Dear, I’ll never care

If we live

On a prayer,

If our silverware’s

Just stainless steel;

If our diamonds

Are glass,

And our gold

Is but brass,

Just as long as

Our love is for real.

 

As I was walking home one night,

A thunderstorm blew in,

But I would not be hurried

Though the rain would soon begin.

Lightning arced across the sky

In splendid disarray,

And for a moment night became

As naked as the day,

And though the wind began

To drive the rain against my face,

I challenged Heaven’s fury

And I kept my steady pace.

The sky unleashed a deluge

As the wind began to roar,

And soon the blinding sheets of rain

Had drenched me to the core.

It wasn’t long, the rain let up,

The wind began to die,

And soon a warm and gentle breeze

Began to clear the sky.

The stars came out like shining jewels

Adorning Heaven’s dome —

The storm had passed, and now at last

I ran like hell for home.

 

I met a wizard

One day by a creek;

I sat down and listened

When he started to speak.

He spoke of the nature

Of space and of time —

He said they’re illusions

Construed in our minds.

He said we were born

From the ashes of stars,

And that some of my kids

Will be living on Mars!

He said that the grass

Was every color but green,

There’s no future and no past,

But only — in-between,

In other dimensions,

Beyond the known three,

Inertial momentum

Becomes gravity,

He told me of things

So amazing and grand,

That most of his words

I could not understand.

He saw my confusion,

To him I was blind;

He said the solution

Was to open my mind.

He reached in his pocket

And smiling at me,

He pulled out a locket

And inside was a key,

He said, “Take this with you,

Wherever you go,

And in turn, you will learn

Everything you must know.”

So I started my quest

To look for a door

That the key would unlock —

So I could learn more.

I searched every cranny

And all little nooks,

In streets and in alleys

And even in books,

I searched a whole life-time

For that hidden door;

I searched every why, when,

where, and what for.

Then one day it hit me

I must have been blind

Not to see that the key

Had really opened my mind,

And now I’m a wizard

And I’m telling you

If you sit down and listen

I can make you one too:

Take this old key

Try every door

You can find,

And one day you’ll see

That you have opened

Your mind.

I met a man

Who had a plan

To make me

very rich,

And I was low

On cash and so

I listened

To his pitch,

And for a fee

He shared with me

The secret scam

He knew

And if you send

Ten dollars, friend,

I’ll share it with you too.

 

(Originally posted May 2016)

Rude piercings

Dark tats

And hard curses

An illusion

Well played

 

Except for the tears

 

No one knew

Of the flower

Too delicate

For storms

Hidden safely

Inside her

 

Except for her

 

When she

Uncovers it

Her hardware

Will be gone

 

Except for the tats

 

In darkness

Just before the dawn

The madmen dance

Out on the lawn

Spin, scuttle, clop

For in the light

A toothless grin

A sunken eye

Or drooling chin

Betrays the madness

Deep within

Spin, scuttle, clop

 

They promenade

And curtsy low

They all join hands

And dosey doe

Spin, scuttle, clop

And as the threat

Of daylight spreads

They waltz their way

Back to their beds

To dance all day

Inside their heads

Spin, scuttle, clop

 

The eloquent Calliope

Muse of epic poetry

Who whispered words

While Homer wrote

The Iliad and Odyssey

Inspires men of every age

To put the pen upon the page

And with her wondrous

Rule of words

She turns the fool into a sage

 

(Originally posted August ’16)