more you

it wasn't the beauty of your eyes
no longer blue with tears
larger, clearer
that disarmed me
it was the look that seemed to crinkle with love
wider, deeper
more azure
more assured
more you

the end of fear

evil forces are at work
beyond all control
good does not surface
from silence at all
having a certain belief
if not certain or full
doesn't hurt a faith
in all things beautiful
while time often heals
it definitely kills
little pieces of hearts
can lose their wills
don't listen to voices
that say what is wrong
it's what has to be
what makes us strong
when all's said and done
and the dust settles down
we'll be laughing we two
like two little clowns
so here's to you
and a parting cheer
l'chaim to life
and to the end of fear

when we least expect it

spinning out from the night cocoon
daylight may reveal ominous shadows
life's quest is to find love
even in the darkest places

when we're sinking as we will
we find strength in mindfulness
fixed on that bridge to safety
supported on those banks of truth

we will soften and weaken at a cost
but not at all what we think
life is a process that is preparing us
to find beauty, when we least expect it

nikon

pupils darken
pretty girls pass
eyes follow
trails linger
swaying sights
built for irises
wide-eyed angles
adjust aperture
f: stop, please stop
retina ready
view/click
negative/positive
imprint

sirius circus

in the night sky
a sirius circus
of celestial stars shining
through holes in the big top
as if tossed by a white gloved hand
and juggled by a clown in tails
while the bespangled ringmaster
signals the dancing bears and lions
to join in the parade of light
in march to milanollo

bird island

bird island looms
the surrounding sea bubbles and dances
salt spray spits unceremoniously
merging with continuous grey cloud
light drizzle limewashes the colonized cliff
a busy yet tranquil sanctuary appears
cape breton cormorant and playful hometown puffin
a gentle prodding of sweet mother's wing
speeds away a precocious prodigal son
hardening, honing, homing.
an american golden eagle sharpons its viselike talons
...its beauty unfathomable, its danger immeasurable...
on the rocky precipice of row condos.
valiant patriot guards practise their death spirals
their will impenetrable and noble
as the cold grey atlantic relents
and languishes in the heat of the summer
unaware of time, place, and circumstance
and the urgency of the moment

rings around the moon

rings around the moon
warnings of storms on the horizon
warnings of impenetrable dreams
and the vulnerability of the heart...
it seems
with a harvest moon so bountiful
that all i want to do is caress the night
and feel its omnipresence
like the beauty of a morning glory
glistening with dew,
but all i can do is feel the sting
of words so juxtaposed
and smell the singeing
of untold truths
burning like a searing zeppelin...
forgive me if i'm maudlin
it's the moon
the wanderlust unindulged
it's the happenstance of fate
ringing the moon.

lunar traces

i don't know exactly what to say...
i want to write with precision,
exquisitely,
but then i'd overreach
and miss your heart.
so i'll try with my usual clumsiness
like some fool dancing with two left feet
knowing i could circle the moon forever
and not find any better words to say
i love you,
then i'd go and spoil it all again
with moonbeams and other lunar traces.

we hold on

we hold on, so beautifully
the air sweet soft and clear
in golden fields we peer into eternity
the sun caught in angular mirrors
life strives to a silent singer
resonant and gallantly fair
hands reach out for each other
though singed by fires of despair
lovers embrace and rediscover
like heroes back from the war
hold tight that promise of wonder
and of time, sweet time, to explore

lush green sea

the green sea glistened in the rapture of a diamond sun
peridot shimmered upon the surface like crown jewels
the darkest forest was replete with emerald lichen
and my soaring heart was golden as a fool's
for i had tasted the day in a richly ravenous way
held close the sweet sweet night in soft embrace
i had been to the summit where the ospreys play
dared to plummet for my food's delicious taste
these happiest of days are now sodered and adorned
with sterling stars framing love lust mythically
i race my heart out over canyons in the moon's forlon
and breathless surface like blue fin whale in lush green sea.

orion

i'll sleep now
there's nothing more to do
i've faced glory and defeat
and gained from both
i'll listen to the music of the stars
and feel a glitter all my own,
and if i should go to orion
to leave my earthly world to another morn
then at least
i know i have soared through the night
and touched all i can feel
like being wrapped in moonglow
and fantasy and shining wonder
believing in tomorrow's different hue...
without dreams
the force of life
is weighty.

lovers

in the sanctum
of the long grass
wordless moans
seep through lips
like nectar sucked
by parched bees
long from the hive

serene and free
laying entwined
with stars prancing
to a cosmic trot
momentarily
the moon's a puppet
strung by fingers
still wet with honey

summers me

you're like a summer breeze on the winter of life
if even for a tender moment
i can smell the sweet lilacs through your hair
and hear the soothing sound of the swallows
feel the warm embrace of a weeping willow
and the beckoning of the beauty of nature's breasts
and then you leave me
floating away on the wind that brought you here
like a single snowflake returned to winter's chill
rendering my fleeting dream frozen in time
until once again your soft caress summers me

spin

a tiny spin
of this earth eats the sun
offers oranges to the famished night
brings wines to the parched sky
twilights lovers in soft silhouette
alters wayward horizons
sends artists on a capture...
as if the earth had stopped
for just one beautiful moment...
then begins again
as you fall in love

as you are

as you are, you
are you, no one else
comes to me
as you are
no more, no less
just as you are, you
are you

i've been watching you

i've been watching you
mesmerized
by your movements
around my heart
patterned on
the earth's ellipsis
in symmetry
like the trickle
of a mountain stream
cycling over me

dark and light

so here it is again
the darkness that follows me
like a shadow
and pounces like a cat
in the night
when i am most vulnerable.
and yet often
in the memory of your afterglow
i can still feel the warmth.
you, inspiration of all things wonderful
you, source of all strength,
just when i feel my grip
weaken at the beast's throat
just before i face like a gallows
the bed of ultimate dark
(where i keep your picture hidden
under the pillow-down of your thighs)
just when i feel the surrender
to the bloodlust of feline claws,
a ray of your being
carries me
on a beam of dreams
on a pulse of smiles
away.

the affair

encounters on rooftops, secrets and staircases
desirous, uncomfortable, anxious
the need for pleasure once supreme
the painful loss of goodbye unbearable
pleasure and pain are always so serious
and that afternoon of unspeakable silence
when the truth was we never really cared enough
now any details are too fragmented
beginning stories and falling silent
knowing the right words may not be enough
doomed to a lifetime in the shadows
stop waiting for me by the window

summer reflection

the mirrored lake
a double vision
impermeable, incomplete
like beauty
universally misunderstood
and below, the fathomless dark.
is beauty the lake
its reflection
or beyond that illusionary surface
among the shapes i dare not look
in the shadows
like the one we made
with me holding you,
but holding back.
how else to describe
love and fear
and the resignation
that only one
will be my fate,
without the completing beauty.

the agony

the agony
from the moment lovers separate
feeling each will become someone else
knowing it's the last time they will hold each other
and never to remember exactly how it felt...
how absurd this world becomes when,
by some odd or even fate,
there are those
who ride away on white ponies with flowers in their hair
and those
who must fly with undeveloped wings and curse the wind.