The Singer

She sat upon the stage
And wove magic with the keys
Stroking old remembrances
With wonderous melodies.

And her voice, angelic mounting
Filled the quiet air,
Quieting the pathways
Of Reason's brash loud glare.

And my quiet dreams unfolded
As her song began its life
From birth with mourning cries,
To joy from vanquished strife.

Her melodies twined above me,
Cast shadows on my mind
Dancing light of music
On her words, soft velvet-lined

Beneath her foil of dancing notes
Deep darkness mine did fall,
Beneath the music's shower,
I heard her minstrel call.

Your Song

Fair Lady, I hear your song.

But your song is not only
The fair sound of words bound to melody,
For such is the dim shadow of your spirit.
The zephyr remnants of a rich sea-borne breeze.

Sweet Lady, sing your song to me again.

Sculptors Tears

I built a mountain of clay
Reaching for the sky
Molding each Olympian spire
With my dirt-flecked hands.

A bright veneer I added
Stroking with time kneaded fingers
For days unending
And called it a mountain of light.

I mixed a tincture of love
And all diverse emotions
Spread it on the light
And called it a mountain of hope.

I built a mountain of clay
Reaching for the sky
But hollow inside and hopeless
It fell upon my touch.

Space

Space.
She has held us in her cradle of weightlessness
Making us weak,
But not helpless.
She has pierced us with tiny daggers of radiation,
Changing our minds and bodies,
But not twisting them.

She has made us less than men,
But more than men.

For to stare long at a star-spotted infinity
Is to know God.
And to see the sun rise over the smooth curve of a planet
Is to love Him.
And to hear the cries of a friend drifting away in space
Is to feel for Him a hatred deeper than the voids between the stars.

But the man who may only fly,
Yearns to walk.
So still I long for the things of Earth.
The leaves of October,
And the flowers of May.
Or the smile of a pretty girl,
Beneath the quiet song of the trees.

Nameless Fallen

A crack of fire, flash of flame
Falls a soldier without a name.

The dusty ground beneath his chest
A broken shattered Union crest.

The taste of dirt within his mouth
Damn the damned victorious South.

Crabbed hands dig into sun-baked dirt
A jerk of force tears blood-soaked shirt.

Crawling over hard, cracked ground
Labored breath the only sound.

Gunshots fading from his ears,
As earth soaks up his flood of tears.

Jerk by jerk to labored crawl,
Barest ghost-like shifting sprawl.

The sudden cool of wide armed tree
From the damned bright sun made free.

Alone and cold, entombed by dark
Within his eye a glowing spark.

Rolling over to glimpse the sky,
A painful, cracking, aching cry.

Forever haunting cry of pain
To girl along a bordered lane.

A blood soaked shirt, a thin pale boy
The war a game, a gun his toy.

A bloody scene of boy so pale,
At ending end of bloody trail.

Morning

Hearken to me, O' dying dark!
That so long held my mind
As the bright and cheery sunlight
Slays its firstborn brother, night

I hear your quiet death throes,
As the scurrying in the woods
I listen to your eulogy---
The early cry of light-woke bird

The quiet pensive morning
Hears the still a-slumber land,
Before its banner wielder sun
Removes nights' dewy hand

The prelude nears its climax
The song begins to play
Morns' thundering light-cannons roar
Spew forth the shining day

The old cock crows pronouncement
That day has grasped its pen,
And night lives the eternity
Of never knowing When

Look into my eyes

Look into my eyes
And they shall mold
The shape and fashion
Of my dreams.

Gaze into my mind
And it shall loom
The weave and pattern
Of my fantasies.

Does this
Mold and weave
Strike the bells
Of your recall?

Close your eyes
And mind my song
And the work of my words,
Shall be your mirrors smile.

Who are we?

On the footsteps of my slumber,
I hear your merry voice---
With your echoed smile
Flashing in my minds eye.

Who are you?
This merry spirit that pirouettes
Always on the edge of my thoughts,
Poised on the threshold of my dreams.

Who are you?
That you may dance so freely
Through the sky castles of my mind,
Between tall dream-marble walls.

Who am I?
This young man
Whose smiling face shines---
So brightened by your memory within.

Who am I?
That may not speak aloud
To cry the simplest word of love.
Struck dumb by mind-made fear.

Fear of that
Which you hold too tightly may crush,
Which you beckon too loudly may flee,
Which you love too dearly may leave.

Who are you?
Who am I?
Who are we?
I pass our fate to thee.

As my dreams embrace me,
I hear your merry voice.
Speak louder now,
That I might hear your choice.

Meditation

The water whispers quietly
Beside my aimless roam,
Rolling on, unceasingly,
Towards its ocean home.

A breeze whipped crest of wave
Sprightly flees across the flow,
As mirrored, climbing buildings,
Ripple, shrink, and grow.

Erect beyond this shining plain,
These lights of man aglow---
Casting off nights heavy cloak
With their sharp electric blow.

The stars above seem challenged,
By these jigsaw lights below,
Their night banner of ages
Displaced by mankind's glow.

But then a sea-birthed breeze
Tempts of lands in far off seas,
While my mind still grapples memories,
Of the world behind the trees.

New-cloaked in my clearing thoughts,
I float on that distant breeze,
Fighting to forget the doubts
That roil inside of me.

I trail memories of days passed by
And trace my paths to be
But where lie dream-stars once cast to the sky,
From this stance of reverie?

A breeze whipped crest of wave,
Sprightly flees across the flow,
As mirrored, climbing building
Ripple, shrink, and grow.

The roar as cars sweep by me
Quieter winds now blow
As I slip behind a line of trees,
From this second world I know.

Lament

What is life I've not yet lived?
What is death I've never seen?
What is music still unheard?
What are loves that haven't been?

Show me thoughts I haven't thought---
Show me songs I've never sung---
Show me suns I've not seen rise---
Show me light behind these skies---

What shines beyond this moment Now?
What rises past this marker Here?
What is life I've not yet lived?
What is death I've never seen?

Wrap me in your darksome cloak---
And let fall your dreaded scythe---
Take my spirit in its sulk,
While my future quiet lies---

For my songs have lost their harmony,
And my thoughts their fire bright---
For a love no longer touches me,
And my dream-eyes lose their sight.

Lift me upon your quiet wings,
Up past my darkening sky---
While I'll leave my tired earth below,
With soft whispered goodbyes.

Take me from where I hopeless lie,
Crying to this shadowed sky!
But you hear me not, damned silent Death,
You mock my wish, withold my Lethe---

I have your pains, but not your flesh
You'll grant my trials, but not my wish---
Again I cry, Death Let Me Free!
My life it longs for wings to flee!

On dumb ears fall my crying pleas,
And I float adrift in tear-filled seas.
The new sun leaves the clouds their part,
Making only shadows for my darkened heart.

Thank You

(For Keren Kailuni Ware)

In my stormy sea of fates,
You raised firmnament beneath me.
In the blizzard of my trials,
You lent the warming of your words.

In my failings and my fears,
Your smile quieted my inner tears.
In my darkening of despair,
Your laugh slew the shadows there.

And in the shifting calms of doubt,
Your joy has filled my silent sails.

So many times, these simple words
Have passed from friend to friend---
So many songs their essence filled,
In days gone to their end---

The quiet thanks for sorrows eased---
For joyous laugh or healing smile,
The gratitude so freed from pain
By magic of some soft-sweet words---

Though fearing that my pure intent
Is clothed in use-worn cloak,
I mean these oft-spoke words for you...

Thank you.

Beauty

I fear to call you beautiful,
For you'd smile your tears of doubt,
So before I call you fairest,
What is "fair" about?

It was not the face of Helen
That launched a thousand ships,
But the fire in the hearts of men,
That was kindled by her lips.

What better may describe the wind
Than the rustle of the trees?
What is more real to living man?
What he feels or what he sees?

Thus not with wooers pretty words
Shall I call your beauty fair,
But with the words of mortal heart,
Which beauty hath writ there.

Your quiet smile plays upon my mind,
A soft breeze rustling my discontent,
A warm wind on my chill lonelieness,
A stormy gale stirring boulders of doubt.

Your gentle touch whispers in my memory,
A cool shower easing my furrowed brow,
A clear rain washing away my shadowed tears,
A cascading torrent eroding my wall of fears.

Your sweet voice echoes in the halls of my fancy,
A score which overfills my unfullfilled,
A song which lights the darkness of my soul,
A symphony which lifts this passion from my heart.

Your timeless gaze burns like fire in my eyes,
Catching the tender tinder of my mind,
Sparking the bright blaze in my heart,
Stoking the roaring rampage of my passion.

So by these things I measure you,
And you are surpassing fair,
More in your touch upon my soul,
Than in figure, face or hair---

But still you have your beauties there,
For which I risk to call you fair,
But if by fate they slipped away,
The songs they'd writ would constant stay---

Dance

In the bright palaces of my dreams,
Behind barred doors of secret hope,
Images of you dance in sunny fields
Dotted with flowers that might yet be.

And even now, this song escapes,
By passion launched to heights,
And these dungeon walls seem fading
Beneath your smiling eyes.

So beneath your gaze and gentle touch
May I hear your quiet calls,
That my passion's fire, rising hot,
May melt these dungeon walls.

Song for an Unseen Love

How may I speak
Of my unseen love?
To what shall I sing
In my verses of her?
Of what may I weave,
In my dreaming of her?

I can not rhyme
On the soft lips
That I have yet to touch.

I may not wax
O'er the shining eyes
Whose gaze I've not yet shared.

I can not sing
Of a bright morning-sun smile---
That has yet to fill my eyes.

So how may I
Dedicate a song of love
To this unseen keeper of my heart?

For over distances damned,
I may not see her smiling face,
Nor share her tender gaze...

So I shall sing of the
Smile that floats to my features
At the simple thought of her.

And I shall rhyme of the
Laughing joy with which her
Memory fills my heart and soul.

And I shall tell of the joy
That fills my heart and lights my eyes,
When I hear that she is smiling!

Muse's Return

Here you are again, my muse,
Singing once more at my ear,
Whispering your quiet songs
Of dreams and shadow'd fears.

I feared that you had fled
From my half-living life,
From sweet songs grown too rare,
And tragedies too rife---

But now you are again, oh muse!
Your song back in my heart,
To serenade my fair new love,
By damn'd distance set apart

And now shall we sing of her many charms!
Her quiet smile, that unseen brightens my day,
Her joyous laugh, that half-heard touches my heart,
Her soft words, that half-known fill my day---

So let us sing first of her smile,
That like morning sunrise makes the day seem new,
That like the bright light of day fills remembrances,
That like evening sunset sets the stage for coming morn!

And then of her laugh,
That like fresh rain cleanses pain,
That like unclouded sun fills souls with joyous light,
That like a rainbow sky-jewel reminds of sweet memories!

And now of her soft words,
That like a quiet touch make her seem so much the nearer,
That like a cool salve soothes the pains and fears of days and years,
That like encircling arms, heals with close warmth and soft caresses.

Sing of these bright shadows then,
And welcome once more to mine ear,
To serenade this most rare of loves,
With bright dream songs which banish fears!

Fears

A noisome terror shudd'ring
In the shadows of the night
A quiet fear that whispers
In the bosom of the light

With my fate in hand, and dreams apart
I have fled from home to hell
But the beasts and fates I daily meet
Are the least of fears I quell

For I wander to and fro amid
My dreams that were and shall
Never daring touch their ghosts
'Long the paths that daily call

For the paths that stretch before me
Are more harsh than those behind
And the memories of dream-ghosts past
Might my spirit's strength unwind

Forgive me then, once dancing dreams
That I left you half in breath
Neither lived and passed to fullness
Nor slain in fitting death

For I must take my shield and sword
Of resolve and mad attack
And speed with haste to battles dark
Without a glance to back

For the battles must be finished
And the war, it must be won,
Before my dreams half breathing
May rise to live again.

Yet when the battles all are over
And the paths before me done
Will my half-breathed dreams awaiting
Dance alive for my return?

Creation

Grasp tight this island moment, for beyond its quiet shores,
A timeless empty silence and some thoughtless chaos war;

Like jealous brothers tussling, neither truly seeks success,
Emptiness grappling Chaos, Chaos gouging Emptiness.

Their accidental battlefields are shifting, torn, and tossed;
A Space stretched tight by Emptiness; Time twisted by Chaos.

But 'twixt these Titan's footsteps, wrapped in time-tight, space-filled shells
Drift fleeting isles of Order where both Mind and God may dwell.

So when a child-mind questions, 'mid the empty chaos tossed:
``Why are we here?''
Speak to her quiet questing, lest her precious hope be lost:
``Because it is possible for us to be here.''

And when she then continues (making order as they do):
``Why am I here?''
Know and Teach your lessons, as they were taught to you:
``To know it is possible, to hope it is possible,
to make it possible, and to love it possible.....''

Prayer

O! Spirit, Loving and Embracing
Enlivening the very air between souls turned to thee,

Hold me,
Fill me,
Teach me

Hold me in thy peaceful arms, unfailing
Fill me with thy inner light, undimming
Teach me with thy perfect love, always learning

As you have held with the grace of peace,
Martyrs, witnesses, and prisoners tormented
Hold me.

As you have filled the souls of the hungry,
Wandering strangers in the cold of the world,
Fill me, always filled but ever hungry.

As you have understood me, teach me to understand others;
So that I may see the paths that cross my own,
And follow or forbear them,
As you will

Hold me, for I need courage
Fill me, for I need joy
Teach me, for I need love

Vision

(For Howard Segars --- In Concern)

I stood amid a throng of saints

Past and Future
Hebrew and Hindu
Muslim and Buddhist
Caring and Christian

And we were singing for a soul

And as the words rose to mingle and harmonize above our heads,
they revealed their light within,
Shining with the light that illuminates every spirit
which comes into the world.

Beneath that light, I felt the good raised up and the evil cast down
And there was a great healing of both flesh and spirit strained.

Dear Distant Friend

(For Howard Segars --- In Memoriam)

Dear Distant Friend, where have you gone?
Have you breached that rising, dark beyond?
Beyond this world, this vale of tears,
Beyond all doubts, beyond all fears?

Are you at peace, my spirit's friend?
Or are there still hard tasks to bend
Your back or lessons still unlearned
Or greater loves which you yet yearn?

Do you sing songs, my silent friend?
In Yahweh's choirs past the end
Of beating time in which you shared
Your songs and joy --- your love and care?

Have you seen Truth, my Saviour's son?
Been shown the Many in the One?
Beheld the path of Israel's years
Or tasted every martyr's tears?

Is grief your burden, belov'd one?
For friends and places left alone?
For dreams that never found their Spring?
For bells of joy you'd not heard ring?

Or are we there beside you, Friend
In all the ways you've loved us and
Are all your dreams made real and bright
With all the joys that are or might?

I seek you in the silence, Friend
Amid this Light that knows no end;
This light that shines so bright and free
That I'd know less if not for thee.

Hues of You

Lost amid a desert vast and dry, I came upon a living spring --- you!
A single taste and the Muses rushed from heaven to touch my clumsy tounge;
As morning's dawn paints rocks and sand and sky with sunrise colors,
That single taste and touch did paint my world with hues of you....

You are the morning sunlight sifting through a dusty window pane:
Lighting and enlivening a darkened room --- my soul
Banishing the gray shadow shapes of night --- my sorrows
Warming and coloring the fabrics round about me --- my dreams

You are the shifting senses of a springtime stroll:
Sweet and cool upon my cheek, the breeze is your touch
Warm and bright upon my eyes, the sunlight is your smile
Joy-singing among my thoughts, the wind-lofted birdsong is your voice

You are a song in my mind, if I may sing of Song itself:
Dancing notes of melody, these are your gaze and touch
Quiet currents of harmony, these are your calm and care
Elusive hidden themes, these are your thoughts and dreams

You are the Sun before my eyes, Apollo's shining chariot:
Warming me, that I may rest peacefully beneath your gaze
Blinding me, that I still stumble awkwardly before your eyes
Burning me, that I fear hurt and hurting intertwined

You are the dark mystery of a silent summer night:
Wrapped in its warm void, I wander uncertain and unguided
Amid its dark-cloaked forests, I stumble and fear to fall
Seeking the light of an open hearth, I leap after glimmers

You are a match flame, bright and flickering:
Drawing me out of the darkness, with your words
Twisting and shifting in the breeze, with your moods
Lighting slumbering fires, with your touch and glance and gaze

The Muses depart on their immortal wings, leaving my tumbling words below,
Their passion and fire cruelly reigned by twisted cords of doubt and fear.
The World becomes merely a world, filled and empty, noisy and echoing;
And we become two souls --- stumbling and seeking --- among its shadows....

A White Rose and A Red Rose

Two flowers: One for what is.... one for what might be....

I may write you poems, dear Lady;
Stringing pretty words together
To wrap with bright colored images
The odd-shaped gifts of my heart

But we together are crafting a greater poem:
Each thought of the other, a beat
Each moment together, a rhyme
Each dream shared, a stanza

Poems are merely built from words
Love is shaped from lives

May I Clothe You In My Dreams?

But now those shutters have clanged open wide,
For my winter has bloomed into a near eternal spring;
And streaming sunlight carrying fresh sweet-scented air
Has transformed the quiet room of my innermost soul.

The colors are bright now, the patterns bold and real;
In the sunlight, the colored threads of gold and silver glitter
And the musty smell of unpacked dreams speaks of pregnant summer.

May I dress you in these dreams, my love?
In the bright dancing colors, in the shining simple patterns?
In lovely cloaks and gowns buried deep in the chest of my dreams?

They each fit you so well, beloved stranger!
They cling lovingly to the contours of your soul
And match the flickering colors set deep in your eyes.

As you twist and turn --- in motion, mind, or mood ---
My dreams about you fill with the glowing air between us,
Rippling --- as with laughter --- they are blessed with life and love

And when you rest --- in the quiet of a moment, in the circle of my arms
My dreams remain --- bright and shining, close and warm --- about you;
Shaped and saved across years, awaiting the fitting of your presence

Now I gaze upon you, dressed in the bright colors of my dreams,
Knowing time will change and deepen their brightly colored patterns;
While that which remains and matters --- kept and loved --- is within them.