aroma of things to come
irresistible yet dangerous

They decend into
the the Maelstrom
of the season's.
As they always have.

No more the nightingale
Or the resting swallow
Shall adorn it's leafy conclave.

Only skeleton branches
Pointing like fingers
Into the breath of winter

Within its aincent tired roots.
Beating stronger
than any human heart.
It has a vision.

Of buds unfurled
A green that no other spring
has ever ever seen.
of renewal that lives
deep inside a knowledge.
Far stronger than human intellect.
Of a rebirth that
Perhaps lives in everything
Even creatures as temporary
and frail as us.

Gone Girl

I can feel your fingers
slipping away from mine.
Like the grains of sand
that escape from my grip
No matter how hard I hold.

I can  see your thoughts
of me that once
lived in your heart now
spilling onto the floor
and dying in the sunlight.

I feel you dropping
my heart on the ground.
Watching it shatter like
a crystal glass.

I can feel the approaching
afterlife without you.
Whispering a tiny comfort
In the cold breezes of loss.

Promising me
that one day
love will call again

Sometimes you stare at me.
before your beautiful
gaze I am naked and pale.
no more than
a sheet of white paper.

I know you want
to change me.
mold me into
your own creation.

your eyes cut me
like razor blades.
Your white teeth
chew my shapes.
you have all the powers
I am being folded
into the object
you desire.

A deer.
a bird.
a building.

your deft fingers fold
and crease  my shape.
can you not see.
my flesh is soft and plible
my heart beating with passions
my mind clear and decisive
I crave only your love
your tenderness
to fill your needs.
yet you fold me once again.
the crease leaves a line
across my soul,
In your eyes
I am only origami.