The roads not taken
And the roads we missed
The turns mistaken
That led us to persist

The happiness remembered
With each passing day
The memories dismembered
Trying to find the way

And longing for the past
Reveals the dusty road
That once had been and we thought would ever last
But time, it seems, became too heavy a load

And the empty days that still go on
The loneliness that weighs so heavily
Can’t bring back the days now gone
Nor answer my tearful plea

The years ahead look empty now
With no roads to travel and nothing to see
The finite seconds that disallow
And only love lasts ‘til eternity

I trace the hours
Then the minutes
Waiting seems forever
Golden seconds
Moving softly
Like your breath
From far away
Soon my Darling
Home together
Never more away
Loving heartbeats
Clocks chiming
Measuring the miles
That never should have been
From the moment
Joined together
Eternity now alive
Sharing love and caring
Now that fate has set the day
Forever remember
Our love has found
A joyous entry
In the book of forever more
Happy ending
‘Round the corner
Love and hope in store
Love forever
Safe and warm now
Home, let’s close the door
On turmoil and strife
Tomorrow in the past
Husband and Wife
One true love
To fill our lives
‘Til eternity and a day
Holding fast
The hours will pass
Fate has set the day

10/22/18

The yellow light of dawn
Burning through the trees
Awakening the day

The crooked tree stands alone
Reaching for the sun
Half remembered, half forgotten
Lonely in its isolation
With
Limbs extending in a-symmetry
Branches growing
Where no branches should grow
Twisted upward toward the light
Yet
Darkness shrouding the branches within
Struggling for a place
No one knowing, no one caring
The crooked tree remains

The river of time
Flows through the essence
Of human existence
Forging canyons in the soul

Following a path
Of its own creation
Leaving silt in its wake
Stones along the shore

Rapids interrupt
Its meandering migration
As the current overtakes
Rocks scattered in the bed

Casting spray on daydreams
Leaving empty holes
Where the future
Would have been

The river holds the mem’ries
Of sailors long since gone
Waiting for new entries
Dragged against their will

Shadows from the trees
Quiver in the wind
Darkening the river’s path
Where sunshine should have been

Shallow pools created
As the river branches off
An oasis holding time
That the current ignored

Skipping stones on the surface
Thrown by people on the shore
Setting off vibrations
Concentric circles spreading out

Fastening forever
As the ripples disappear
Time alone remembers
The river that flows along

Leaving empty caverns
Cut in solid stone
That once had happy endings
Before the ebb and flow

Sometimes I feel like I live
On the precipice of sanity
A sense of urgency
That drives me forward
Tingling within my body
Like an electric current
Watching the clock
Breathlessly pacing
Without moving
Needing to go
Without going anywhere
Like a pressure cooker
About to burst
A volcano
About to erupt
An earthquake
Grating tectonic plates
My body a maelstrom
My blood a whirling vortex
Like a whirlpool of water
At the edge of a waterfall
And yet I go on
Mindful and waiting for the day
I cross the precipice of sanity

The leaves are starting to turn
Fall has finally come
Glory days are here

Yellow, orange and red
Mother Nature’s palette
Perfect days for walking
Holding hand as lovers

Shadows of the summer
Refreshed by sweet October
Cooler days and nights
Offering the chance
To forget unhappy mem’ries
Like crushed leaves on the ground
The bright rejuvenation
And colors on the trees

First awakenings
Stirring the soul
Innocence turned tangible
In a mixture of hope
Opening windows
And letting the cool breeze
Drift across the horizon
Up toward clouds
That billow like cotton candy
Pink and white spun sugar
Held together by an adhesive
That can’t be bought
Can’t be found on any shelf
In any store
That can only find itself
And merge like hydrogen and oxygen
Becoming a new entity
Inseparable
To quench the soul

The world goes forward
For better or worse
Time travels at the speed of light
Toward its own destiny
Artists toil under the canopy
   of forgotten memories
In the age of technology
Does anyone care
We surround ourselves
In a glass bubble
   of our own making
Shielding the sun’s rays
   from reality
While bending them into conformity
The bubble bursts
And time is thrown into the vortex
Screaming for surrender
A temper-tantrum of fate
Grasping at straws
Yet knowing no relief
Forever the moment
Held in a wine glass
   of shimmering incandescence
As the world goes forward
Without relief

3/25/19

www.brucelevine.com

The first snow
Early this year
The middle of November
Wiping away years
Of deprivation
Awakening the senses
Of cold refreshing renewal
As frozen water
Sprinkles down and
Melts against my face and clothes
Tiny sculptures
Crafted by nature
To enlighten the soul
A shower of fluff
A curtain of a
New reality
Carrying me away
As it coats the ground
With whiteness
And yet it engulfs me
Like a blanket
Of quiet and stillness
That only snow can bring
Settling my spirit
In a new state of repose
And a grandeur of
Quietude
Thank you snow

Limitless hyperbole
Opens doorways in the mind
That questions intention
By the truly inquisitive

Revolving platitudes
Offer expressions of grandeur
Yet little more than filigree
On Rococo picture frames

The oxymoron of destiny
Falls on empty minds
With passages long forgotten
By the narcissist’s quatrain

5/10/19

The sun is just burning off
The morning mist as it
Pierces the leaves of the trees
Casting a wakening glow
On the landscape
Bringing warmth to the day
And to the hearts of lovers
After the cool and restful night

The day has begun
The smells of coffee
And breakfast permeates
The air as life is
Renewed

Joyous surroundings
Fill the souls as the sun
Fills the sky
Lighting the way
To work and to play
And love engulfs
The lovers who
Bask in the glow
Of the sun
And their love

http://www.leaves-of-ink.com/2019/03/the-sun.html

www.brucelevine.com

These last few days
Until you are here
Happiness building
Anxiousness unending
Counting the minutes
Until you are home

Together by fate
United by destiny
Brought together by loved ones
A joyous reunion of
Two hearts and souls

Past lives remembered
In passion now kindled
A flame not extinguished
By time, space or years

Together forever
Eternity unending
As long as the universe
Is large no more fears

The decades will follow
Our love like a story
A fairy tale ending
A Princess in white

With miles yet to go now
And still time between us
We muddle through minutes
Until time awakened
And passion revealed

And moments forsaken
That kept us apart
Now and forever
Together one heart

These last days forgotten
Our true love remembered
And time standing still
As rivers do flow

Through mountains and valleys
With rainbows to guide us
Our destiny clear now
Our love-knot unbroken

These last days of waiting
Will soon disappear
To carry you over
The threshold of mem’ries
Soon be created
Our scrapbook of life

So now and forever
Remember the moments
That brought us together
A life-long repast

A triumph of fate now
Eternity has spoken
And ever forever
Our love-light will last

There’s a storm coming
Flood warnings already posted
But the sky remains clear blue
And the clouds cotton white
Blowing across the horizon
At an ever increasing pace
And the breeze
Strong enough to bow the trees

But it’s still not threatening
Still cool and refreshing
The storm is still
Far enough away
To assuage anticipation

But it’s coming
You can almost
Smell it in the air
Soon it will be time to
Close all the windows
And wait for it to pass

Nothing more to do
Nothing more to be said
Nothing but to watch and wait
And enjoy the time
Before the storm that’s coming