Poem (with music): Death and Me

In the light where dancing fairies dwell,

whispering of the deals fate compels,

A fleeting breath, a gentle sigh,

As air hangs thick and spirits fly

I look longing across a chasm wide,

With Death, my solemn, patient guide.

“Dear death,” I plea, “let’s barter here,

I offer dreams, I hold so dear.

What do you give for breaths still drawn?

For vibrant blooms and whispered dawn?

For memories of warm embrace,

and fleeting touches of time and grace.

The laughter of a child’s play,

The light of a setting day.

Take from me life’s sad veil,

The creeping doubts, the faintest wail,

I’ll barter strength for lives entwined,

For every love that’s left behind.

“What, dear death, do I obtain,

From tender tears, from joy and pain?

For every moment that I seek,

There lies a cost, a painful truth to speak”

I reach within, my heart in hand,

“I’ll trade you longings and a grain of sand.”

With bated breath, I watch and wait,

Stillness hums as Death decides my fate.

Pausing to consider for a time,

The symbols on the silver moon entwined.

A sigh escapes, like autumn leaves,

In this transaction, my heart believes.

“Your offer’s rich,” Death softly sings,

“But life’s a web with tangled strings.

As we tread through shadowed paths

With every sorrow, and pain’s cruel laughs,

For every joy, a flicker fades,

In every heart, a shadow wades.”

“But oh,” I plead, “let me extend

This fragile barter, so I can end,

In death, I see beauty’s glow,

A cycle danced, the ebb and flow.

To realms beyond. Where echoes cease

In the stillness, there is release

“What, dear death, do I obtain,

From tender tears, from joy and pain?

For every moment that I seek,

There lies a cost, a painful truth to speak”

I reach within, my heart in hand,

“I’ll trade you longings and a grain of sand.”

With gentle grace, Death shakes its head,

“For life’s high price is never shed,

But should you choose, dear soul, to fight,

Rebuke the dark, and embrace the light.

Let us bargain not to flee from time,

But for your strength to face the climb,

To cherish moments, bright and rare,

And weave them into every prayer.”

The sun does rise, and here I stand,

with melancholy joy and hour glass in hand.

In bargaining, I found my place,

To live, to love, in the Day’s embrace.

Beauty Eternal (rewrite)


Hours and days counted
As the months go by. 
Lost forever to my eyes, 
The sight of your beauty 
Is always in my mind. 

Sights of face and form
Beauty beyond compare
High on your eyes
Drunk on your voice
Perfect to my likings

Your smile, your laughter,
Pleasures almost forgotten. 
But always remembered, 
Is the light of that soul. 
Battered and bruised, 
Yet glowing brightly. 

That which is pleasing to see 
Flees with the passing of time. 
A  face will wrinkle
A body will sag
But your beauty grew
With every setting sun

Outward beauty, 
In Face and form
Inward beauty,
You hide from others.

I never knew beauty, 
I never knew love
I never knew what I was missing.
Until you walked through that door.
I didn’t know what I was doing
Did not know what I was feeling
Until after you walked out of that door

I got what I wanted
Inspiration that lasts a lifetime
But I never got to tell you
your perfect beauty is eternal
forever be in my heart,
Because of the love it has inspired

Poetic Attraction

  • It is said that beauty Is in the eye of the beholder
  • But there is beauty one must be blind not to see
  • Picasso blue and Van Gogh orange
  • God’s Paintings on nature itself,
  • Mountain top views, clouds in a blue sky.
  • Flowers in full bloom, and Perfect sunrises.
  • But as common as a day of the week,
  • Are those beauties pleasing to see.
  • But as rare as the perfect sunset,
  • Are those raising the soul to heaven,
  • making us better just by the seeing. 
  • And the rarest beauty of all,
  • Is that soul the eyes may reveal
  • Pen and paper, tapping on a keyboard,
  • Pouring out words no one will read.
  • Expressing the language of my heart,
  • In a futile attempt to capture the inspiration.
  • Fear and longing, insecurities and hope,
  • And dreams of what could be.
  • Possibilities found in an unknown soul,
  • Which shines out through those eyes.
  • Questions without words in silent prayers,
  • Eyes of the One or another muse?
  • Depth enough for a lifetime exploring,
  • Inspiration enough for true love,
  • or just for another poem?

We Are Your Neighbors

I have nowhere to go when the snow starts to fall

So I huddle in the corner, in the places you will not go

Like a shadow in a mirror, a wisp of smoke in the rain

You turn your head and pretend not to see me,

I am your neighbor, and I am in need.

My toothless grin and outstretched hand.

I meet you on the corners, and at the store fronts

Like a dog barking after dark, a phone ringing during dinner

You see me as only another annoyance in your life

I am your neighbor, and I am in need.

I have no bread to give to my children

So I sell myself, all I have left, so they can eat

Like uncombed hair, a stain on a shirt

You will not be seen with me, people might get the wrong idea

I am your neighbor and I am in need.

I am only seventeen and see no hope for the future

So I put a needle in my arm to find a little pleasure

Like a dish in the sink, a flower bed in need of tending

You are too busy to help me with my pain before it kills me

I am your neighbor, and I am in need.

Do you give any thought to the Lord’ words?

What you do not do for the least of Mine…

Give to all those who ask…

He who is without sin…

They shall know you belong to Me by your love…

We are your neighbors, and we are in need!

Photo by Ante Gudelj on Unsplash

A Dream Called Life

The Muse, so timid

Her Inspiration, so fragile

Her visage, so perfect

Her caress, so fleeting

Like an unremembered dream

Art, life, and love

All combined in an instant

Moments shared, then gone

Memory trapped, always free

Like an unbound dream

Hopes, desires, and wishes

Living forever, making plans

The tomorrows of yesteryears

Time unknown, until it passes

Like the dream called life

Honest Eyes

Actions reveal mouths would lie

Of the truths our hearts might tell

Of anger unspoken, of love unvoiced

Of mercy, pain, and misery 

In the double-mind of desiring to stop desire, 

Where is the mouth which speaks such truth?

Where is this ear that hears my thoughts?

Where is this eye that sees such inward ugliness?

The mouth cannot hear, the ear cannot speak,

And the eye cannot see itself,

So the face we ought to be,

is the mirror of honest reflection

With honest eyes we may see

The truths other hearts might tell

Of anger unspoken, of love unvoiced

Of their mercy, pain, and misery

The Heart of the Romantic

I cry out with a lonely heart,

For a love that is greater than the pain.

Where are you, my true love?

Do you feel me through space and time?

I have loved you from the beginning of my days.

I have waited while so many years pass.

A lifetime is a small price to pay,

For the love I know we share.

There are times when I lose my hope.

Thinking you but a romantic illusion.

Naming the poets of love as liars,

But you are always there to call me back.

Do you cry out with a lonely heart,

For a love that is greater than the pain?

Asking where I am, your true love,

Wondering if I feel you through space and time?

I do, and it aids my faith of the poets.

Still, there are times when the pain is strong.

When I try to forge others into you,

But my heart has always belonged to you.

I no longer cry because we have never met,

For we already have a love greater than the pain.

One that radiates through space and time,

Which is more than most can say.

The Muse

Caged in the fears and sorrows of our own making

But the night can never last forever

For her eyes are the light of the coming dawn

Clouds thick in our mind, winter’s bight all around

But the flowers of spring still bloom in our heart

For her smile is the warmth of our life

Dreams of yesterdays and tomorrows, of hopes and desires

But the waking world is where we want to be

For paradise is found when her laughter is in the air

An artist insanity brought on by perfection unexpressed

But she is in every song, painting and sculpture

For hers is the beauty at the heart of every masterpiece

To love, to want, and then she is gone  

But the happiness she inspired remains

For that is the gift the Muse left behind