My shadow
shows neither
sunrise or set
my silhouette
does not portray
the mirror's display of
creased experience
the crow's vigilant furrows
knit brows focused folds
the lines of knowing laughter
the glancing wink of wit
what was a man
embasketed cased
casketed caving in to
The wish to slip unremarked
under the bridge of sighs
a silent escape disembodied from
dignity's inlaid wooden
barque with
a slight acknowledging nod
from the point of no return
and only the appearance
of change
where was dearth, drought
and doubt of dreams
the pall cloth has sundered seams
to show the astute but obtuse
little deaths of entombed truths
to newly minted eyes
that only envision when
dead to the world
the ode is over old
the dirge left for dead
The adage has not aged well
lament and lay
gone the minstrels way
I would stay
with my light loving shadow
for there is no reflection
in the coming night
I know you
must use your
badge of sorrows
now as a shield
to protect the
emerging you
but when the
time comes and you
can believe
a little in yourself
uncover and let
it fall
expose and toughen yourself
to life's sun
feel your feelings
unlensed by
parents, childhood
fears, imagined
flaws and faults
look smiling and unafraid into
your mirror
in the end
there is no reflection
save from your own light
entarped
in royal blue
water widows weeds
shrouds keening
halyards windchiming
yardarm hymns
on the hard
each bell bouy set tolling
keelsons aching
to be making way and wake
heeling and racing
would they were not
cruelly cradled
a pace from the lake
unseeing I seek
with withering wrinkled cheek
fruitlessly groping with mystic nonsenses
for the winter peach
desireable even with
pithy pulp and pit
a raison d' etre hung
on low arbors
sapient limb
yet ever out of season and reason's reach
longer days are gone
the spit of drizzle
the spite of leaving geese
spell spats of cold and sleet
even the duplicitous
indian summer days
cannot fool away
the frost of fall
aspen's applause
for autumn
summer's loss of leaf
falling away with
each shorter day
tipping the balance
toward lifeless
leaving the season
grieving in colorful
disarray
lo
how the leaves
have fallen
down coverletted
in ermine
never to lift again
what was brown
has been downed in drift
warmth will not delay their
deciduous descent
it is lack light
that ends their day
Trailing veils of rain
angled sun trains from
roiled clouds
descends and cleanses
sending shafts of
sheer enlightenment
cross current
crests falling
concurrent on stone
fireworks of autumn agates
beach light burst
cloud hopping and
polevaulting
stilting on
sun shafts
striking on the
broken bottle green
surface
sating the learning thirst
I want to live
in a place apropos
for a glass house
where you and I
eye to eye see
through any
apparent walls
and the distancing panes
of memory are transparent
to our senses
whose sensitive lenses
focus sharp inner mirrors
observing the thin space that
preserves our fears
yet respecting its fragility
knowing we must break the glass
encasing our fire
mortal scenes
daily dramas
seen through
the electric proscenium
reinforcing the
ill nature of our race
ideas resound
but do not resonate
only echoed by
monotonic emoticons
as innocence decreases
experience deepens the creases
never unveiling
softer features of our janus face
Who speaks for the meek
the benevolent non-violent
the inherent innocents
where rests the
less ruthless truth
the easy peaceful caress
the loving and forgiving
awe ought not to be
elusive to the living
Wearing sea foam slippers
I greet the high tidings
walking on the inconstant
sands of castles and dollars
I have a sun hat
and a night cap
the breeze is my breech clout
nor do I care about
an unraveled sleeve
but in time I ask
Where is Eve?
A fish out of water
flightless bird
dreaming in tongues
I've never heard
a wreck on a reef
dead reckoning wrong
come to grief
sailing solo too long
a disenchanted shanty
wailed to the wave's tattoo
Rough men
lost in bewilderness
busily bushwhacked
stumbling stubble faced
back to the woods
boots on the cliff
edge of prospects
mulishly
not towing the line
not cut any slack
left outside the den
culled from the pack
wolfing down
a hill of beans
dead panning
for old gold
left only with
what money can't buy
Ox eyed and dumb
I succumb to
parroting the
library lullabies
to your putti beauty
I want to be
where the sea
ceases and the
sky starts
heaven's horizon
departing from
heavy weather
into thin air
a condensed and unclouded
I land
Cain was able
to decide on fratricide
but his brother died
with eye nor tooth exchanged
did their diety arrange
everlasting reward for
his pleasing sacrifice
or was it just to have
one less day
out of paradise
hermit aesetic
playing your hand
of solitaire
what have you to
show for a soul
laid bare
unless a lesson
to pass on
less is more on
I have a sleeveless heart
divorced from wives unwilling
and faithless lovers leaving
but what has mended
though sadly ended
was not unbroken
and so unclothed
its tenderness toughened
by exposure
still would not be
loathed to hear
your soft disclosure
the word fitting
like a velvet glove
love
save your
false profits
in vestments
of gold and
folding green
your soul
is not holy owned
by its limited
corporeal partner
but held in
perpetual trust
a living will
a game of chance
without a
pair of dice
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