Poems

Window

Through the glass
I see beyond
To worlds I cannot touch

Yet in the glass
I see myself
A world I know too much

Trees

They rise from the earth
Great hands
Full of power and strength
Bringing forth beauty
and life
from their fingertips
So that all the world breathes
easier
But as all dies to winter,
man severs each finger
lest hands turn to fists,
demanding liberation.
No.
These hands,
these severed stumps,
stand broken
until spring,
when again they serve our pleasure,
until they are broken again

Train

Round hooves of steel stampeding across the land.
Passionless speed dividing tranquil fields,
Slicing across the Earth
with bored and weary cargo,
lulled to oblivion
within its measured, rocking pace.
Our stillness,
caught in motion
and all seems effortless

Silence

The words are gone
that speak
where kisses have grown silent
and lips grow still
and helpless
to tell the secrets
longing to be told
trapped within our hearts

Zones

I've traveled through
time and Space
a night so short
would seem to fit
in Nome, or Oslo
at Best
my flesh and bones
cross Land
cross Sea
upon ancestral soil
in part
for my blood spreads thin
across the lands
and once
years beyond knowing
it came
in peril
mingled with tears
and saltwater
indistinguishable
from the hearts
who knew the new
world
of Old
as now it finds
the old world
new
and foreign
in small ways
finding small minds
and habits
in the nooks
and crannies
of lives lived
unconcerned
with mighty deeds
from far away
where I call home
and shall return
with the turning
of the earth
that travels
through space
and the endless night
of time.

Sonnet XI: Forboding

When I said "I love you" I saw you smile
Though tim'rous uncertainty closed your throat
From sounding its own truth in selfsame style
Or spouting platitudes learned well by rote

A silence, I guessed, born of more than fear
Hearts, though true can often be divided
Loathe to speak what they would not hear:
that bounteous love cannot be requited

So off I went, though I wished not to go
My heart remained at home across the sea
The richest seed that ever I did sow
Which uncertain soil took most cautiously

Only time will tell what has taken hold
Will you say "I love you" when we have grown old?

Sonnet X: Age

I walked at ease along this winding path
Watching the old in thought, the young at play
All blessed with peace within this world of wrath
Setting aside their strivings for the day

A delighted child with mirth and laughter
tossed seeds in air to watch as small birds flew
To win the prize wings beat ever faster
Contenders all, but victors always few

I turned aside my head, where old men sat
For in the air I caught a different tone
No dancing sound of joy, but dry and flat
From bird in other field, who walked alone

It's jet eye flashed with all that it did know
I shuddered then at laughter from the crow

Sonnet IX: Blind

I sail a mighty river, known as time
My back to prow, my eyes see what's behind
Aware of naught but past and present clime
In this blinded way must my course unwind

For what lies at my back gives me a chill
An all consuming fog that hides my course
Bringing faint whispers when the night is still
Saying soon shall I come to River's Source

But I can see behind me that same place
It was at River's Source that I began
Eternal void of oceanic space
Each mile from hence marking my life's span

Is it pointless, this journey that I wend
Traversing a cruel serpent, joined end to end?

Sonnet VIII: Homesick

Home, if such a place exist, lies not here
For where I hang my hat is just respite
From that which satisfies but cannot cheer
My heart, which finds life's labors worth but slight

Sme think my soul seeks peace in fame's embrace
And for this venture I upon the stage
As if to find in every unknown face
Some true measure by which my life to gauge

And should perchance, I be so great a fool
To see my joy in random beauty's eye
And in so doing be a witless tool
I my undoing for brief passion's sigh?

Till this poor frame grows still and wet with dew
I seek no home but what I find with you.

Sonnet VII: Temptation

Embrace the warmth of a convenient lie
And take comfort in the protective dark
Concealing kisses from the fearful eye
That knows with whom you wander in the park

Spring's light caress gives heat to Summer's sky
Forests fall to flames born from single spark
That once green, alive, now just ashes, dry
Fair verdant hills left charred, barren, and stark

Dawn's first light breaks upon a lover's sigh
That strangles to a gasp at what you mark
With heat now spent your eyes can clearly see
That naught remains, not grass, nor leaves, nor bark

Was evening passion worth what you have now?
The smoking ruins of an unkept vow.

Sonnet VI: Progress

On wings of burnished steel I calmly fly
Sedately gazing at the world below
So sure that laws of physics will apply
And convey me safely to all I know

For untold ages poets gazed on high
And sighed at what could only be a dream
Perceiving in the eagle's fearsome cry
The rending sound of Icarus's scream

And now I sit and hurtle through the sky
Visions no more but merely tools of work
So common that I do not question why
This miracle would bore a common clerk

So now are all things that made men wonder
As flights of fancy are torn asunder

Sonnet V: Dream

I dreamed a dream of cups, full and brimming
Overflowing with joy and peace and love
O'erwhelmed by such wealth my mind was swimming
With hope that rained down on me from above

My limbs grew stiff and taut with much dismay
As one by one the cups were overturned
And all was lost in sudden disarray
But one remained and blood within it churn'd

The moon then rose and cast a baleful eye
Upon my sorrow and my sudden pain
I took two swords and felt that I might die
But turned them out against the world's disdain

In a hearts beat I found I had lost all
And so stood firm against the lover's call

Sonnet IV: Companion

Who will sit here with me while my heart breaks
And watch the tears flow slowly from my eyes
Hold my rocking form as my raw soul aches
And listen while I denounce all love's lies?

How many times can a heart break in two
And bleed its precious life upon the ground
Until it learns to fear when something new
So full of hope and promise comes around?

Do you grow tired, my friend, of all my pain
And wonder if and when it all will end
As my choked sobs pour forth again, again
And I vow once more to my heart defend?

In spite of all will you come and sit here
Beside me while I mourn what I hold dear?

Sonnet III: Desire

With ladies fair I've often played the fool
A smile a coin with which to pay my pain
Each laugh and kiss as precious as a jewel
A dragon's hoard to shield from all disdain

But these inward dragons can be fell cruel
And hunger most when treasure falls like rain
So rav'nous wurm has seized me for his tool
And now I dance to his endless refrain

This life now placed beneath the serpent's rule
My love for love seems not to wax, but wane
And each new heat begins at once to cool
That which makes life sweet soon becomes my bane

I looked to love of women for my joy
And have become my own desire's toy.

Sonnet II: Quandry

To say I do not hurt would be untrue
A lie more venomous than serpent's bite
But to say that I hurt because of you
Is a truth I seek to hide from cruel light

To smother my heart's song is hardly new
It's tune opposed to what I feel is "right"
And so instead I do myself undo
Putting my own integrity to flight

You say my forgiveness comes too easy
A gift so cheap that it becomes suspect
Instead of my compassion you need me
To demand some penance for my respect

But can I dare at times to be unjust
If it's the only way to win your trust?

Sonnet I: Restraint

I see your glowing smile, but do not dare
To seize the invitation of your lips
To grab you close and drag you to my lair
And taste that paradise within your hips

When we embrace, my heart leaps from my breast
A shining star that never knows eclipse
But for honor my love must be repress'd
Your strength I need, for my resolve, it slips

When I grow weak, you need but tell me where
I would forsake it all at your request
And lay my body down before you bare
Flesh ravished, but my soul cries out distress'd

T'were not for conscience, all these things might be
But for now, love requires chastity

Cycle

I have lived a hundred lifetimes
Fought a dozen wars
Walked every mile across the earth
Seen a million sights

Once as a man I loved the sun
Empassioned by its warmth
With father's tools I built my wings
And flew towards its heart

My soul still scorched with heat
I fell back upon the wheel
Vowing with etherial tears
Ne'er to fly so high

Once as a moth I loved the flame
Empassioned by its warmth
With nature's tools I beat my wings
And flew towards its heart

My soul still scorched with heat
I fell back upon the wheel
Vowing with etherial tears
Ne'er to fly so close

Now as a man I loved you dear
Empassioned by your warmth
With my poor tools I fashioned wings
And flew towards your heart

Terrible, terrible destiny.

Black Valentine

Love is a cancer
Hungrily consuming the soul
Devouring the heart
Digesting the will

Like mercury through the blood
It penetrates every cell
Leaving nothing untouched
Nothing unchanged

Having fed, now sated
It abandons its prey
In its place, a void
A hollow chamber, home to wind

The body still moves
Still works, even plays
Its face a mask
The heart a memory

At night, alone
The cold inside grows
And deep inside an echo
A memory of laughter