Back - Previously Published

Back

 

 

I would need to use

Every dictionary word

To catch you up on everything

You missed with me;

I would need to create

A brand new language,

Teach you all the phrases

So you would know

What you missed with us;

It would take volumes

And countless chapters

To fill the book,

Longer than an encyclopedia;

All the sunsets, hugs,

Tears and smiles

We missed together;

So many years passed away

Spent apart – afar,

Would-have-been memories,

Holidays and every days

Gone and lost;

There’s not enough words

To write or speak

So that you know

I’m glad you’re back;

Too few happy songs,

Lopsided grins and loving gazes

That I can give

To make up for

All we left behind;

I’m glad you’re back

Asking - Previously Published

Asking

 

 

If I could spend my days with you

 

            Folded into your warmth and gentleness

 

If I could keep the candle from burning to the bottom

 

            And wile away my dreams with you

 

If I could keep the clock from passing time

 

            Just to stay gathered up in your arms

 

If I could cry away my hurts and always

 

            Have you there to wipe away my tears

 

If you could love me just enough

 

            To keep the embers bright

 

I’d ask for nothing more

 

            To make my life complete

 

Ticking Clock - Previously Published

Ticking Clock

 

The ticking clock

Knows not the seasons

Nor holidays

Does not know the difference

Between January and July

Its ticking hands do not know

Cannot follow

A backward path

Can only strum away

The hours and the days

Into months and years

Minute by sixty second minute

The ticking clock

In its everlasting onwardness

Never hears the silence

Nor overhead thunder

Never understands the desire

To stop and seize the moment

Does not pause to remember

Where it’s been

What it’s seen

What it means

Just leaves it all behind

Like dust kicked up

Behind a rusty pickup truck

On a rutted country road

Never minding where it settles

What it may obscure

Leaving a film of grey white

Across the memories of once ago

That relentless ticking clock

Just moves forward

Taking you and I with it

Summer To Autumn - Previously Published

Summer to Autumn

 

 

The days grow longer

Shadows stretch wider

The sun shines brighter

While the water warms

And seagulls flock

Competing with pelicans

Children grow weary

Of yellow buses

And textbooks

Dog days loom

Amid heat washed asphalt

Puffy clouds surround

Rainbows after an afternoon downpour

I marvel at the simplicity

Of a summer day

Water touching sky

Shoreline hugging sandy earth

Blue against blue against beige

Royal purple pansies

Surround gardens of daffodils

Ball games in parks

Hot dogs on grills

Fresh mown lawns

Open air concerts

Yield to shorter days

And darker shadows

A chill seizes the air

Greens turn to browns

Golden leaves tumble free

Blown asunder by autumn’s

Wild and uninhibited

Sprightly dance

Children with backpacks

Shiny noses and unworn shoes

Set off on learning journeys

So I marvel at the simplicity

Of an autumn day

Shifting Sands - Previously Published

Shifting Sands

                              

 

 

I spent my time

Building something

That could not be built

On crumbly silt

And so it collapsed

Fell in upon itself;

I trusted and wanted

I tried and failed

Yet persisted in the dream

Because I believed

Yet did not know

Of shifting sands

Beneath my feet

 

And still I toiled and hungered

With determination

Fearless resolution

Faithful in my yearnings

That you and I could share

A loving future built

Upon a platform

Of reinforced concrete steel

 

So I’ll re-spend my time

Constructing newness

That will sustain us

Keep us afloat, not adrift

To shelter and protect us

From falling and sinking

Into a misty wash,

Keeping the desires

Sunshine fresh and growing

Because we know

Those shifting sands

Beneath our feet

Will change to solid rock

Seeing You In July - Previously Published

Seeing You in July

 

 

My once empty days

Have been filled with your love;

The ocean of your eyes

Pulls me deep into your soul;

Your soothing touch

And easy smile

Makes my heart melt

Like orange coated dreamsicles

On a yellow July day;

A window reflects prisms of light

Where no shadows disturb the newness

And as far as my vision can take me

You are all that I can see

New Day - Previously Published

New Day

 

 

 

The placid green water

Exudes a stifling calm

The stillness of the surrounding air

Envelops the early morning

Changing from charcoal darkness

To petal pink dawn

Overhead a growling Cessna

Pierces the daybreak tranquility

Rousting tropical birds

From their languid havens

To caw and screech in protest

A distant barking dog

Joins the newly created

Morning din

As a slow motoring

Fishing boat

Gently slices through

The once serene water

Spreading tiny wave patterns

Just enough to sway

The tethered pleasure boats

Along the planked pier

The scent of dewy magnolias

Vies for control

Over wafting plumes of hot java

A softly ticking mantle clock

Urges necessity

A background reminder

That a new day

Is underway

For Every Season - Previously Published

For Every Season

 

 

Take my hand

And sing with me

In butterfly meadows

Quiet pleasures

Of a springtime morn

 

 

Take my hand

And walk with me

Share the sights

Simple pleasures

Of a summer day

 

 

Take my hand

And dance with me

Under starlight

Easy pleasures

On an autumn eve

 

 

Take my hand

And love with me

All our days

Endless pleasures

Through winter’s frost

 

 

Afternoon - Previously Published

Afternoon

 

A cloud armada slowly drifts

Into the summer afternoon;

A plague against the surrounding blue

Ready to release its pelting ammo;

Their steely shadows darken

The agitated water below;

Their billowy muscles never veer

In the steadily rising wind;

Smoothly they advance

Spreading their grimy tentacles

Slowly expanding their brawn

Into a massive layer of murk

As sun-filtered shadows

Vanish into the every darkening light;

By the dozens they slam

Against a sizzling July asphalt

Urging tendrils of pale steamy fog upward,

The raindrops swell into hundreds of thousands

Blending into a shiny wet sheet

Streaking and smearing the once

Clean and unblurred windows

Now a water cacophony,

Its thunderous growling, heavenly rumblings and

Stabbing jagged lightning bursts

Are the stormy foot soldiers;

The army ravages onward

Oblivious to its left-behind puddles and

Wind blown detritus

As it pulls aside the filmy grey curtain

To reveal a gleaming cerulean sky

In perfect shimmering newness