In word and deed
I swore my fealty,
took the knee
and wore the ring.
And yet it
stopped not
your cruelty
to me
and everything
I held to be true
of love and loyalty,
valor and fidelity.
And so I withdrew
when love’s pale pallor
found no reciprocity.
I went inward indeed,
and have emerged as
something more,
just less
the burden of you.
No need
to carry on
the carrion
of love.
I will survive no longer
I will live
I will surrender no longer
I will fight
I will suffer no longer
I will be content
I will stand still no longer
I will flow
I will hold on no longer
I will release
I will cry no longer
I will smile
I will hate no longer
I will love
I will be confined no longer
I will wander
For in the end,
if you can understand,
I will.
Kairi comes down
by the
moonlit water
to play for
me
on random summer evenings
Not of this world any longer,
I cannot hear her,
but I can see.
Ah, there she is.
Fair and dark are her features,
Dark and fair is her song.
Spinning, playing a bright flourish,
she smiles at a memory,
and I feel the press of its
warmth against my molding bones
as if she hugged my spirit.
I wonder if she feels
my presence?
At times, when she plays,
there are tears.
I long to take them away, to
wipe them tenderly
and tell her all is well,
before we kiss,
before we part.
I hold onto that moment
that never was,
never will be,
and it will ever have to be
enough.
As Kairi turns to go,
the melody is severed,
and the notes are interwoven
with the stars.
I feel what I can only call
a smile pervade my being.
No, there will be no tears tonight,
just the song, dark and fair, it’s plaintive echo
traveling through the lichen covered
headstones of the forgotten, as Kairi, fair and dark,
vanishes into the mist, and over the hill.
There’s reason to go on, they say.
Just take it slow and day by day.
But see, I know I’ve lost my way.
And no, my friend, it’s not okay.
Good intentions, noble hearts.
No avail, my life’s in parts.
Some are missing, some are old.
Tarnished is the burnished gold.
With a rueful smile I see
There’s no getting back to me.
So with what remains, I’ll go,
Hat in hand, a so-and-so.
What’s that, friend?
You’ll say a prayer?
Does my heart good
that you care.
Thank you for that.
Leaving now.
God don’t answer
why or how.
Still, I won’t say no.
You pray.
Say it as I
walk away.
Love you too friend,
don’t you cry.
Don’t think I’ll be back
to try
starting over,
learning new.
Time is short,
and days are few.
Gonna watch the sun go set.
Come with me, and pray, and let us
share that moment,
knowing why .
And when the sun sets.
So will I.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Silver raindrops from above.
Harmonies in quadriform.
To my heart, the song is love.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Holding hands, we gaze and smile.
On our skin the water’s warm.
Hoping that it rains awhile.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Tenderly I kiss your lips,
as the raindrops swell and form
pools and puddles, drops and drips.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Sunshine’s for another day.
To the path our steps conform,
Love is showing us the way.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Here together, you and I
hear the music now transform
to a soughing summer sigh.
Softly sings the summer storm.
Darkness looms, so home we tread.
Raindrop shadows multiform,
as we tumble into bed.
Softly sings the summer storm.
In the darkness, I and you,
now a lover’s dance perform
in our own storm just for two.
Softly sings the summer storm.
As we drift into night,
Slumber soon comes all aswarm.
Storm is over…
Love is bright.
The struggle to breathe
grows harder and laborious,
and soon, not worth the effort.
The heartbeat softens to a
padded thudding
of arrhythmic improvisation
The light, both sun and lamp alike,
grows dim
And the features
of your faces
so familiar
are now only
sketches in sepia
drawn by rheum,
inked in cataract,
and blindness creeps with
a serpent’s crafty slowness
to seize small sight
in its unrelenting
coils of darkness
But the memories
of grand carnivals,
of dire hurricanes,
laughter, tears
prizes, penalties
trials, victories
unity, dysfunction
safety , strife
holiday dinners
and birthday songs
pride and humility
for good or ill
all said and done
except the last
goodbye
and giving the last remnants
of my love
The days were few and happy,
and the honor of growing
beside you
made it all
worthwhile.
I see the
honeyed magic
flow
from fingers
filled with morning’s
glow.
It’s in your hair
and cheeks
and eyes.
You wring from me
such wretched sighs.
I would possess you
if I could,
But wishing so
will do no good,
for you’re above
and I’m below.
I’ll stand beneath
the light you throw
as Lady’s favor
to her Knight
in shining armor,
ere the fight
shall take him from
her brilliant arc,
and place him in
the cold and dark.
If you send
honeyed magic there,
I’ll sleep in peace,
without a care.
As I sat looking at the sea,
The sea was looking back at me.
“Tell me, O man,” it seemed to say,
“Where would you like to go today?”
“I’d like to be inside a shell,
a full sail rising in a swell,
a shark fin slicing through a wave,
a sea-snake lurking in a cave!”
The sea then laughed
“That’s quite a list!”
and clothed me
with a kissing mist,
And plucked me from
the sitting rock,
and took me
from the safety dock,
And gave me
all I did desire
of fish, and fowl
and ocean fire
And showed me wonders
floating by
not seen before with
Human eye.
“Reach out,” it said,
“and touch and feel
the shimmering coral,
the shocking eel,
the slick grey dolphin
playing there,
the breaching whale
that tastes the air,
“And in the darkness
of my floor
are creatures
best not counted for…”
And as the sun set,
then the sea
released its hold,
and set me free.
And sprayed my cheek,
and went its way.
So I remember
to this day
When I sat looking
at the Sea,
and in its depths,
discovered
Me.
(Negasi is Ethiopian for ‘Royalty’)
The jungle rains
make smooth
the tracks of
his journeys,
and hide away
his bones
His kingdom
long emptied
of treasure
and people
and time
His throne
succumbs to
the loving embrace
of encroaching
tree branches
Vines of ivy
and small berries
the birds glean
in high summer
spiral round his
decrepit scepter
in
vernal abandon
Snakes
burrow
in the
holes
of
looted
gold
Drums
Dance
and
Ululations
of celebration
have turned to
morning
birdsong
The moonlight
Dirge
sung
as he passed
through the
mourning throng
has become the
chirring
of crickets
and the
croaking
of toads
But the
Strength
of his
Spirit
has
forever
altered
this land.
His smile speaks of contentment
I pray his times of discontent are brief,
though they are certain.
His hand on the windowsill
lingers between
exploring and safety
I pray that he ever be connected to home,
and adventurous in his exploration
His expression
is full of innocence
and peace
I pray that a fragment of
each remain resistant to a
frenzied, hostile world
His eyes,
so bright and clear
guide me back
to my ancestral
family
the way Polaris
guided the Railroad
passengers,
And gave them
Sanctuary
far,far away
from
Home.
I pray we find each other
and be complete
Beyond Panic 