Sunset Wine

Evening wears like five o'clock shadows;
grizzled grey gruff beneath wrinkled brow.
Every memory, taunting and hollow
except for black and white pictures now.
There is the man in the felt fedora,
smoking his smelly old Cuban cigar.
Back bent low as he rests on elbows
over his whiskey in a seaside bar
The restaurant air, heavy and greasy;
Scallops and shrimp and oyster stew
While ocean waves wash slow and easy
primordial sands with strains of blue
Piano tunes play from hazy poolrooms
Ivory notes that are filled with soul
A leather-jacketed man chalks his cue
Jazz of Count Basie and Nat King Cole
Will we fall in love only
to find it regrettable?
Shall I remain; a sweet refrain...
Unforgettable?
The night wears on in trails of blue
Cigarette smoke fills the seaside bar
Rolling like dark Mississippi bayous
As Muddy Waters plays his guitar
Girls hike up their shining skirts
Flash of flesh as they dance and grind
Buying their whiskey never hurts
Knowing the thing on every man's mind
Night goes flying in raucous laughter
Only to settle on spilling rim
Where the drink is drunk; sedated after
In quiet corners where light is dim
To be certain there will be
A morning after;
a dull accounting of distant sin
But tonight we are free
From parish and pastor
To swim in the sea or bathtub gin
Ragweed smell in restaurant lot
Tells of lovers parked in the night
Windows rolled up and smoking pot
Away from others and safe from sight
And all the while we hear the band;
Blues and Jazz of a thousand nights
Black cat bone, Hoochie Coochie Man
In waves reflecting colored lights
Out on the sea the moon shines alone
Drinking the ocean; salty with brine
Pulling her skirts and shuffling on
Until all is forgotten in sunset wine

Postcard

Inside a secondhand copy
Of The Old Man and the Sea
Is a gray postcard from Paris
Addressed from you to me
The month of May, three years ago
Not much to say, how could we know
Eight months later you would be gone
Now, I lay in my bed alone
Thinking how such a thing can be
When here are words you've written me
And so much more they seem to say
"I saw the Eiffel Tower Today."
The postage stamp, La Seine, Paris
Inside the Old Man and the Sea
Between the pages of Hemingway
In a faded copy of equal gray
Copyrighted in nineteen fifty-two
I have a postcard sent from you
"I've thought of you often"
And here, I smile
And dry a tear after awhile
To close the book with a tacit wish
Where the old man battles his mighty fish
And I silently struggle with what to do
With a postcard from Paris
And memories of you

Golden Letters

The letters that you wrote me have
Turned golden in my mind
The yellow pages folded like
The prayerful hands of time

Each smile and kiss remembered like
A child on Christmas morn
Who wakes to white December
On the day that Christ was born

The sparkle in your eyes outshines
The brightest of the stars
Twinkling in the summer sky
I cannot reach so far

But I would hold your beauty like
The heavens hold the moon
Warm me like the morning sun
Until the afternoon

And when our loving time has set
And darkness closes in
Never will our hearts forget
How sweet our love has been

For your love has been to me
The treasure of my days
I have known such pleasure from
Your kind and tender ways

The letters that you wrote me have
Grown faded now it’s true
But it has not jaded there
The constant thought of you

And I will go on loving you
Until the end of time
Even though your letters have
Turned golden in my mind

Was It First the Trees?

Was it first the trees that welcomed me
swaying great green arms in unison,
casting protective shade over little eyes
that squinted under harsh morning sun?

Just beyond windows, seeming far away,
sunlight filtered through waving branches
sending dappled faeries dancing between;
friends that played on my nursery floor with me.

Oh the hours filled with flowers;
among tall weeds and grass, I found the delicate lady slipper
and admired the gladiolus

In the garden, as I grew, I learned of nature's wonder
I met the potato beetle, the grub and corn silk worm
Butterflies on morning glories met with hummingbirds
Days were singing silently, a song that had no words

Still the trees sighed; bent and swayed
To the music of the dance
As birds came to sing the glories of Spring
Before there was talk of romance

There was the pungent fragrance of tomatoes on the vine
The taste of sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon
Purple turnips like giant eyes emerging from a cave
Some underground ogre or troll scratching at the grave

Okra and cow-peas, green beans and green leaves
Full of life and life-giving nutrients
Every corner planted as garden space allowed
Eggplants bursting purple as a summer thundercloud

As I left fields for forest I promised to remember these
I learned the wild animals who had nibbled at my feast
I came to face the music, whistling on the breeze
Whispered among the sheaves of wheat or...
Was it first the trees?

Only The Wind

Only the wind grows dandelions
And sows the empty air
Careless gardener that he is
He plants them everywhere

Like philosophers or poets
Who fill an aching need;
A bit of wildflower they would sow;
A fleeting feather seed

Only the moon moves oceans
Brine upon the beach
Tides, a curious notion;
Love too deep to reach

Only an owl asks questions
After the fleeting light
If wisdom is confession
Dreams are born at night

Only a tiny floating seed
Awash in tides of wind
Searching for something; always in need
Like hearts of curious men

Lost Children

There are only so many mountains;
So many rivers that run;
So many trees and so many seas
Under the sheltering sun

Life in all its diversity
From scales of slithering things
To skins and fins; feathers and furs,
With legs and shells and wings

We depend upon one another
We are married like man and wife
We were born of one natural mother
Our birth from the earth gave us life

We share one heavenly Father
Under the bright blue sky
He blessed with the admonition of,
“Be fruitful and multiply.”

Mankind has too quickly forgotten
We are part of a greater scheme
The greed of the ill begotten
Has fouled and polluted the dream

Such was the greed of Lucifer;
First, in the heavens above
Cast out from before his Creator
Cut off from His life-giving Love

So, from the Garden of Eden
He banished their sin with a sword
Still they demanded their freedom
Proudly denying His Word

Now, as they kill one another,
And poison the seas and the land
To rape their beautiful mother
Mankind fails to understand

There are only so many mountains;
Only so much Love can defend
Patience and kindness are fountains
That heal yet they do have an end

I hear her wailing and mourning
For her children lost in their greed
Who would not hear any warning
Or to mother or Father pay heed

Before Dawn

Sombrero cloud on morning moon
Shining in darkness before dawn
Ancient silence settled in still
Makes one feel empty and alone

Blinking jet, high over hills
Trailing wriggling, threadlike worms
Waiting thunder on heaven's edge
Rumbling engines or coming storms

Distant stars uncivilized
Burn native fires into the night
Smoky cloud of Andromeda
Like mountain mist in early light

A barking dog is questioning
Who goes there, foe or friend?
Only owls will answer him
Mocking tones from secret limbs

Semi on the interstate
Growls out where the highway winds
Sputtering sounds of Jake brake
Until the tires begin to whine

A soft, brave bird is twittering
Somewhere in the underbrush
But still the night is whispering
To all it's children, “Hush.”

Far Upon the Sea

I long to feel the vast heartbeat of salty tides;
To be pulled by golden moons upon the sand;
The rush and hush of white-capped waves
Around me
Whispering songs my soul will understand

Where weathered hulls and crusty prows before me
In barnacled beauty their precious planks adorned;
Where great sailfish and dolphins go exploring;
Where mermaid
Infants swim when they are born

I long to hear the lovely songs of seabirds;
The screech of gulls, the albatross and tern;
To see the billowed sails full white with yearning
To catch
The wind and all her secrets learn

I'd see the swaying palms of distant islands
With pristine beaches beyond the coral reef
All snow white, bathed in light
And glittering
Like precious diamond gems beyond belief

I'd hear the groaning lullaby of Humpbacks
Where Poseidon parts the frothy veils
Upon their massive tails I could go riding
Churning
Learning all the mysteries of whales

Around the frozen icebergs I would wander
To see the seals and all the penguins there
What would it be like, I have to ponder,
To kindly
Pet a friendly polar bear?

Upon my earthbound travels I go dreaming
Of all these things I know will never be
Yet fantasy fills me still with imagining
And longing
For wild adventures far upon the sea

Beauty

There is a beauty seen
Of flowers, sunsets and other things
Birds, butterflies, cloudless skies
And rain

But all these pale, indeed, they fail
Before love in comparison
The soul of wisdom, the art of living
Beyond what painter or poet can tell

The soul is colored with feeling
Bluer than any ocean
In the eyes of a child, dreams of the wild
Reckless abandon of emotion

Laughter, freedom, the joy of play
The dance, the music while we sway
The appreciation of giving thanks
Feeling blessed by luck or chance

Faith there is a God above
And we are children of His love
Hope of the eternal, sighing
Heaven is not just for the dying

Every soul has known some part
Of beauty in wisdom, love and art
The feeling of light at the dawn of day
Beyond what mortal words can say

In this soul all swept with blue
Are images I have of you
Memories of every smile
From every tender loving child

Until death...yes, until then
We should be as those children
Whose beauty fills them from within
Spilling into the lives of men

Be that beauty, in us found
Like the music beyond the sound
Such grace the dance will find it odd
To reach and touch the face of God

Sunday in September

On a quiet Sunday morning
Cattle standing lowing
In the fields; behind the fencing
Bright cool light of dawn commencing

Across the hills;across the sky
Strands of pink cotton candy fly
Like ballooning spiders casting web
Tentacles from the sun are spread

A gentle wind, rustling leaves
Dances through the tops of trees
Sparking dew lit diamonds there;
Casting emeralds through the air

Maples, fluttered by the breeze
Send forth their helicopter seeds;
Gypsy fruit that congregate
Swiftly, as if they were running late

Upon the dawn and through the air
The slightest hint of autumn there
Soon the maples will turn to embers
Burning the edges of September

What joy and peace the morning brings
Like angel harps with sunlit strings
Until the whole of nature sings
While in the distance church-bells ring

Spring Magic

Spring leaf veined
Minnow's winding way
Tiny tadpole tails
Wriggling with life

Salamander darting
Sun to shade
Tiny child fingers
On dandelions

Blue sky canopy
White cloud curtains
Floating freely
In the breeze

Butterfly dancing
Barely afloat
Rising; falling
On flower-like wings

Have we forgotten
The nobility of trees?
The proud oak;
Humble willow crying?

Dogwood blossoms
And honeybees
Brown fertile earth
All but sighing

Lazily drifting
By the stream
Gurgling a lullaby
To the lost

Silent round stones
Echoing dreams
Over a carpet
Of velvet moss

Walk with me
Beneath the sun
While the web
Still holds some dew

Smile with me
Till day is done
And magic
Comes alive in you

Waiting

Waiting

Rivers of tears
The ocean of man
Salt and life
Of humanity

Pride and fear
We understand;
Love and the pain
Of calamity

Each becomes
In his own way
Faith, hope
And charity

A reflection
Of that
To which he prays;
Comfort or disparity

Empathy is needed
Where love exists
Build a bridge of souls
In the casting, reach

Sympathy for hatred, greed
Evil must enlist
Hearts grow cold
Without a voice to teach

We do not war
With flesh and blood
This is our battlefield;
Every heart and mind

We cannot kill
And be understood
Or preach a great ideal
To souls of humankind

Beat your swords to plows
Feed and clothe the poor
The destroyer destroys
The Creator creates

Is anyone listening now
Rushing off to war
As governments deploy
And Armageddon waits?

In Between

In Between

Among the blossoms in the orchard
Where the sweetness subtly shifts
From apple to apricot, a young boy walks

He stoops to study the olive foliage
Woven round brown
Broken twigs in a wreath

Luxurious leaves so complex
Intricate arteries interlaced
All things are connected

Limbs and branches to the tree
Arms and legs; hands and feet
He himself; part of something bigger

The universe so vast; solar systems
planets, suns, stars of other galaxies
Pulsing with life... more than blood

Here in shrubs slightly higher
Than his own head he finds wonder
A different shade of green unseen

Stretched between the branches
Like the story in the Bible
A serpent smooth, lithe and agile

He grasps the cool creature
Gently, gently and holds him aloft
The flickering tongue offers no protest

He's only seeking sustenance
In insects and spiders among
Apricot branches and gently returned

How many mysteries are hidden
Just so, going silently unseen
Miracles connected by something
In between

A Day in the Sun

Midnight crickets hushed
By damp grassy footsteps
Flashlight wielding shadows
Wandering towards home

I was a bit drunk
You were moonlight beautiful
Under the stars
Those wise and wonderful stars

When the embers of our fire
Were quenched with water
The last song played
On my guitar

Memories lingered
Of walking the Bizarre
In the heat of the day
Where I bought you a ring

You smiled that smile
My soul was warm wax
Melting with my heart
Into our everything

We searched out the restrooms
In panic and impatience
Baby riding your bladder
Like a trampoline

I felt her kick this morning
Stretching, turning
Can she even begin to know
How much she is loved?

Now the day ends too soon
As we walk hand in hand
Back towards home
From the dew drenched field

I see in your green eyes
By the kitchen light
Satisfaction and hope
As I smile in understanding

Heaven and Earth

Once was a raindrop in a crowd
Like the sea; high in a cloud
Said he to his other fellows there
Let us go forth into the air

For far below us there is found
A place that is called “common ground”
Where dreams are dreamed and hearts are free
As teaming waves upon the sea

There we shall find peace and love
That can't be won here, high above
These are things worth dying for
Thus, the raindrops went to war

And so the army of the rain
Sent forth a billion to the plain
All brave soldiers to the last
With lightning flash and cannon blast

There they stormed the gates of earth
As heaven heaved with giving birth
To children like a tadpole throng
A mighty wind blew them along

Until at last they came and found
A billion graves upon the ground
Herein were buried bones of men
Who dreamed of heaven to ascend

Said they to each of noble birth
Heaven is preferred to earth
And many a mother of soldier cried
As men of valor in battle died

Who dreamed of heaven high above;
A place of lasting peace and love
And for that heaven blood was shed
To touch clouds the rain had fled

But if the rain had not come down
Nothing would grow upon the ground
No life would find the secret door;
No waves would roll upon the shore

And if mankind did not aspire
To brave the storm; thunder and fire
For peace and love, it is a given
They must forfeit all hope of heaven

Every Now and Then

Every now and then I dream
That I'm seabird sailing gracefully
Among the snowy clouds so high
My fingers; feathers in the clear blue sky

Every now and then I think
It doesn't matter if I move my wings
I can soar and I can glide
And I'm so happy just to be alive

Every now and then


Every now and then I'm free
With no shackles and no chains on me
Running through the fields so green
And all the flowers bursting just for me

Every now and then I pray
That I can stay here for another day
Please don't tune me out; turn me away
God, I'm asking that You hear my prayer and care

Every now and then

Every now and then I sigh
I grow weary as years go by
I'm afraid to sleep for I fear I'll dream
Of all my loved ones lost; what might have been

Every now and then I cry
I forget that I have wings to fly
I feel my heart must surely break
I wonder how much more my heart can take


Every now and then

Every now and then I smile
When I hold a puppy; kiss a child
I remember then that this life goes on
And it sends my spirit back where it belongs

I'm a seabird sailing gracefully
Come and fly with me
We can both be free
Every now and then

The Concert

In smoky shadows a pianist plays; gray fedora perched and tilted like an expectant bird atop his brow.
He remembers the jazz but lives the blues and wonders where the girls of summers past are now.
Man was not made to make music alone or sit in confines of crowded bars.
He must taste fresh air and study the sea and go out walking among the stars.

With arthritic hands the guitarist weeps for tunes forgotten or never learned.
Staring silently into embers that glow and fade once the hardwood of life has burned.
His heart, still fresh with music and love; his mind full of beauty and wonder.
He looks to heaven and seeing clouds, is reminded how softness can thunder.

There was a time when they played together with words and women and wine.
The music seemed to last forever like a symphony of something dreamed and divine.
Time befalls the best composer. Words to the aria fade in the mist.
Jazz becomes blues and blue memories warm like a love lost; remembered by a single kiss.

The Sun Does Not Mourn

The sun does not mourn the coming of night
The world must turn but the sun is constant and bright
The moon bears no jealousy or grudge to the sun
But mirrors his brilliance until night is done

Some poets have said the moon rules the night
But she is only reflecting a great star's light
And those drinking shadows upon the earth hath
But fell to darkness by blocking his path

They say in their vanity, “the sun has set”
When in fact they have turned away and yet
The sun does not mourn the coming of night
But waits a new morning to bring his light

Epitaph

I wrote the sky both red and blue
Sunset, sunrise; midnight hours too
I wrote the sun, the moon and stars
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars

My lines proofread and well rehearsed
From galaxies to universe
I wrote the clouds. I wrote the rain.
I wrote typhoon and hurricane.

I brought words of mine together
In open fields beneath the weather
The heat beat down on desserts bare
Sailors drowned in oceans there

I wrote for you both lands and seas
I wrote sand dunes and forest trees
I wrote the mountain white with snow
I penned the valleys far below

I wrote the creatures; great and small
The elephant, the ant and all
The whale with krill on his dinner dish
The shimmering spineless jellyfish

I wrote the songs and moods of men
Joys and hopes and dreams again
I wrote of love both cruel and fair
I wrote the darkness of despair

I wrote of wealth and trust and loss
I wrote the price and paid the cost
And every time the caged bird sings
His heart within him finds his wings

You and I have traveled far
The journey brought us where we are
I wrote the diary of a life
In blood; my pen like a razor knife

To write has been my destiny
I've given all the best of me
And whether you will cry or laugh
When you read my epitaph

Markers

A withered leaf of winter twisted dry and brown in summer wind.
Raindrops pelted fragile skin; shaking and breaking the clinging stem.
And it twirled to the ground midst thunder and lightning unseen.
There, the skeleton of winter past; crumpled; dead upon the green.

Outside a tiny house with all the windows lit at four; coyotes howl.
Sirens scream through the early hours before traffic starts to prowl.
The inhabitant, settled like dust on window sills into his nook,
waits the first bird song wrapped in perfume of ancient books.

Transient markers of seasons passed are wrinkles in the brow;
falling leaves that with the breeze take flight again somehow.
Barely noticed on the lawn when summer has raised the fields
And heat has choked the yellow spring from cups of daffodils