SPIRITS
A Life of Poetry
by
Jack Forge
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 John Stephen Rohde
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***
FIRST SonG
coupling
hunger
rose
subterranean
ecstasy
the big bang
salmon
chance
change
the sixth day
spiral
tide
tripling
DITHYRAMB
mere pere
matter merge pattern
mama papa
blastomere
me
greenostered
sun
setter
si si
gardenia
b
●
mere
colloidal
spheremiracle
MORNINGLORY
Venus
before the sun
a star garden
pentamorous clarion
convolvulus
in yellow dawn
more weaning
sweet in us
a star rises
out a bleak black
sea
shore
to be
may lay day
ravenous
in hour glory
high
with a morning
seed
reborning
from a female flower
MONARCH MONARCH
vivacious metaphoric metamorphs
transcending chrysalisarcophagi
to sail on as summersprites
for the annual inspiriting
of the flower followers
in mosaic prayers
for some nexus
spring to fall
ever better
fluttering
butter
fly
V
MY VALENTINE
heart of a southwest star
in my romantic comedy
remember the red
we beat together
through the core of sense
no hurt for me
or you
my G chord
OH
GL
I
beat my breast
for your bosom
a card I am to you
in our game of arrows
stuck in the center
of our love
beating
en
cour
age
meant
for the home fire stone
some ease
some sore
chortled
by a string
throbbing
heart-to-heart
wholy
in tune
SPRINGSTREAM
up
day again
I knew it
sol stood the strain
of winterkill
night versus light
March
d'art rite
veralee
borne again
by inexhaustible drafts
down upon
Berthe's big body
pink and white bells
pealing
to court
honey birds and bubble bees
boughing
bursting
boing
now
as always will be
consummate
in the yellow song
hymeneal
O
prince of time
returning
VALENTINE
now in this vale of years
tears
pour in riveruns
guttered
to the sea--
yet our wellove faring dryly
Valencia!
Gloria!
to reunite
what once was and--
still?
now between the first and final acts
I&U
2
hope 4
mutual change
plentiful
without
F
ire
yet a hearth warning
within
to make a choice
sweet
for greetings, gifts, grace, or
goodbyes
VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING FEAR
coming and going
but grains of sand
in the cosmic strand
ever-changing with the tide
yet brethren among the stars
You and I
though insignificant
among luminaries of the universe
the spheres great and small
circumfluent
here and there
between the dark and day--
we part now quietly
without fanfare
without fancy
without subservience
to fear
You
to an adventure
not great or small
embark
like a seabird ascending
your dreams grow wings
your heart drums
to the song of your eyes
I
standing fast
see your fission now
though the limits of your life
run together
like a wash of vivid colors
through the lenses of my tears
and in this moment of our leaving
my mouth moistens
my lips swell
my palms turn upward
fingers reaching
for the melodic chords moving
in your heart
my thoughts
would play my music
in the machinations of your mind
my heartbeat
would suppress tremulous yearning
in your breast
I would control--
yet because our souls
have danced to rhythm beyond us
in concert
in the highest keys of life
I must let go
let be
let free
let fly
as monarch mariposas
we each sail in our own air
find our own ways
yet home is one to us
before and after
the temptations and trials
of the journey--
a place where we are one
for reunion
refreshment
renewal
a place in shade
where we alight
side by side
our wings slowly pulsing
our breasts heaving
from the struggle for ourselves
then is the time
our summer wings
laced with lines
from countless nights
trimmed in stars
will interfold
and our bodies touch our souls
go now as you will
we fear not this parting
but fare well
as we become stronger
to be whole
my wish is your welfare
not a mourning
but a good bye
till the butterflies come home
with the moon
and we embrace again
to watch quietly
the darkness turn
to day
MARGO
eyes
like warm shoals
sun-bright signals
sparkling
I move forward
smoking
from purgatorial fire
and yearn to dive
into her pools
immerse my memories
steaming
to flow away
in the currents of her soul
and wash upon the shore
buoyed and caressed
by lapping fingers of foam
as human debris
to coalesce
in strands of spun sand
drifting wombward
SEISMIC CALIFORNIANA
trembling
you lie seaward
animaternal
pads agleam in fluorescent surf
legs languorous to heaving belly
shimmering in wild lawns
hills breast a cool mist
caressing your forested mane
eyes dot the Sierra Corona
with a diadem of blue
royal pulse murmuring
deep within the primal crevasse
alas
mind awing
I plunge
to probe your fault
feeling well
but knowing not
the cataclysm to engulf me
ONE
one
golden flame
in the core of a flower
by any other name--desire
you
reach beyond
to touch the fruit
upon a serpentine bough
I
taste dreams
in word, line, and light
that mesmerize the mind
we
crystallize
our seed in purity
within the blooming fire
JUDGE NOT
judge not
me or mine
too soon
for in chance, choice, and change
we are becoming
at times too much or too little
my heart sank
mind in tow
to lightless depths
where fear-fish fly the dream
and yawn invectives
at fetid flesh
like a wastrel prince before a king
as latent golden ore--
need fires the core
and forges a jeweled crown
with my burdens chanced or chosen
I change course
for the stars
and carry my gifts
to the brightest sun
CIRCE
wrecked the ship for a dream
led my young to your throne
thirsty for ambrosia
drank absinthe from your lips
forgot my duty and my sacred home
your broad hips engulfed me
my scepter turned to stone
your eyes seared my brow
bleeding at your feet
pearls petrified on your palace floor
in your measureless cave
blinded to sun and moon
infernal my journey
searching for heart and hearth
now only courage could set me free
PICASSO, NEW YORK, AND YOU
flying
we came together--
the art, heart, and center
your hand with mine
bonding
souls magnetized
in darkness
illumined by the fountain
of a hundred flowers
ejaculating
in the matrix for a finless flow
we danced across the broad way
before the Empire
and our kiss hung
on a crescent moon
you and his work in the focus
of my life:
guitars in tune
to the music in your voice
and The Spanish Woman--
a spirit drawn to my eyes
visioning
to live for love in art
man to woman:
consummated by the touch
of a hand--
a wondrous stroke
upon the face of beauty
BLASTOMERE
should we the beast
should we the sea men dream
should you the sphere miracle
should the lion drink the falling stars
a comet strikes the earth
life with life
cellseed rife
in fecund fire
splitting the apple
should we be three
what then
would we the sacrament
would I the oak tree
would you the soft warm earth
would fish swim the running silver
would sun and moon embrace the marvel
a monstrance of light
life from life
cataclysm
in the tabernacle
all we need to know
should we be three
VALENTINE FOR THE END
new moon
or none
two rings to zero
blank
baleful
black hole
where once was
roe salmon spawning
two rings
one number
now along
figuring
to clone
or not to clone
heart for two
once was
two breasts abrace
twinbeats
syncopulsating
high and low
as memories
come and go
singing mythological
through light and shade
from shoal to goal
foam to bursting peak
relentless riverrun
where nemo knows
and no god answers
only deeds past
lay along these banks
of abandoned bodies
to fester
fostering newborn dreams
and memories
come and go
singing mythological
the heart opens and closes
potboiler pounding
eighty beats a minute
eighty years a life
hold the moon till noon
O
heart stars adrift
pulsars resounding
endlessly
COMMEMORATION IN GOLD
Let us bring flowers from the earth,
Garlands of yellow petals
To weave a golden ring,
To the honor the union
Of two in sacred matrimony.
Let us bring laughter from the heart,
Musical magic of life,
From their children's offspring
To celebrate the fountain,
The noble source of family.
Let us bring gold from the sun
To remember a marriage
Living half a century
Of love in body, mind, and soul—
A graceful harmony
In elemental light
Enduring in the vision of God
With consummate human dignity.
By your mutual love,
By your warm embrace,
By your constant faith,
We are made more beautiful.
So let us sing
For this man for this woman
For their life in love forever family
On this their Golden Anniversary.
MARRY-GO-ROUND
see the wheeling
flashing color
hear the music
organs groaning
bells chiming
look
the horses running
leaping
heartshafted
with golden braids
pay the price
hurry
run catch the pulsebeat
color summer
centrifuge
and O the ring
jump to mount
the wing white flying
bounding to the sun
now astride we whirling
faster and faster
coursing into dreams
round and round
sailing on the swell
music moving
mirrors lightly flashing
hue and eye
for the ring
faster riding
higher lower higher
we waying
here to hear
within a circle
blurring faces watching
whether we two reaching
for the ring
SLOWLY
slowly
as the turning of the earth
I feel you go
falling off my fingertips
phasing out of my orbit
beyond reach of my ring
but O the gravity between us
and O the polarity of our cores
sensing you no more
in the darkness of my space
in the vacuum from our wakes:
all stars have fallen
the dream fissioned--
a hole pervades the dying light
and O the gravity between us
but O the polarity of our cores
disappearing
as the dark of the moon
you seek another sun
while I turn to the magic in my gyre
and heal the wound you're leaving
with the laving of the sea
ROCKING HOME
Rocking home
with mother gone
I think of you
my young in years
while wind stirs
the earthen leaves
to hymn a lonely lullaby
neath oak, pine, and laurel bay
Your laughter peals
like Christmas bells
to warm the wintry air
Sharing joy and sorrow
I feel your pain
and know your fear
but for all these years
rich and lean
I cherish the weave we make
and offer words
in gratitude for your lives
As your laughter peals
like Christmas bells
to warm the wintry air
SAPRISING
saprising
scented
full of lovedreams
re
membered warbling:
always amore!
greensongs
blushing
to think
the pink
songs
rushing
to sink a root
ANOTHER MOTHER
rhythmarimba
pulsing
heart
knows nothing
but a beat
and a flower
crimsonsap
racing
to plumb a mountain
shooting
silver
blasting
magma
to make another
mother
MOON
moon
not for plucking
like a ripe fruit
meant for only memory
though beckoning
like a lantern
to lost
moths
SPINNING MAN
on one foot
reaching for stars
too precarious
by half
to withstand tremors
in the earth
rooted in spheres
a spinning man
atop the tower
must be firm
vision alone
a-wing on a dream
can realize
heaven
PAMELA
As one frosted
by too many solitary nights
I warm to your sweetness
delight in your rubied hands
thrill to the splendor in your eyes
Your mind dallies with sunlight
and flowers lie upon your lips
as I stand rapt before your beauty
and race to caress the tips of your dreams
for the music you stir in my scarred breast
turns discord to harmony
anguish to joy
in concert
with the nuance
of pagan prayer
Bless me with your essence
that I may find you in or out of rhyme
and project images of faith onto ancient walls
with lights of sacred sympathy
THE COSMIC FLOWER
space abloom
revealing more than stardust
to pollinate our minds
bang
blossoming
as we wheeling
our galaxy carrouseling
in universal music
heard as silence
do we violate the cosmos
ejaculating
our virulent missiles
unbeseeched
into mysterious purity
should we try to know
the unknowable
shall we penetrate the ellipse
and challenge the nth dimension
to colonize the cosmic flower
JUICE
out of a decadent off
spherules suspend
between memory and dream
and winter light dawns
within frozen circuits
switching
to a lumescent on
VERNALIS
in balance now
the night the day
set to the solar clockworks
the true cosmic new year
bells anew:
that sunstruck angelus
of the red, yellow, blue
Halleluya--
she swells again!
makes little difference
what we say
what we do
universal power pushes through
all monuments raised in vain
to build anew
out of egg and seed
Halleluya--
she swells again!
DREAMING OF A FLOWER
what a dream
never to be realized
while I watch
the up and down of light
but for fancy
imagine with me now
a world without war
if by enlightenment
we should break
the perilous habit
of killing each other
to the trumpet call
an age of mettle
so rare never forged
in our brief time
on this spherical stage
we could enjoy
the blessings
of this bounteous planet
could be cultivated for culture
instead of waste
and we would spiral
up and out in sight
of a quality in living
as far beyond
these melancholy days
as paradise beyond hell
descendants may know an age
where the topic of the day
would be knowledge
not for personal accounts
or to reward the fastest few
or even for immortality
but for the power
that comes from knowing
our own ignorance
and the glory
that comes by growing
out of darkness
like a flower
from a sewer
reaching for daylight
to bloom in the sun
SEAGULLS
spirits of seaspray
arcing out of ancient shallows
they scream against the wind
great hearts
beating in aerie breasts
of pure Darwin
FORGET
forget the flowers
sweet and sour
in memorial illusion
where bluesky
dominates the spirit
and swallows missiles of strife
forget the hours
heat and power
in mnemonic confusion
where green grass
subverts the soul
and bursts the bubbles of life
FAMILY
born from a cluster of stars
where light begins
nurtured in aggregate shoals
pooled from a storming sea
we burst upon Earth
cell to sapiens
together
we order the world
with ingenuity
for love
together
we
SONG
poetry speaks
the truth of the soul
with words signaled
from darkest to brightest signs
posting universal themes:
love and rage
sin and sorrow
fear and joy and pain
and all the melodies of man
condensing in the distillery of art
to rivet the human mind
with lines and logorhythms
hymnal or sublime
CLARION
call for a new song
keyed to valorous deeds
not of gold and gore
or the power of muscular kings
but an anthem of ancient lore
true as a star
shining with nobility of thought
and the goodness
that virtue brings
ENDLESS SIGNAL
O
more than flesh and blood
floating down a river
life
demands deeds to verify virtue
flowing through the dark
light to light
beaconing an endless signal
here to there
as points to measure poles
along the invisible circle
where everything that ends
begins
SONG FOR A HERO
dream of love from memory
a waking dream on wings of light
to fly the lands of rage
the nights of hate
until dark disintegrates
begin upon the flame
a day beyond insanity
to sanctify humanity
in testament before the dream
where we start again
to heal the aged pain
and all our kind redeem
CIRCLES
perfection here
in the symmetry of a star
the way the mind of God
turns in the mind of man
revolution rings
where the sphere
signifying space
begins and ends
at the same time
in the same place
reflected in the eye
as countless cosmic things
where the circles are
ASCENSION
blood rising
we spread to the warming sky
the heliotrope of youth
the answer of the green
opening
to reveal that tender core
the raw center of things
where the flesh rules the mind
and life is found in a numbers game
bells ring unheard
but seen in the colors of the day
sensed with the passing of a breeze
tingling
at the touch of other lives
magnetized by the light--
an alchemy of dreams
clock stopping
the moment of the flower
holds for me and you
as the green and blue
promising
a gold rediscovered now
as it always was
as it always will be
the eternity of spring
TO SPAWN
your dark mystery draws me
like a salmon out of season
booming upstream
I remember not the home
but the origin of it all
driving my ragged body
battered by monumental falls
along the one-way travail to you
shimmering as a warm pool
shining as an opulent orb
beckoning for that crimson moment
when we burst from the wilderness
to swim again
COURTSHIP
to impress women
some men build their bodies
to look like ancient heroes
others build towers in the air
most drive machines
like tamed mythic beasts
and many keep treasures
to dazzle female minds
to win women
men strut like warriors
as if to save a castle
from barbarian hordes
acting on our animal
at its greatest power
so I encode my primate call
in simple words on a page
THE FLOWER IN THE STARS
wings
holding me aloft
I descend to her florid matter
spread my trembling limbs
upon the velvet corolla
and plunge for nectar
ascending to my rising vigor
she exposes a cosmic bloom
bursting with golden pollen
like sylph dust
around a pulsating pattern
ecstatic to make
a milky way
SHE THE SEA
I want a woman
like the sea
full of life
and deep as mystery
so when I dive into her
I am going home
and when emerged
born again
she would be
a world to me
a spirit of the clime
mother of the rain
source of life
in circles black to white
she would change
but remain the same
her force rhythmic
as waves upon the shore
relentless in curving
the rough edges of rock
her presence
would embrace
the globe and me
she would storm
she would soothe
always known to calm
the great blue heart of Earth
neither goddess nor witch
she would not reign
but dwell
constant
as the cosmic sphere
MARIA
you ask for words
to signify the magnetism
of our spheres
sparking in shadows of uncertainty
like light glancing off glass
in unfamiliar rooms
to show you my heart and mind
I oblige your thoughtful request
embedded as a jewel
in the matrix of our flesh
an alarming notion
that wakes me from this demiurge
to attend to the balancing between us
an equilibrium needed
for the matching of a pair
the making of a whole
the act is not to create myself
to gratify your eyes
but to be a natural man
on the way of my becoming
while bearing nothing else than truth
as I seek to know
who you are
to squeeze the essence of myself
to stain this page with indelibility
I strain to make visible
the secret of the mystery
that you may see the circuitry
the pattern of my being
before these letters disappear
into sanctums of our memories
and we go on in other ways
to find and touch the centers
of our lives
I reply with words
neither sentimental nor sublime
to satisfy your curiosity
to find a way beyond the flesh
and meet your soul with mine
to know if we can make
a sphere of our own
that gives more meaning
to time
LOVESONG IN THE DARK
Maria goes upon a lyric air
beatified by beauty
she passes here and there
unbidden and unspeaking
like a phantasmal bird
sailing the northern sky
for the yearnings of a lonely man
to weave a melody unheard
yet infinite as light
shining through the universe
the hackneyed ray of hope
that lumens night
as long as life begins again
and death is not an end
to possibilities of love
she comes in body
but goes in mind
a memory of promises
prophesied by goddesses
of wisdom and rebirth
too important not to keep
she stays in the periphery
perhaps out of reach
but not so long as never
and not so brief as now
on each step
to see another day
I hold her close
as life itself
yet never in my arms
for she cannot be with me
despite my desire
persistent as waves on sand
despite her charm
consistent as opening flowers
I know her as illusion
tantalizing with her liquid lure
to seem the embodiment of love
but only the delusion
in the striving
of a desperate soul
climbing
out of a stagnant well
beatific as Beatrice
Maria plays the same role
the only difference being
I would seek her any place
to try by complementary grace
to make a paradise of hell
TO SAVE THE WORLD
call me what you will
but not without humanity
without grace
to free the angel from the devil
without love
to make the animal the god
instincts gone awry
we spin to keep our satellites
magnifying selves
but throw off other spheres
that share the star
we all require
born human animals
means nothing to the Earth
if dignity is ground to dirt
with our decaying flesh
and goodness falls to dust
as irradiated rain
so let us find our better souls
shrinking in the dark
and ignite them with a flame
to cauterize decay
and light the way to honor
as members of the race
or let us go
to perish from the planet
lest we bring the final Fall
to all thriving things
and make our globe
as wasted as our minds
then I should be
the first to pass
without a name
to mark the place
where I have been
or deeds I have done
if that would save the world
BEWARE THE MASK
what use loving
one with no soul
what point giving
all the uncountable things
that make us who we are
blessings from the best of God
bestowed upon a name
for beauty fails to glow
from an empty core
while pretty imitation shines
like the casting of a die
wild roses unglamorous
as hybridized delights
thrive in elemental strife
born from hearty seeds
and cling to rocks with roots
like the talons of a hawk
so what good gathering
an armful of vanity
when wildflowers simply wait
for the kiss of procreation
shun the mask of beauty
hollow as a hole
and look for grace in a soul
shining like a beacon
that guides courage
out of darkness
to make life an art
MIND ALONE
you cannot see me
only my voice disembodied
rings true on a wind
where flesh finds no wing
out of the dark cave
I sail in mind to you
running to and fro
as cattle from the prod
I cannot stop
your mad race through oblivion
though I call to you
from the ancient tower
my meager words echoing
off the canyon walls
while their message falls like rain
to soothe the dust of tragedy
yet your stampede proceeds
down the path of bones
as if in contest for extinction
and I am left with thoughts alone
to pacify my fear
that the race will be lost
in smoky mirrors
fixed along the trail
A VOICE IN THE WIND
what we do not know
will destroy us
I say to you
though you will not listen
you hear my words
as the sirens in the streets
but you will not listen
until the house burns down
you will not listen
for bells are silent to the deaf
yet the bells are ringing
and they toll for me as thee
I see the horror in their clangor
the sorrow and suffering they intone
I see beyond the ringing in my ears
to the old tower
tattered and shuddering in the wind
I see the dark sky
reflecting countless cloudy eyes
I feel the chill of pain in the air
invisible yet palpable
as the agony of a poisoned bird
I know the terror to come
I know and I scream
for you to hear me
for you to see
to act
but you stare at yourselves
while my words fall as rain
upon an open sewer
I cannot weep enough
to wash clean
but I will not go dumb
until I die
and even then my words
will echo in your minds
as they echo now in mine
like the cry of an eagle
soaring between cliffs
on his one way out to sea
DEMIURGE
how deny
the force within me
driving unto you
these imaginings of God
with the crimson rose
channeled into throbbing flesh
how restrain
this elemental urge
to find in your mystery
that magnetic feast
pulling me into you
holding me
until night opens
like a moonlit flower
how ignore
this wondrous magnitude
cycling our great pulsing body
into endless living spheres
lest I stop this surging strife
and with a long last cry
forfeit my life
ALL WE KNOW
when memories turn to pain
and dreams vanish in the air
life becomes a pillar of salt
dissolving in constant rain
dwelling in stone may be a way
of gaining immortality
unless the bombs of ignorance
blast it into dismay
or maybe life after death
promises a state to be
beyond this whirl and warp
of quickened heart and breath
but life is all we know
despite torment wake to sleep
and fantasies feed only hopes
for meaning in the cosmic show
so living must we cherish
no more than heretofore
no less than hereafter
although the rose perish
memoirs the glow of dreams
reminding who we are
when we find us alone
and the world not what it seems
SALMON SONG
all hope for life on Earth
rides with those great leaps
that mercurial spirit
flashing with mighty lashing
to find the once pure source
hidden from everything
but the eye of God
they strive from a single cell
toward absolute beauty
to quicken opalescent spheres
with a primitive kiss
that echoes through eons
then they die
in the bliss of genesis
the circle complete
but more than death
befalls those silver spirits
denied the goal of resolute striving
their vital part in the grand struggle
to rise from magmatic mud
to touch the tip
of the cosmic mind
and more than death is nevermore
a notion of might have been
lost in the fading of memory
when once forgotten
no wish can be granted
no magic potion
can rouse the fish
from the pictured page
where it lies in state
with the bird
the bear
and the butterfly
thrusting from beginning to end
their magnificent bodies agleam
with desire
they sail in undulant rhyme
drive the end to another beginning
and drag us all
in a wake of wonder
to witness a ritual sublime
be it requiem or rhapsody
ARTEMISA
should I spy you playing in a pool
secret to your kind
in the sanctum of a sylvan dream
should I see you swimming nude
unaware of any mind to capture you in art
or simply wonder at the sight of primal beauty
rendered artless in the filtered light of leaves
should I ignore your hunting kit
hung upon a laurel tree
your beaded bag looped over a broken limb
caution signs of destiny defined as fate
and linger long beyond a passing by
to watch what any active man
would want to see
to scent to touch to taste to bind
despite the rules of propriety
both sacred and profane
should I stay long enough
to be captured by your simple charm
a magic known in moonlight
and hidden corners of the heart
would you in seeing me
charge me with a power
unknown to ordinary man
baptize me with unholy water
and change me to a helpless beast
caught as timid prey
with strength to sprint a mountainside
but too weak to find safety in my art
would I become a fearful hind
chased by dogs delivered to the hunt
that long encircled all this kind
would I be torn apart again
at scars long since wounds
and bleed upon the Earth
from which I rose to life
until I be thought dead
through living in these words
or would you welcome me
into the pond
and honor me among your friends
as one who only comes
to seek the inspiration for a song
to share the harmony
of liquid circles intertwined
and leave a simple note behind
when we are left to memory
MIMI
if love first is sighted through the eyes
as some believe and many have
since Will wrote to ladies dark as mystery
but bright enough to make divine a mere man
then I when looking into your fair lights
could only in reflected beauty shine
and be inspired with incandescent thoughts
of memories and dreams in dormancy
if love--
but here I falter in my foolish flight
for I a poor man given up to art
and all that Nature offers us
without the wealth of things
or a name of worldly fame
merely make these humble words
a simply sung reality
to break the spell of ghost or fantasy
that may inhibit who we are
so let us speak beyond the seen
look upon our feelings faced
to find a harmony of mind
amid the noisy kind
and know the quiet goodness
in our souls
JULIA
jewel of Russian Jewry
gleaming off the highest steps of culture
enduring history through calm and storm
brilliant in the crown of civilization
dear as creatures of the air
I sit and stare in my graying state
at your maturing youth
and long to mingle with your mind
and accidentally graze your golden hair
like the tattered wings of a migratory monarch
glancing off the petals of a flower
the hour late for such romantic fantasies
but I regardless of my stiffening
melt into the basic shape of life
when face to face with your warming light
bright as sunshine on the frosty autumn Earth
soothing as the glow of art
no power born can bend me from your eyes
for forces far beyond these pitiful human ways
turn me toward you
as if to manufacture meaning
from the simple fact that you are here
a graceful act played upon this dreadful stage
leaving feminine footprints
on this pallid page
remnants for an aging faun
to fondle in yon imagining
a would-be tryst for love and truth
far beyond the potency of a poor old poet
straining to reach a rising star
CHRISTMASONG
when summer falls
I feel the death of things around me
as harbingers of my inevitable destiny
and the darkening days of December
freeze in me the fate of frost
where hope is covered with sadness
like a leaden air
and memories seen in icy pools
as only snapshots of life
but when walking in chilly woods
I come upon an evergreen
bedecked with berries brilliant
as embers glowing in a familiar hearth
sudden joy lifts my gaze from gravity
and thaws a smile deep within my sorrow
for there amid the darkening season
a pillar of prayer points into the sky
reminding me of another destiny
the promissory note of good news
heard in a wild bird cry
and the sigh at winter solstice
becomes less plaintive
when glimpsed as sunshine
to break through dark days of January
that month of death
cannot cast a curse upon me
as always threatened
because the breath of April light
is scented in the pines of Christmas tide
and turns into epiphany
when everything seems lost
I am free to see the forest green
and payment is a promise of spring
so ring the steeple bells every hour
throughout the dying days
their tolling is not funereal
but accompaniment to pending birth
so cheer the advent of the flower
a power elegant enough
to melt suspended animation
beneath the cemetery of snow
and make the meaning of Earth
a prophecy
fulfilled in brighter times
ATONE POEM
In life I've known much pain
and caused a lot in friends
but while I waken with the sun
I'll strive to make amends.
I'll pay for any harm I've caused
by putting words together
in ways that make living good,
in wild or balmy weather.
Wounds can leave deep scars
that change the shape of age;
so the greatest penance I can do
is to bleed upon the page.
I sing a contrite rhapsody
of a sincere and simple kind
to fan the embers of remorse
but keep the joy in mind.
To perpetuate the joy
when sorrow grips the soul
enables us throughout our lives
and makes worthwhile the goal.
IF I BELIEVED IN GHOSTS
If I believed in ghosts
I'd watch for you every night
and wait till you appeared
in my darkened room
in my deepest gloom
I'd not let you out of sight
even though I feared
you could never love me
you would never love me
the way you did before
when we were both alive
in the bright of day
when we were both on fire
and life was only play
if I could catch your spirit
in the howling hosts
I'd never set you free again
if I believed in ghosts
INTERMISSIONS
When you're rosiness turns blue
you don't tell me
yet I know
your dawn has turned to dusk
for I can see sundown in your eyes.
Then it's time for me to bring flowers
in the best way I can--
simple words upon a page
by which I conjure up
the gladness I have
for knowing you
and the gratitude
for your being alive.
It seems only yesterday
when I was in that hollow place
where you may be now
and I could have sworn
to all the powers in which I believe
that I could never climb back
to the high ground again.
But some small bird of good news
swooped into my low
caught me by the collar
and carried me to a hill top
awash in summer light
where I wait to fly with you.
When I missed a step
the other day
and nearly fell
from something very like a cliff
you caught my hand
with kind words
accompanying a graceful move
worthy of a pas de deux--
a brief spontaneous ballet
between friends
for which I bow
in thankfulness.
BY THE SEA
when society becomes toxic
I drift to the ocean
like refuse in a river
with the debris of humanity
threatening my dream
and I crawl onto a beach
to feel wind and spray on my flesh
naked among castled fragments of stone
I feel the heaving of that great blue womb
reminiscent of the moment before time
when glory began
in the serenity between storms
there by the sea
before the fading of the light
I envision the day
Sun made love to Earth
proving the ray of cosmic energy
from the farthest star
to the smallest orb
spinning in a pellucid pool
and I am reborn
FOCUS ON THE CROCUS
as humanity infects the planet
like an endless plague of parasites
feeding off its sacred bounty
and toxic waste displaces elemental earth
with poisonous compounds
I focus on the crocus
breaking through tormented soil
its dauntless leaves reaching for light
in an attitude of prayer
its blossoms bursting with joy
among the drapes of sadness closing
on the last act of this tragedy
we like to call civilization
where only the crocus and its kind
offer a vision of promise
FROM A TREE IN THE GRASS
Something about the trunk of a tree
growing in a sweet grassy lee
that makes me want to rest my bones
among some well-placed stones,
as if I had found a chair
waiting for one who'd like to share
the panorama of Earth and sky
with wild things born to fly,
with those that crawl on limb or leaf,
or those inside a barked sheaf;
and let my worldly worries drift away
through the changes of an April day.
In these times, we must flee the crowd
to find consolation in a cloud.
GAIA
Let us go forth
and stand upon the mountain
climb the stairs of learning
to see the future in the past
let us mount our veiled goddess
and kneel across her hemispheres
in gratitude for grace
given without demand
rich the golden land
deep the fertile sea
broad the shining sky
where destiny depends
on her seasoned hymns
in harmony with God
but discord in our temples
we pray for inhumanity with satellites of vanity
we play games notorious for handfuls of sand
Let us go forth
and listen to her song
let us climb the stairs of learning
to know the rhythm of her turning
O Gaia
thou art the heart of our beginning
and the end of our becoming
thou shalt have dominion
in the symphony of stars
Gaia Gaia Gaia
let us hold you in our arms
in the center of our minds
to know your cycle spinning
to feel your rhythm rolling
to keep a candle burning
for the honor of our home
THESE GOLDEN HILLS
these golden hills
bearing the cataclysms of Earth
and the ravages of man
cannot deny their fundamental form
changing
imperceptibly in time
yet so monumental
to confidence found in a sphere
I walk these hills
with you of the past on my mind
and leave traces of myself
for you to follow
as the bird glides
as the stream flows
we continue
you and I
to flower, ripen, seed, and die
in tragedy or triumph
dependent on the doing
always on the doing
these hills ground us
to the sea and sky
we know their rocks as our bones
their grass as our souls
their trees as our minds
spreading unto the sun
obscured by clouds
from time to time
they remain in the wind and rain
great bodies of gods
half-buried in their beginning
I am these hills
as I am you
and all the other things
of the dark and light
rolling along
from bang to bang
no more devastating
than stepping on a rocky path
TREES
beckoning souls
to climb into the sky
they reach from ancient memory
when spirits filled the wood
and died upon the flower
they make the air a paradise
an elevated solitude
in towers of the golden bough
where alone becomes enjoy
they orchestrate a livelihood
a synchrony of wings
upon a veil of deity
as fantasies and dreams
inspired by the holiness of living
the magic in a simple word
born of old imaginings
bearing up the world
god to god
they grow
age to age
titans over time
their strength is fundamental
as elemental Earth
steady in the sun
they grant us immortality
answering our prayers
yet commonly ignored
as clouds and leaves of grass
and moon swollen seas
their trunks stand for victory
against the pull of turn
roots equilibrating
limbs celebrating leaves
unto the light
and dew upon the dark
they wear seasons gracefully
renewing changing days
while commemorating shade
for fellows from the ark
begin to end
begin again
the force around a ring
perpetuating everything