Artificial Sweetener

Sometimes it’s hard to say what’s worse

The illness or the cure

Of symptoms which alert us

That an ailment has incurred

Are feelings of self-loathing worse

Than blind self-serving pride?

Is not remorse and change better

Than secret sins we hide?

Can we take a pill

That will absolve us of all wrong?

Will intoxication clean the slate

Or mind for long?

Is conscience best anesthetized

Through vanity and lies

Which make us soul dependent

And addicted to vice twice?

Then how can we presume to lift

Our self-esteem with things

Which possess no intrinsic link

To life, or soul, or being?

Though many status symbols

Seek to boost up shallow egos

True bitterness of soul

Cannot be sweetened by placebos

The Army

The sage resolved to speak the truth

Regardless of acceptance

When all was said and done it seemed

That he appeared quite friendless

But others didn’t see the souls

That gathered in his mind

The Great Ones he communed with

Who transcended space and time

Who gathered as a looming storm

That brooded in his eyes

Which seared through all pretension

As and army unified

Contrafugue

(Genesis/Requiem)

Breathless

Panting

Moans from deep inside

Life and death eclipsed collide

Blood and water

Flesh is ripping

Drop by drop

The grip is slipping

Faces pale a ghostly white

Lines of pain relax to pliant

Struggling to lift her eyes

Now the child breaks the silence

Screaming with the breath of life

With a sigh she smiles and dies

As welling tears at last escape her eyes

Shadows

Dancing

Lamps are lit inside

Voices chant in rune delight

Ancient lips recite the passage

Fires roar and flicker bright

Cracking coals and glowing ashes

Rushing winds and flowing sashes

Choirs clash against the night

Voice of oceans, seven seasons

Amen seized the keys and kingdoms

Earthen vessels filled with eyes

Spirits rise in cloven tongues of light

Everlasting

Armies clothed in white

In the east a light ignites

Trumpets blare and shake the nations

Sounding every dispensation

Clothed in red, blood-bright as wine

Vials pour, the seal is broken

Books, and eyes, and graves are opened

Flesh and spirit reunite

Saints that died in tribulation

Blast the tide of death, awaken

From the dust assemble live

As thy tombs are now forsaken

Reacquaint with fellows taken

Ancestors embrace their line

Mother, child in sealed relation

Rear their lost in grand equation

In the twinkling of an eye

We are changed from life to life

Alpha and Omega spake then,

“It is done, a new creation”

Love over the pain rewrite

Wiping every tear from every eye

Filling Daddy's Shoe: Inspired by real events of my sweet daughter who used to bring me my shoe when she was a toddler.

Filling Daddy’s Shoes

My daddy has big shoes

I like to bring them to him

He has all kinds to choose

Slippers

Flip-fops

Sneakers

Boots

High-top

Loafers

Wingtips too

One day I went to the closet

To get him a pair of his shoes

I walked all around the house looking for him

But couldn’t find him--not a clue

I looked in the living room, where we watch TV

But daddy wasn’t there

I looked in his office, where he let’s me sit

And draw by his desk there upstairs

I looked in the bedroom, where he tucks me in

But still he wasn’t there

I looked in the kitchen, where he cooks me food

And also outside where he barbecued

I looked in the bathroom, where he brushes my hair

But daddy wasn’t there

I looked in the playroom, where I dress him up

Put bows in his hair, and put on make-up

Play barbies, and games, and read books to spare

But daddy wasn’t there

Where did he go?

I didn’t know

My mom said that he left on business

But he would be back in a couple days

And bring back a toy on my wish list

But still his big shoes were empty

I tried them on

But they were too big

I put them on sisters

But they didn’t fit

I even got mom to try them on a whim

Still loose, but the style was tempting

I was sad

I missed my dad

When he came home

I was so glad

I ran to him and brought his shoes

A dad you do not want to lose

Moms are great and sisters too

I’m grateful for the things they do

I love them all, and always will

Still daddy’s shoes are hard to fill

The Inner Light

The lights went out

As I looked at

Myself inside the mirror

And yet awareness of myself

It did not disappear

'Twas then I saw the inner light 

That shined ever so clear

Which held my true reflection 

And wherein soul did appear

Circles

Light is far reaching

Life is receiving

Love is opening reasons 

And forwarding

Time is far reaching

Light is receiving

Life is opening reasons 

And forwarding

Love is far reaching

Time is receiving

Light is opening reasons 

And forwarding

Life is far reaching

Love is receiving

Time is opening reasons 

And forwarding

    Light. . .

Reflections in Solstice

In the aftermath

A sigh of calm

Toys abandoned round the tree

“That’s curious!?”

Tangled bows and ribbons

Wadded present’s foil wrap

Once held imagination 

Now destine for the trash

“Isn’t that ironic?”

First shards of sun sends rainbows 

Shimmering through prisms of frosted glass

Evaporating at the sweeping touch

Of east light 

Pulling focus

“Ahhh!”

December strikes her brush

Across the canvas

A landscape draped in winter lace

Earth’s table set for the season

My speechless pause a prayer of awe

A vision to embrace

The giggles and screams of bundled children

Chime first through solstice silence 

Like gentle coo of morning doves

They bid the dawn that rises

“So that explains their exodus.”

Yule snows float like priceless diamonds 

Kissing cheeks and chins 

Till one flake falls on each small tongue

A ritual of seasonal communion

“Hmmm, and what’s this?”

Across the street

The excuse of mistletoe 

Garlands the doorway into shy hearts

Smiling faces flush

Cold nose tips touch

A weightless breath upon soft lips 

Gently forming to their hope

Melts into the thirst of a first kiss 

Longing for more

“Now where did they go?”

The youngest’s head peeps out

Then quickly dips below the drift

Like chimney smoke 

Their billowed breath 

Ties silken cords to heaven

Lying on their backs

Eyes to the sky

They part the silver nap

Impressions left to mirror the soul

Their horizontal jumping jacks

Form angel’s imprints on the snow

While here inside, the warming fire 

Now draws my gaze entranced

In casts of gold and crimson hue

Its colors dance impromptu

As flames incant my whispered vows 

And trumpet up the flue

Soft music in Noels 

Float on the atmosphere 

Bright candles burn with cinnamon

‘Mid scent of evergreen 

Each harmonize and mingle

With aromas of the feast

The tree light constellations shine

My life would set its bearing by 

Glass ornaments mirror the Christmas scene 

As frozen into mind

Capturing each moment 

Into fixed bubbles of time

A snow ball hits the window--Bang!

I start, I turn, and tap the pane

They rise and wave their flag of truce

In brightly colored mittens

I fog the glass

Our smiles exchange

My finger squeaks to write the same

I LOVE YOU!

A brief acknowledgment

Then back to play 

Like rhythm in a rhyme

Oblivious to their audience 

As I have been to mine

On my shoulder I feel her hand 

Sealing the connection

No need to turn

No thought to shift

Our eyes meet in reflection

No comments

No words

We simply take it in

Suspended in her soft perfume

I turn and levitate

Inside her eyes my star is raised

That guides in wisdom to this place

“Merry Christmas, Honey.” 

Across the tongue my heart echoes 

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”

Temps

Their was an old librarian

Who wrote the Tao Teh Ching

A Prince who left his palace

To achieve enlightened being

An obscure patent clerk

Who coined E=MC2

A seamstress, who refused 

To take a back seat, justice dared

Of all the work we have to do

There is an endless surplus

Vocation cannot limit soul 

It serves a higher purpose

A job cannot define our worth

Consider one sublime

The poor son of a carpenter 

By whom we reckon time