A Picture In My Mind

Just a little of your face before you are no more
  Just a touch of your soft hand to take along
   Just a coin that you've carried as you went your way
     Just a moment of your time to keep me strong

The elusive life that teases us in waking hours
 The frenetic pace of chasing one's own mind
  The trail of cast off things we could not do without
   The tally of the lives we leave behind

Falling Magic

Falling snow 'neath the old street light

Wonders dancing on a winter's night

Jack frost in the corner panes

Crystal paint in glassy frames

Bundled warm with the purring cat

Dog on the couch for a evenings nap

Cocoa steams in the painted crock

Twig and stone, pop and talk

Only here for this little time

The little things, God's great sublime.

Frozen Time

I thought of that moment
Frozen in time
My lips touched yours
Your lips touched mine
And sunshine streamed on our frozen faces
Covered with golden lights

Laughter hung in the breeze tranfixed
Well on its way to triumph
Birds set still on the wing
All for the moment to pass away
Safe in the knowledge we shared this spell


Walk in the light and share your spark
A new world is setting its paces
The republic of one must needs be come
And we will fill its places

Eternal Green

A Christmas Eve
Long past and gone
The Yuletide Carol
Of a heart gone wrong

We voyeur here
Old Scrooge and young
The Spirits Three
And the wisdom wrung

As it unfolds
The Carol play
I shed a tear
For the heart once gay

Then as the nails
Of life drive in
And hang the heart
We see all man’s sin

Dear Mister Scrooge
For you a prayer
Your broken heart
Be it mended here

Though stranded be
On rocky shoal
God’s lifeboat sent
Here to save us all

So sing with Joy
And raise the strain
Light trees of love
And redeem our pain

That we like Scrooge
May all walk free
Accept God’s gift
Of Eternal Green

The Solstice Moon

Under the solstice moon
We danced in ragged rings
As dogs sniffed the wind
With noses in the sky

There the breath of God
Drifting through Orion’s Belt
Took our humble prayers
Through footless halls night

Lo the power washed us
And lifted us on high
Where the sun will come again
Reborn upon the wheel

So Frankincense smoke slow
Float upon the winter air
The tally of our needs
God’s grace to fill once more

To The USMC

They did not know who came for them
In their entrenched redoubts
Who should be pressed into the sands
By blustering and shouts

Yet it did not turn out as planned
Through fire and horror scenes
They saw their vanguard swept away
By the United States Marines

The brotherhood of soldiering
That does not have a peer
That always answers freedom call
And all that we hold dear

So when you spot the Red and Blue
Topped by a snow white cover
Shout Semper Fi and raise your chin
And treat them as a brother

The mind of Dog

I'm waiting for the joy of life
That your approach will bring
Biding time in worried bouts
And ever, waiting

You tease me from the high tree tops
As birds your presence warning
Biding time in worried bouts
And ever, waiting

And now you're here in fluttered fur
So flippant in your styling
I'm coming for your precious scent
No longer, waiting 

The Autumn Wind

The Autumn Wind came by today
And begged the leaves come down and play
We have to ask our Mother Oak
They answered in reply

The Mother Oak loved all her leaves
And if they played
Then she’d be pleased
She let them down into the wind to fly

Then in the happy wind they gyred
In colors matching earth and fire
As sunshine split the sky and danced
Amongst the mirth and joy

All day they twirled, ‘till evens bell
The wind grew quiet as shadows fell
And leaf and sun then rested
Exhausted from their play

Then Mother Oak bid all sweet dreams
As Mister Moon smiled down his beams
And Night did bed them all away
To dance again another day

9/11

A day with skies of Robin's Egg
And higher up the Cobalt burned
Standing in the windowed sky
She watched the fatal, final turn

The light reflecting from the wings
Shielding glass that held their faces
Eyes were met as death approached
Frozen, in fate's final places

Quickly Prayers escaped the lips
And in the hearts of these so bound
God's Will the moment soon divided
With Spirits leaving mortal ground

They watch us now, the dear departed
And those who Satan's will employed
Released the Genie of despoilment
The aim, all freedom be destroyed

We will endure this newer fight
And in the end of all man's time
Escape the grasp of evil tyrants
Our resting place the true sublime

The Explorer

A lad who once did set his foot

Upon the Lunar Dust

Who in the fullness of our time

The mysteries discussed

And slipped the surly bonds of Earth
To dance on silvered wings
Who pressed the limit of man's path
Achieved amazing things

Into the footless halls night
Where few have ever trod
And now he's even further flown
To touch the Face Of God

Dedicated To Neil Armstrong

Old Poetry

Moment's Glow

To bask so in the moment's glow
Though all may ever fail me
Is height and breadth and depth
Though all may ever fail me
Though all may ever fail me


From Whence We Came

Who knows what road winds on before
That swifts us from the open door
And takes us ever onward
Or back from whence we came

The milepost that we mark today
At mountains height or brilliant shore
Is it new, unknown to us
Or seemingly the same

Our feet grow weary when our steps return us at days end
To somewhere that we'd rather leave, yet seem to have always been 

So heed you well and know the path may end or quickly change
By taking step, right or left, to misfortune or fame


Nort' Win' Moan

Iron and Rock, Stick and Stone
Pop an' talk when the Nort' Win' moan
Icy fingers, in the bone
Fingers snap and spark be shown
Light the big fire, fry the scone
Love all day when the Nort' Win' moan

Thirteen

The Sun endures it's Celestial Path
So we in chorus tarry on
And in the wake of traveled space
Another year has come and gone

What marks this place upon the line
Of times more ancient than we know?
The will to shed the tyrant's chains
Those who who cast their fear below

Who in the seasons chill and burn
Were set to mind and charity
And of one will the die was cast
Our Nation of Fraternity

That with the pen and linen's might
The blood and treasure guarantee
Upon the Alter of God's Grace
Became The Nation Of The Free

So yes, we set this day aside
Count Thirteen past Midsummer's Eve
Remembering the Patriots Brave
Who gave to us our Liberty