Soon

Soon

It does not matter
What you have done.
I do not care
Where you have been.

Those things you imagine

Concern me
Do not.

None of that matters.

Sit with me.

Soon

The setting sun
Will flame the horizon
In exultant light.

Soon

A yellow moon
Will fill the night
With a soft glow.

Soon

We will find redemption
In the arms of the earth
And the embrace of tides.

Soon

All of creation will fill the night
With song.

What possible concern

Could whelm the scales
In dimensions
As grand as these?

Step. Drag. Step.

There had been no sun
The day long.
Dense storm clouds
Dominated.

Minutes before full dark
An old man
Trudged
The broken sidewalk
Before stores bright
In neon signs
And florescent lights.

He tottered along

Leaning upon his drugstore cane.
His image reflected
Upside down on the wet sidewalk
Rainbowed in neon beer
And lottery jackpot signs.  

He did not pause

To glance into shop windows.
Head into chest
Ragged hat tugged low
Jacket shrugged tightly
Around his frail form
He continued his path
In faltering tread.                                                                                                                                              .
He took one step.
Dragged the aluminum cane.
Took another.
Step. Drag. Step.

Nobody knew
About the Bronze Star
And Purple Heart
Tucked into the bottom
Of his sock drawer
In his one bedroom apartment.
Nobody would care.

Security cameras monitored

His slow progress
From several posts
Along his way.
But no one was watching
The old man.

The rain grew stronger.
The old man grew weaker.
Turning the corner at the light
He was swallowed in the gloom
Like he never existed.

But nobody cared.

 

 

Amazing Brew

I sit at my window
Cup of coffee in hand
Watching raindrops
Pelt sidewalks and street.

Coffee is magic.
It can transition the bleakest
Morning
Into one of possibility.

The brew flows into my body

On a mission.

Tiny caffeinated messengers

Fortifying
Flesh and spirit.

Coffee is faithful

When women are not
Is strong
When I am not
Is present
When friends are not

Is hot

When I am cold.

Let it rain the whole day.
Let the skies lower and fall.

I will make another pot.

Stand and See

Three minutes.

That’s all the time there is
For light like this.

Sunset rays

Filtering diagonally
Through cloud layers
And dense atmosphere
Light early springs’
Unplowed fields
With gold
Poured molten
From the surface of the sun.

Fence lines

Wrapping acres of dormant land
Gleam pristine
Against those astonishing rays.

Rusted tin roofs

And deep amber barn wood

Fire the edges of land

Before the tree line.

Three minutes.

Even now the light fades.

Quick.
Do not blink
Neither breathe.

Stand still.

Engrave this
Forever
In memory.

Moments like this

Rarely come
And you must
Stand and see.

Three minutes.

That’s all you have.

Silently

Comets and meteors
Stitch the heavens
In light.
Salted throughout the cosmos
Suns blaze brilliantly
Pinwheel galaxies
And expanding nebulas
Charm beholding eyes.

Silently.

A new mother

Gazes
At her sleeping child
Through eyes
Of amazed love.

Silently.

The morning dawns

In eastern skies

Slowly creeping
Beyond boundless seas
Rising above blue ridged mountains
Filtering through standing stalks
Of corn, wheat and barley.
Light splashes against
Steeples and stores
Cottages and mansions
Terraces and studios
Factories and farms.
It lusters and radiates.

Silently.

Clouds gather

Glowing incandescently
In reflection
Of the solar flare.
Tonight
Northern lights
Will shimmer and dance
In heavenly hues.

Silently.

My hand will find hers.

Our lips will meet
Our eyes connect
As we communicate
The litany of love.

Silently.

Every created thing will

Spin and soar
Blaze and flash
Ripple and frolic
Breathe and exhale
So softly.

Silently.

 

 

Fresh Water Ports

Fresh Water Ports 

Leaning upon a rail

At the harbor

I gazed intently

Along the waterline

Of the old wooded-hulled

Sloop

Imagining all the ports she'd visited

The gales she'd weathered

And the salty surfs she'd plied.

Yet

For all her miles and years

Here she sat

Swaying softly

At her fresh water pier

No more to wander the seas

With cargoes of spices and tea.

Her ancient hull creaked

Like the bones

Of an old woman

Complaining at the most mild task.

Her furled canvas

No more to catch the seas' breeze

Was lashed to her rigging

Like the pales tresses

Of an old woman

Bound and bunned

No longer the mystery

Twinned in the eager hands

Of lovers.

Along the stern

Her name flourished

In gilt
Proudly etched
Given in majesty
And burned into the brains
Of every crew who served her
Like the Victorian name
Of an old woman
No longer bestowed to new daughters
Registered in yellowed
And fragile pages
Of maritime memory.

Old women

And aged sloops
Brittle bones
And teak decks
Wrinkled faces
And wrapped sails
Gather in mystery and memory
In a wonder
Both singular and sensuous
Swaying softly together
In fresh water ports.

Predator

The quail lay quietly
In the tall grasses
Knowing death patiently waited.

I intended to flush them out

Before the muzzle
Of my gun.

But, in the reeds

Stalked a more patient predator
Meaning to roust me.

And, I wonder

If I spare the quail
Will the predator spare me?

My Dreams

My dreams
Have bones
Muscle and sinew.
They cover in flesh
Yet are pale
Bloodless
Lifeless.

My dreams

Haunt the minutes

And hours

Of my days

Begging life.

My dreams

Gasp for breath
And choke
Knowing
They must remain
In the dark
Silently sleeping.

 

Night Hooves

My eyes gaze
Into utter gloom
Fixed upon midnight.

My senses condense

Into the singularity
Of sound.

Distant

Yet approaching

Thunder night hooves.

What steed must thrust

From withers such as these!

A pale horse comes

Treading thermals
Pounding stone
Flashing rivers
Vexed neither
By mountain nor prairie
Closing miles as inches.

Coming as fever.

Coming as storms.
Coming as dissolution.

Coming for me.

Blade

Slowly
She brought my palm
To her lips.

Her thin breath

Warmed my skin.

Her warm exhalation

Coursed chills down my spine
Pooling molten in my loins

Slowly

Deliberately
She traced the tip of her tongue
Along what she said
Was my
Lifeline.

There

She said.
Now, you will live forever.

I had no answer.

My breath caught in my throat.

No words formed in my mouth.
My vision narrowed and dulled.
No manly response effused my body.

For all her assurance of long life

She slew me
With no blade nearly as edged
As her maiden tongue.