Fleet Afoot

The racing speed of a desperate cheetah…

The delicate grace of his fleeing prey…

With deft and defiance an agile surfer

Angles the crest of an angry wave.

 

High-stepping kickers on pitch, field or rink

Leap with dexterity, race to the goal…

Turning the tables to stem the aggression…

Quick to defend… Eager to save.

 

I stand in amazement,

Staggered in awe,

Cheer for the effort

As if it were mine.

Praise to the winner,

Bask in the glory.

Sharing a toast, let us

Savor the wine.

 

Life Goes On

If the end is the beginning and

The portal must be breached,

Then the search need not fall heavily

Upon the beaten masses who

Sit and weep and keep the vigil

Deep into the night,

Who cast their gaze toward heaven til

The hopeless feeling passes.

 

And you and I bear witness

And stalk uneasy truths

And wonder at the wonder of

The awful wondrousness.

Dare we pose the question?

Dare we to offer answer?

Are we somehow at fault and

If we are, do we confess?

 

For every sparkling dewdrop

For every baby’s cry

For every lilt of laughter in

A halt and brazen world

There lives a new beginning

There lives a sad goodbye 

A bittersweet dilemma

As the story is unfurled.

 

Grace

Swift… The sword can be

         So unforgiving

Striking at random

         In tandem or thrice

Stalking the night in

         Succinct predilection

Pumped with bravado

         Knowing no shame

Where is my White Knight

         On galloping steed?

Swift to the fray he rides

         Brandishing steel

Taking the mantel of

         Conquering angel

Holding the laurel of

         Sweet victory

 

Grace be my savior

         Hope my redeemer

Yielding a kiss on

         My welcoming cheek

Offering manna replete

         Sweet with honey

Wrapped in blue velvet to

         Comfort my soul

Blessings abide as

         The sun hugs horizons

Always tomorrow in

         His home or mine

Filled with a confidence

         Uncompromising

Fear cannot live in

         A house blessed by grace.

You May Go Now

Thank you for coming,

Bless you for sharing,

But this episode has come to conclusion.

There will be more,

Perhaps even better.

A broad invitation allows no exclusion.

 

We will be wiser

When next we gather,

Banking experience along the way,

Bringing perspective to

Feast at our table,

Saving dessert for another day.

 

This has been grand

To be in your company,

Share in your mind with insightful delight.

So with contentment

Tinged with regret

I bid you sweet silent goodnight.

The Lesson of Walden

One great lesson

         To be learned,

All that’s needed

         To get by.

When the burden

         Gets too heavy,

Take a step back…

         Simplify.

 

Sometimes seems to

         Overwhelm,

Logic lost on

         Asking why.

Only one sure

         Way around it,

Break the pieces…

         Simplify.

 

When “the world is

         Too much with us”,

Troubles seem to

         Multiply,

Find a single

         Word of wisdom

Waiting for you…

         Simplify. 

 

At Peace

It has been hard to get this far.

I could show you bumps and bruises,

Scars incurred along the way, but

You don’t really want to see.

 

There were tears, yes, quite a few,

Always with a sense of loss.

The trails they left were lessons learned.

Guess that’s how it’s meant to be.

 

Objects may appear to be much

Smaller held in retrospect.

But when the walls were crashing down

There was no time to think,

 

Only to react before

The whore of Armageddon

Pillaged hope, left me bare

Without a drop to drink.

 

Only now in silent witness

Do I know release,

Letting up and letting go to

Find myself at peace.

 

In Pieces

A storyline as common as

The shoes upon your feet,

Sneaking up behind you as

You look the other way.

 

You were just an actor

Strutting loud upon a stage

Spouting lines that someone else

Had given you to say.

 

Amazing how simplicity

Can be so damned elusive,

How digging out and digging in

Can leave you stupefied.

 

The telling of the tale

Becomes a complicated matter

Spinning truth in circles til

You don’t know who has lied.

 

Prideful dissertation

Creates many cracks and creases,

Shattering hope, leaving lives

In tiny little pieces.

 

Let

Let it snow. It makes no difference.

Couldn’t stop it anyway.

Let the beast eat til he’s full.

He’ll not be here tomorrow.

 

Count the melting drop by drop

To swell the streams of springtime.

Starlight yields to sunlight

Laying waste to pain and sorrow.

 

Let the bells peel loud and clear.

Let the drums pound steady.

Let the voices reach to heaven

Singing lofty praise.

 

Let me carry all your burdens,

Dry your tear-stained cheeks,

Take you by your trembling hand and

Lead you through the maze.

 

Let your thoughts be crystal bright.

Let your heart be free.

Stand beside me in the light

For all the world to see.

 

Get

Get up! Get out! Get over

Being prodded, poked and petrified

By every evil entity that

Enters your environment.

 

Paranoia doesn’t suit you?

Turn and kick him in the crotch.

Lay the bastard on the floor

Wond’ring where his victim went.

 

Scary as it all may seem

You still are in control.

Toe to toe, eye to eye

You stand unflinching in his face.

 

Move to get the upper hand,

To get the bully on the ground.

Even if you lose you know there’s

No remorse… no disgrace.

 

Life will hand you trials,

Give you sorrows and regret.

What you give it in return

Determines what you get.

 

Fret

Nervous little ice icicle

         Dangling from my downspout,

Slither with a shimmy as a

         Shimmer in the sun.

Wake the woes within your soul to

         Lounge the day away.

Bake away to nothingness

         Before the dawn is done.

 

Blissful in your ignorance

         Thankful for the void.

Pressureless and meaningless

         To flit the day to naught.

Not a chore to measure,

         Not a treasure to be found.

Nothing to be learned today.

         Nothing to be taught.

 

No sad crown upon your head,

         No golden amulet.

No responsibility,

         No need for you to fret.

 

Looking Back

It wasn’t all that long ago,

And not so far away,

That “Once upon a…” storyline

Danced free across our dreams,

And “Happ’ly ever after” seemed

A possibility

As real as any everyday

And not just some grand scheme.

 

We look back

And maybe smile

And sometimes laugh out loud,

A salty sense of bittersweet

Left resting on the tongue.

Nostalgic for the memory,

Longing for the touch,

Savoring each sultry note of

A familiar song.

 

Days slip by as we reflect

On things that used to be.

Sweetest truffle in the box…

Revive my memory.

 

Coming Soon

Coming soon to a lifetime near you:

Horror! Excitement! Thrill upon thrill.

Eighty kilometers done in a heartbeat.

Buckle your seatbelts.

         Wait for the crash.

 

Hoof beats of thundering echo the distance,

Block your horizons with mushrooming clouds,

Speak through the darkness in whispering omen

To land on your back with the crack of a lash.

 

Car-crashing demons emerge in your mirror

Looming much larger than they should appear.

Bashing your bumper, bold in their efforts to

Leave you in rubble, a horrible heap.

 

You have the expertise, you have the power,

You have the fortitude to overcome.

You are the hero who leaps to the rescue

Saving the day without leaving your seat.

 

Action on action…

         Whistle a tune of

Unique satisfaction…

         Coming soon.

 

After

After the darkness,

After the rain,

After confession delivers the soul,

Long after vision has risen again,

After the guilt has taken its toll.

 

Just before daybreak,

Silent and calm,

Cracking the silence,

Breathing a sigh,

Facing the morning with nary a qualm,

No need to shout,

No reason to cry.

 

Crying was yesterday;

No going back.

See it as history,

Lessons to learn.

Here in the aftermath of the attack

There is tomorrow

To lend concern.

 

Torches are burning

To lead the way.

Step through the portal

Of a new day.

 

Finish

There’s an ending out there somewhere.

Every story must evolve, must resolve

To grand conclusion,

Bland illusion set aside.

 

I am, you am, we am puppets

In this Punch and Judy show

Waiting for the plot to catch us

In the house where we reside.

 

Someone called it criminal.

Someone let the devil in.

Someone stumbles through the darkness

Desperate to get away.

 

No one knows the final answer.

No one dares to take a guess.

No one angles to impede

Progression toward the yea or nay.

 

There will come a summing up.

There must be a hit or miss.

All that’s precious, all that’s sure…

Someone has to finish this.

 

Keep Going

Rush, push, rest, review…

Rush, return, then rush some more.

Quick completion of each quota,

Questful queries coincide with

Sequences of synergy to

Forcefully facilitate the

Fateful flow of each endeavor.

Never stop until it’s done.

 

Baseless basking

                            Barters little.

Tasteless tasking

                            Garners less.

Graceless grasping

                            Suffers reason

Leading to a

                            Muddled mess.

Sleep becomes unnecessary.

If it threatens, take a pill.

Just keep going til it takes you.

Someone else can pay the bill.

 

Get Started

Sitting here with pen in hand

Wondering where to start,

 

                  Killing time before I go,

                  Whittling on a stick.

 

Blocking out the blocking in,

Try to clear my mind.

 

                  Thoughtful in my reverie of

                  Peaceful days gone by.

 

Will the pages fill with ease

With muses from the heart?

 

                  Spill the ink onto the page.

                  Give a little kick.

 

Does the bastard steal my thoughts

And leave me far behind?

 

                  Blown away by winsome words,

                  Left to wonder why.

 

Getting started is the key.

         All the rest is flow.

How it gets onto the page

         We may never know.

 

Arrest My Soul

When all of the pleading and kneading is over,

After the bleeding is finally stopped,

Will we be feeding on fodder from yesteryear?

Will we be heeding the soothsayer’s song?

 

Who will be leading and lighting the torches?

Seeding our thoughts through the torturous times?

Reading the headlines in horrible hopelessness?

Weeding out suspects who stand in the way?

 

I stand in horror watching the spectacle.

I stand in fear as it touches my walk.

I stand defiant, defending my doorstep from

Goose-stepping Cretins who crash through the night.

 

Arrest, if you must, this pitiful visage.

Arrest, if you dare, this intolerable toad.

Arrest if you think me a threat to your manhood,

But you will never arrest my soul.

 

There will be judgment.

There will be justice.

There will be reckonings all have to face.

Patience be teacher,

Watchdog to freedom,

Standing in front at the end of the race.

 

Another Fine Mess

Oh, if we could only go back in time,

A day, a week or even a year,

Know all the pitfalls,

                The potholes,

                 The pratfalls,

See all the bumps in the road up ahead.

 

But vision is weak, impaired if not blinded by

Heart-felt passion’s irrational rush,

And we keep making the same mistakes

That leave us to sleep in an empty bed.

 

Wellsprings of happiness don’t merely happen.

They must be constructed of labor and love.

Truth is the shovel, compassion the pick so that

When mistakes happen there’s room to confess.

 

You could have…

I could have…

We could have been more

                Deductive,

                Seductive,

                Productive at best

In our effortless efforts to find resolution.

Instead we are left with another fine mess.

 

Pintos, Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes

Some harbor favor for gourmet cuisine:

Caviar, pheasant or filet mignon.

Trendy like crepe suzettes, crème brulee, sushi,

Mildly to wildly exotic in theme.

 

Others, like me, have a simpler palette:

Meatloaf, potatoes, hot apple pie,

Pintos, okra and fried green tomatoes,

Coffee, no sugar, and light on the cream.

 

Buttermilk cornbread to crumble like sugar,

Biscuits with jelly, a savory sweet,

Mother’s fried chicken, a finger-food favorite

Served up on Sunday, a family buffet.

 

I would not argue or offer a protest

To anyone’s favor for fanciful foods, but

Pintos, okra and fried green tomatoes are

More than enough to get me through the day.

 

The Green of Summer

The passing of unsettled skies

Makes way for more pastoral days

Where green is nature’s uniform

And sunlight clings to the horizon.

 

Bold the forest spreads its welcome,

Gives itself up willingly to

All who seek its gentle comfort,

Shelter from the noonday sun.

 

Fields and meadows roll with laughter.

Children’s voices ringing bells of

Simple joy while we sit watching

Keeping vigil as they play.

 

Nighttime cannot quench your colors, 

Hide the flavor of your hue.

I can taste the green of summer

Though my eyes see only gray.

 

Oh, that you could stay forever,

Wear your magic on my sleeve, but

Seasons come and seasons go

Leaving little time to grieve.

 

Sanctuary

Run to cover, shelter from

The fire-belching dragon who

Would have your face for breakfast and

Consume your flesh at dinnertime.

 

Holding faith with vigilance

In stalwart measure, self-assured,

Tasting of adrenaline rushing,

Pumping to the bone.

 

No one knows where courage musters,

Cannot guess the origins of

Fight or flight, wrong or right.

Still it finds us in the dark.

 

Let me be your sanctuary.

Let me still your angry skies,

Be your comfort and protector

When the monster storms your gate.

 

We will face the beast together,

Sword and lance held to the sky.

Two as one, invincible,

Striding out to find our fate.