Master of the Obvious...#83

"Goodbye" is always prologue to "Hello."

 Master of the Obvious...#82

No matter how beautiful was yesterday, any effort to return to it is just going backward.

Listen to Me

You think you know me
so you shame me into 
being the man

you hope me to become.

You must listen to me
if I may prevail with you
and I pray you'll hear

when I say
you do not know the man 

I truly am.

I am a cloud walker 

and a storm talker.
I walk rutted paths.
I throw myself at mysteries

and sleep in histories.

I am sure of myself

and befuddled.

I know the winding way

and am lost.

You cannot know who I truly am.

I talk in dulcet tones 

And I leave behind
those who shout so loud 
they cannot be heard.

You cannot really know me.

 Master of the Obvious ...#81

Hold onto everything but wisdom lightly.

 Master of the Obvious...#80

As breath is to lungs so is controversy to the wicked.

 Master of the Obvious...#79

Loving a faithless woman is like chopping wood with blistered hands.

 Master of the Obvious...#78

Teaching a fool is like filling an ocean with a spoon. 

Master of the Obvious.....#77

Honor and dignity are always friends.

Desperation

there ain't nothin' here
that's holdin' me.
i could get home anytime
that i wanna be.

i'm tryin' to hold on
for as long as i can.
it means nothin' to you
but i'm makin' my stand.

i just thought you should know.
you've been a friend to me.
but don't hold me too close
i feel so empty.

i'm confused and tired
and a little bit drunk.
like i'm bailin' out a boat
that's already sunk.

so, if you could see your way clear
please let me go.
i've said all there's to say
and you know all you can know.

 Rachel

Your distant black eyes

Gaze at me

Across a century and a half

Disturbing as cannon balls.

They are twin challenges.

Dares.

Orbs of pain

Disappointment and insult.

 

But something more.

Nearly indeterminant.

Yet, it is there

As sure as your furled flag

And your forlorn hope.

 

It calls to me

As though time is the instrument

Of connection.

 

And I see you.

Your raven tresses

Like Spanish Moss

Swept back

Severe

Your part centered and as sharp

As the blade of a sword.

Where there is hurt

There once was happy.

Cinders curl in smoke

Where once was pride.

 

Was the body of a lover

Moldering in a broken

And bruised field?

Was the promise of tomorrow

Interred with bleached bones

And grapeshot?

Was your splendid home

Reduced to char

'Midst the rape of your hallowed soil?

 

Your name is lost to me

But I call you Rachel…

A name of unrequited loss

And unapprehended joy.

The children you may have had

Never knew the warmth of your womb

Or the suckle of your breast.

Your prince never knew the heat

Of your midnight embrace.

The anticipated pleasure

Of sunset of years

Were beyond your grasp.

You have followed me

Since first I saw you

As surely as an army traces

The lay of the land.

You camp nightly

Beyond the ridge of detachment

Your tents lit by the fires

Of ethereal need.

I am not a haunted man.

I never believed in spirits

Until you gazed at me

Across the chasm of melted years.