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Back into the Black Hole
Cosmic dust is what we are,
Remnants of an ancient star,
Drifted to a distant shore,
To dance a while in sunlight,
Then slip away into the night,
Back into the black hole once more.
Island in the Sea
On an ocean of cosmic fury lost,
In vast waters never charted before,
Floundering in waves of fear, tempest tossed,
The sailor searched in earnest for a shore,
For sustenance in endless evermore,
Ever looking to the horizon’s lee
For space more kind than that already crossed,
Praying to find rest in eternity –
Somewhere in the distance, an island in the sea.
A splendid woman in a dream appeared,
In flowing robes of alabaster dressed,
Trembling, as nigh unto a swoon, she neared,
Her hands in prayerful supplication pressed.
With a voice of clear resonance, she blessed,
With one love, on her lustrous lips, all things.
Pressing onward, by darkness not oppressed,
She praised the light that hope to despair brings,
Floating gracefully as a wish on angel wings.
Radiant was her face at breaking dawn,
As the glittering of a thousand jewels!
And eyes of turquoise and emerald pools,
That changed hue with the sky they gazed upon!
And black velvet hair lush around her wreathed!
Her brow was crowned with a halo of gold!
Her shapely waist in jasper and jade sheathed!
Her fair countenance by mere words untold!
She was goddess to a paradisiacal fold!
Full on her cheeks shone the adoring sun,
Who bowed low, though a proud and pompous king,
As full she curtsied in her subtle pun –
Free from all the darts a fire god could fling.
She pursed her sweet jasmine-scented lips,
Soft-set beneath a lavender-lace veil,
Whispering well to newly-arrived ships,
Raising with her breath a gossamer sail,
To receive all wayward wanderers without fail.
She spread forth a table of spearmint leaves,
Covered with a cloth of rosemary sprigs,
And set out pillows of barley straw sheaves,
And brought platters of honey-centered figs,
And clusters of grapes glistening with dew,
And tangerines with aromatic rinds,
And myriad dishes aligned in queue.
How with a language germane to all minds,
She opened her door to refreshment of all kinds!
Then she danced, O how with exceeding feat!
She danced to the tune of the sailor’s lute,
To the twinkling stars’ illustrious beat,
To the meteor’s irascible flute!
And heaven about her, though deaf and mute,
Changed colors to the blend of her heart’s choice!
And the sun felt his jealous love complete!
And the sea and the sky sang with one voice,
Until all lonely hearts were lifted to rejoice.
Once a fearful-eyed child sat on her knee,
Concerned with heavy thoughts of coming night,
But was soon comforted to some degree,
By her full intervention in his plight.
She spoke of concepts throughout history,
On which a lost soul could somewhat depend.
She said she was not sure of wrong or right.
But she vowed to remain a faithful friend,
And hold him against her bosom until the end
The traveler knelt before her gentle feet,
And rested his sleepy head in her lap.
Confident that his journey was complete,
He prepared his soul for a restful nap,
While she hummed a comforting lullaby,
Of tides and undercurrents and destiny.
And the sad soul accepted with a sigh,
How a sailor is truly blessed to be
Safe at home, on an Island in the sea.
Fading Alone
Darkness traces the lines of my forehead,
With shadows draped before these fading eyes
As sins that no absolution might shed,
Nor penance while in this mortal disguise.
I plead guilty to the crime of being,
To the city beyond my windowpane,
With a blank gaze silently decreeing
The candlelight of all souls lit in vain,
Seeking resolution through amity
Beyond the glass reflection of my face,
(If only my loneliness to postpone)
Watching the beacons of humanity –
Like dying embers in a common space,
Burning together yet fading alone.
Poets Who Walk Thy Shore
Thou, forest dark with spruce and larch, high walled,
With weave of needled branches formed to bar
All intrusion, by inquiry appalled,
Bent on wearying eyes that gaze afar
To secrets that lie old on speechless tongues,
Are thy cold altars empty but for night air
Through which thrust purposeless ascending rungs
To the sky, to heaven, or to nowhere!
In thy columned cathedral does there dwell
Some pious priest of yore or mystic lore
Who might with merciful design impart
Life’s meaning or of eternity tell?
Ignore no more poets who walk thy shore,
Whose lips sing mention of thy empty heart,
And breathe human passion through thy silent hall –
Should no soul remain to hear thy trees fall.
I Am Wont
Bodies which through eternal midnight glide,
Riding the tide to alien abodes,
Upon these cobblestones of foreign roads,
In jaunting flights of fancy, I abide.
I am wont to think my beginning has an end.
Swallow swooping through the evening eaves,
Oblivion ash upon the damp air,
It grieves me to know the how and the where –
The why and the will that your course so weaves.
I am wont to think that ignorance is my friend.
Leaves clinging feebly to the bosom prong,
Rattling fingers of February’s clutch,
Rabbit terror huddling in my hutch,
I heed wide-eyed the lack of right and wrong.
I am wont to fear the opening of the door.
Omniscient of all matter near and far,
But for the clouds obscuring my mind’s eye,
Supplicating the indifferent sky,
I whisper unto a twinkling star.
I am wont to pray for pith at my atoms’ core.
How Drear!
Brothers and sisters of yesteryear,
Asleep beneath the wistful trees,
Can you feel my mortal fear
Born upon the timeless breeze?
To you beneath those mounds so bleak,
Reposed at your eternal ease,
Sacrosanct in thought I speak,
With heartfelt but unspoken pleas.
How drear to think the worth of breath
Is measured by the girth of death!
Masters of Space
I have stood on the bloodied fields of war,
And gazed upon the legions of peace,
Whose tongues shall cry for liberty no more,
Whose souls no longer seek for death’s release.
I have seen the fallen champions of truth,
Their hearts and minds stripped naked to the pith,
Martyred for the cause of innocent youth,
Freed from ghosts and gods and monsters of myth.
I have heard echoes of revolution,
Complete freedom from punishment or grace,
When high on the peak of evolution,
We proclaim ourselves the masters of space.
When Someday Through Elysium I Ride
Standing here dazed upon this lonely shore,
I gaze at the face of the vast unknown,
My thoughts naught in the universal roar,
My thoughts no more than a meaningless drone
In this ocean of nothing around me.
Fade away, far away, sense of self-worth!
Float upon forever and never cease.
Would that I were free
To rend the boundaries of this finite Earth,
And in eternity find lasting peace!
Were I to meditate a thousand years,
Searching for answers and questions in vain,
Would truth mitigate all my mortal fears,
And my tired mind find some lasting gain –
Knowing the purpose of life and demise?
And comprehending all of why and how,
Sure, with my cup of wisdom brimming full,
Nothing to surmise,
Would I understand much better than now
The potential of an undying soul?
Wink, all-knowing stars, from your high places.
Sing the sweet melodies of paradise.
Unveil the mysteries in your faces.
Sprinkle a twinkling glimmer of advice.
Fervently I would lean my yearning ear
To know what guarded secrets lie in store.
For a glimmer of celestial insight
I await to hear.
With uplifted gaze I humbly implore!
Enlighten me, O omniscient night!
When someday through Elysium I ride,
High upon a steed ethereal bred,
Shall I sheathe the very world at my side,
And wear a crown of sun upon my head?
Shall I bask in honor, glory, and grace,
Finding reality more than I dream,
Finding at last that for which all souls yearn?
To my proper place!
Lead on, usher of the eternal plan!
I am obliged to follow in my turn.
Anubis
Anubis, are you waiting in the shade,
Watchful until the four quarters align,
Impartial until my heart has been weighed?
You, who mortals and gods dare not malign!
I think I see you where the roads divide,
Waiting to part the light and open night
And lead me to where tranquil waters flow!
Guide me onward then, to the other side!
To Osiris with your terrible might!
Then at your direction, westward we go!
Sweet Harlot of Mine
Who would come to you if I were not here
To embrace your beauty in my frail arms,
And lift your black velvet veil’s lace to peer
Passionately at your endearing charms?
Who would feast beneath your bedside table,
As I, in awe of fairness so replete?
Who savor your taste, were I not able –
Ambrosia spread, but no one to eat!
Who would sing to you of your twinkling eyes?
Without me, where would you be, whore divine?
Were it not for me believing your lies,
No one would love you, sweet harlot of mine!
When I Close My Eyes Forever
When I close my eyes forever
To awareness of all I deem real,
All my ties with sensation sever,
And in blackness the pact with fate seal,
When I take as my mate, for better or worse,
Oblivion, whore of being,
Bind my soul to her with a tight tether,
Shall I see our matrimony as a curse,
Or find some consolation seeing
She and I are in that instant together?
We Die Alone
We die alone,
But not lonely.
We shed flesh and bone,
But flesh and bone only.
In your soul you know
That I go where you go,
Where myriads have trod before,
Shod in wonder for evermore,
Clad in the armor of existence,
Basking in eternal persistence,
In a realm of endless deep.
Together we shall sleep
And dream of all we have seen,
Adrift in a stream of silver starlight,
With the fire of all that has ever been
To keep us warm through the long night.
To Bathe in Eternal Rain
Do you fear to be free?
Are you afraid to fly,
To be, but not to be,
To be born as you die,
To bathe in eternal rain,
To wash off this mud,
You, clad in pain,
Imprisoned in flesh and blood!
Heartbeat in Darkness
In the still of night I lie,
Pondering absence of light,
Wondering if when I die,
This shall be my eternal plight.
My heartbeat in darkness beats,
Divulging life in me still.
A metronome of hope entreats
My prayer for a higher will.
On the Highest Plain
That all my mortal strivings are in vain,
Is the aspect of a most bitter bane,
Whose poison all aspirations detain
In a prison of ignorance and pain.
I long to be as my spirit esteems;
Abiding in the concepts of my dreams.
Let tranquility be my sole refrain –
An eternal sigh that may never wane!
Only joy in existence would remain,
Were I an angel on the highest plain.
Tonight, is the Night for Waking
Tonight, is the night for waking,
When yesteryear and forever align.
Tonight, the seal of sleep is breaking,
And restless souls from darkness shine.
Do you hear the gravestones quaking?
Do you see the glowing light?
Do you feel the ground beneath you shaking?
Behold the glorious sight!
A moment grows nearer,
That no mortal may surmise!
What concept could be dearer
Than the end of all demise?
Tonight, is the night for waking,
When existence lies in a trance,
When the dead of life are partaking,
And ghosts come out to dance.
In the Day of No More Days
In the day of no more days,
When flames of thought, high and hot,
Burn the vessel of clay to naught,
And forever in my mind arrays,
In the culminating hour,
When darkness and light share an opinion,
When time loses all dominion,
And death is stripped of power,
When I see beyond eternity,
With eyes of immortal fire,
With the voice of a celestial choir
I shall sing across infinity.
I shall sprout untethered pinions,
Wings of endless space.
With perpetuation as my face,
And seasons as my minions,
Across the sea in countless ships,
I shall sail away from sorrow and pain.
I shall count an immeasurable gain,
With timeless tomorrow at my fingertips,
Embracing fate as my sister,
When love and lovers have become one.
And though I kiss the eclipse of the sun,
My lips shall not blister.
In the Dreams of Many Separate Minds
In a shade of ages, long-ago lost,
We kissed farewell the dust of the first hand.
Upon a chariot of fire, we crossed
Into the garden of a newborn land.
In the mud of a primordial field,
Within a shielding fog of ignorance,
We cultivated a marvelous yield,
There, formed more faces of our countenance,
To gaze with a myriad host of eyes
Upon our conquest of the endless sea,
Beneath an ether of numberless skies –
To be as one, yet as many things be.
This is the wisest life we’ve ever known!
What reason misses, omnipresence finds.
Omniscience with spreading roots is grown
In the dreams of many separate minds.
Upon the Buxom Wings of Night,
Upon the buxom wings of night,
Cupid flew as the moon might ride.
Arrived a dim nocturnal tide
Of undulating, cloud-swept light,
Upon her skin of pearl white,
Upon her countenance of sheer delight,
Upon her serene station,
In a transcendental revelation.
I found sublime enlightenment
In the cool embrace of the moon.
I partook of her sacrament
In the steam of a torrid swoon.
In a beam of silver elegance,
The worldly mask lifted from my eyes,
And in the spell of a moonlit trance,
I beheld soul beneath her disguise.
Melodious Notes by Moonlight
I knew not thy name, nor for what fair cause
Thou, dryad feathered in thy shadowed lair,
Bid me from my dark meditations pause,
To witness hope throated on the night air.
Soul, who spoke only contentment and peace
Though wind through the cedars whispered of doom,
Blessed be, eternally in thy height!
I praise as my savior, and never cease,
Thee, who cheered so fearlessly from the gloom,
Making melodious notes by moonlight!
O Peace of Night
Thou art my love and my longing.
‘Tis of thee I pine the day long,
Till twilight to thee comes thronging,
And shadows gather for thy song.
While errant sunbeams wander,
As daylight falls off to sleep,
The stars arrive to ponder
Thy fields of infinite deep.
I come to thee for space.
In thee I seek my inner light.
In thee I found my place.
Thou art my love, O peace of night.
I Believe in Christmas Eve
The spirit here I think I see,
Reflected from the Christmas tree,
Across the crisp December snow –
A beacon of security.
Watching from my frosted window,
I think that, finally, I know
Why I believe in Christmas Eve
That light that makes a pine tree glow.
Safe in this silent-night reprieve
From a troubled world, I believe
In peace on earth, good will to all.
Here, it is easy to achieve.
Watching herald angels fall
As snow beyond my glistening wall,
I wait for Santa Claus to call.
And like a child, I feel so small.
I Am Content with Silence
Observe the vastness of the universe,
The profound idiom of its order.
See the stars shine through inviolate calm,
The wordless drama they nightly rehearse.
Note the sun tracing out heaven’s border,
Daily playing its magnificent psalm.
What measure of sound have I to presume,
These celestial melodies to impeach?
Why break the peace with verbal violence!
For the time I am content with silence,
Until I find a thought worthy of speech.
Say That It Was Not in Vain
Say that it was not in vain.
Accept the loss.
Endure the pain.
Let the dice fall where they will.
May your troubled heart be still.
At the ending of the day,
When all hope has passed away,
Though time leaves no lasting gain,
Say that it was not in vain.