An unknown voice cried out
  from the abyss
As the nameless got in line
  with the rest

Promises offered
  lies to reclaim
As the devil called out roll
  from his list

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2014)

“You can’t play with something you don’t own," said
the father.  “But father, that is the truest definition
of play,” said the Russian boy.  “What is not owned is
not worried about, and what is not worried about sets
you free.”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)

A window framed with memory
  emits the brightest light

Its lock and hasp long since removed
  a journeyman’s delight

Casting off the millstone
  the rock of age has come

Where darkness hides beyond the sash
  —inside a rising sun

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

When lost inside a world of dreams,
  the Muse becomes my guide

The days and nights stand juxtaposed,
  the sun and moon collide

And though my eyes desert me now,
  the past and future blind

My parting wish is not to wake,
—this sleep forever mine

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Poetry is more than words,
  some is written—some is heard

Often long—yet sometimes short,
  its power shared in strong retort

Questions cry—demanding verse,
with feelings new, still unrehearsed

Its focus like a laser aims,
  at souls that search—time and again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

The music stepped aside,
  as the words cut in to dance

Painting the floor red
  in lettered steps of eternity

To a song now consonant
  in verses of celebration

Thoughts and feelings remarry
—in patterns of remembrance

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Did you try to take it with you,
  did you really think you could

Did your journey end abruptly,
  as you never thought it would

Are those things that you acquired,
  much of comfort to you now

Are those dreams left uninspired,
  parked on someone else’s cloud

Did you once just say “I’m sorry,”
  for those things you didn’t do

Do you weep in fearful moments,
  for those things you wish you knew

Was your lack of all contrition,
  what’s now written on your stone

Is your map unmarked and barren,
—all eternity unknown

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Once truth is judged delusion,
  we choose the lesser of two lies

Abandoning that voice unheard,
  stillborn—a baby cries
  
The ideal in dark remission,
  all hope now cast in flames

Making bargains with the Devil
  —as the future writhes in pain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

How do I exit gracefully,
  how do I end it all

Can I rewrite the terms again
  before the final fall

The kids now counting every day
  the moments still all mine

The days and weeks of years gone by
  a measure now defined

How do I finally say goodbye
  and start anew again

This world peeled back against itself
  no more left to befriend

Regret a word best left behind
  for others who have sinned

Stepping into eternity’s vault
—last check to cash within

(Train #56 ‘Vermonter’ To White River Junction Vt. 3/22/2018)

Imperfection...
  —the DNA within every art form

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2018)

We have nothing to agree about,
  there is no common ground

You clinging hard to all excuse
  and me to reasons found

Thirty-five years and nothing’s changed,
   as you relive the past

Our blood runs thin, our names the same,
  you feast on what I fast
  
With history gone, there’s nothing shared
  except to disagree

You hanging on to a dying past,
  me, dying to be free

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

Can prayer overcome
  karma

Can wishes rise above
  fate

Can memory displace
  what vision instills

Can love pass beyond
  —without hate

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2018)

Will anything serve to lessen,
  the ache your heart now feels

Will providence bring a blessing,
  if before the throne you kneel

Will the pain be slave or master,
  can the church bells ring once more

Will your pulse beat ever faster,
—if your faith provides the cure

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)

Late September holds onto the summer,
  like that promise you made,
  —you can never forget

Late September holds onto the summer,
  as shadows fall distant
   —and memory regrets

(Train: Amherst Massachusetts- September, 2013)

Poetry a journey…
  each word a life’s misstep

When placing them together,
  one voice to bind and set

Its map within a puzzle,
  to point beyond the wind

A road that’s never ending,
—all travelers within

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

The soul is not
  by nature born

Or by the earth
  breastfed

It kneels before
  loves distant star

Whose light
  —its promise wed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)

When your mind is free,
—how can you trap it with alternatives

Strafford Pennsylvania: September 1976

The intrinsic beauty
  of the present moment

Exploding our consciousness
  rewriting the hymn

Outracing the words
  to an epiphany of reflection

Outpacing all time
  —absolution within

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Your heart says yes, your mind says no,
  eternity bi-polar

A time to ****, a time to love,
—each dance best danced alone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

The world pushes left
  the world pushes right

The middle ground deadly
  a trappers delight

Pigeons take refuge
  as hawks rule the skies

Hunting all charlatans
  —truth in their eyes

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)

The breastfed future
  stripped motherlode

The past untethered
  —back on the road

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

There’s a wildness to a city
  that wilderness doesn’t have

In closeness—an isolation
  as tenants stalk their paths

The repetition of wanton avarice
  pits dog and dog upon dog

The knife edge of the skyscrapers
  cutting the residents into cogs

There’s a fierceness to the streets
  the rockiest trail can never match

A menace looms inside their shadows
  impossible to catch

Hidden death within the gridlock
  as nature disappears

A violence calling from within
—only city dwellers hear

(Train To White River Junction: March, 2018)

Rewired, and now poetic,
  my words light up the night

And cast the darkness back to hell,
—the demon out of sight

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Sleeping with Laura
  and not making love

Lost in her aura
  and thoughts from above

Sleeping with Laura
  all vanity chaste

A feeling impregnates
  —the blame heaven laced

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)