suddenly
my enemy stood before me
face to face
in the afternoon sun
i was close enough
to see the fear
in his almond eyes
i had a gun
he didn’t
i hesitated
could i really kill him
here in cold blood
they say you should
never hesitate
but i just couldn’t
pull the trigger
he most likely
had a family like me
i hesitated
he slowly began
to back away from me
i had to let him go
i would never tell
the others
but i was secretly glad
when he bolted
for the woods
antlers held high
–photo/art by me
The snow swirled
Madly around us,
Thrust forth on
A bitter-tongued wind,
And each of us knew
That God’s icy breath blew
For the myriad sins
We had sinned.
And every man knew
He deserved it;
There wasn’t a one
To be spared–
We were lost in the storm,
And were never to warm,
But the truth was
We no longer cared.
We sat on the snow
In a circle,
Each man just
A shivering shell–
We’d accepted our fate,
And now we would wait
For the wonderful
Fires of Hell.
as pure as
a baby’s first tear
as deep as
a galaxy’s core
as true as
a still morning echo
our omnia vincit amor
stronger than
old mighty sampson
lighter than
gossamer lace
closer than
guardian angels
our souls in a fiery embrace
…and the winter fun begins!
–Photo by me
the man in the moon
is an awful chaperone
for our young lovers
–photo by me
once upon a time, we worshiped the sun
and our universe made sense to us
but then science was born like a star
and we began to study everything
but the more we tried to understand it
the more we began to see how lost we were
some went back to worshiping the sun
others just admitted it was all illusion
sadly, the one thing that we knew for sure
was that our universe
would never make sense again
–photo/art by me
You were once
An easy river;
Then you flowed
Into the sea,
Now you’re part
Of something
Bigger–
And set apart
From me.
I promise that
I’ll be with you
For all eternity
When I cross
That final sandbar
And flow into
The sea.
–Photo by me
–Photo by my son, Aaron, who just moved to Florida
The planks and oarsmen
Groaned as one,
The winds began to blow,
And at the bow, Leif Erikson’s
Unease began to grow.
He’d put his trust in Jesus now,
And sailed to serve the Lord–
Yet Odin’s raven mocked him
As the longboat left the fjord.
Soon blown off course,
He pulled aside a slave
In his distress, and said,
“Bring me your mistress, thrall,
Bring me the prophetess!”
The witch came forth,
Her robe bedecked with
Skulls and precious stones,
And calling on the Alfather,
She cast her ancient bones.
“What is it?” Leif called out to her,
“What do the old bones say?”
“They say a man should trust
His god to guide him on his way.”
And so he prayed to his new god,
And soon a land was found,
Where food and game
Were plentiful,
And “wheat and grapes” abound.
(I posted this poem a couple of years ago, it’s one of my favorites.)
