The Photograph

Hello my friend who's always there
Whose gaze does not wander
Nor the edges droop on a perfect smile
Though you left the door so long ago
Still your phantom lingers
On paper, captured 'neath a sheet of glass
It's good to know ones limitations
And I, the limit of your presence here
Still in the face of storm or conflagration
It's you I'll risk my tenure in this borne to save
The others captive, hanging here

Or set about for all to see

Witness time in silent confirmation
Caught in moments now long past and gone
Am I captive also in a box or album somewhere?
Or 'neath a sheet of glass as you are here
And though that moment caught me with a smile
Below the thin patina am I trapped forever
Broken hearted or malicious in my thought
Perhaps the the primitives were right to fear it
With power to take a wafer from your soul
For all to view the dissection

In microscopic examination
Defenseless to the moment for ones self

~

On The Road

On the road. Like a Dharma Bum
My bible penned by Kerouac
What I have in sovereign verve
Makes up for any thing I lack

Your pillowed beds and comforters
Will make you soft and wake too late
Arise and ride the Dharma's wheel
It travels on. It cannot wait

And though I bed in humble kind
Or lader with the kit and freight
The world is mine and all it holds
I travel on. I cannot wait

The Little House That Sways In The Wind

I know you don't know me but I am your friend
I live behind your house,
In the little house that sways in the wind.

I remember the day when you first came to stay
At the house on the corner of fifteenth and main.
I sang you my song and fluffed up my fluff
To show you I’m little but I’m very tough.
I know you don't know me but I am your friend
I live in the little house that sways in the wind.

I watched as you played when the weather was nice
And as the snow covered the ground once or twice.
I laughed as you ran like a cat from the rain
And was sad when you fell, crying in pain.
I know you don't know me but I am your friend
I live in the little house that sways in the wind.

I see you each day that you set off to school
And welcome you back in the mid-afternoon.
I look for you putting the seed out to share
And sing my song clearly so you’ll know I’m there.
I know you don't know me but I am your friend
I live behind your house,
In the little house that sways in the wind.

~

Gold and Rose

Gold and Rose the evening sighs
Breathing last spark of the day
Sunflowers bow their solemn heads
In shadows stretched on window screen

Vibrating color washed by thought
Embedding air and flesh
Shimmering in its saturation
Swallowed by the sneaking darkness

Passing through to God's compression
Cast as stars on Prussian Blue
Comes the filling light again
Washing over as a river

River of the Ghost


~

The Highway's Song

In the wee hours on a stormy night
The highway called again
I like home and the simple things
But the highway is my friend

Geese were crying from the waters edge
As the wind blew cool and wet
A lonely dog barked at the sky
My heart and soul were set

I took my tote from the closet top
And flung it on the empty bed
Then fit my world in a Stromberg bag
While the highway's song ran through my head

I left the keys on the counter top
With a good-bye note for all
As I filled the door the geese took flight
And we answered the highways call



~

Ode to Mrs Olson, who always had faith in me

I remember the hat Mrs Olson wore
As she boarded the bus each day
She bought it downtown at Woolworth's
Pleased with how little she paid

She cherished its presence above her brow
Was whole when it was in place
It was decked with flowers and Irish crochet
And it shielded the sun from her face

Yet under its brim was the sun itself
As she beamed to the world her love
And took the bus to St Mary’s
To light candles for those now above

I’d sit as her escort and she’d talk of life
While we wended the bumpy miles
She taught me of duty, and Gods Holy Hand
And to always speak sweetly and smile

Then one chilly morning she get on
So I begged the bus driver to stop
And jumped from the bus, middle of the block
He’d barely just got the thing stopped

I fairly flew as I raced to her door
And knocked, but got no reply
I went around back and found her gone
Then I sat in the garden and cried

I smiled and spoke sweetly, how I’d miss her so
To ne’er see again her bright face
And went to St Mary’s when they laid her to rest
With her hat set neatly in place




~

Hope Chest

It seems the only flawless thing
This spinning wheel of sky
So here beneath its constant passing
Ever waiting I

Held safe within a chest of hope
The heart I have to share
Come closer friend and look inside
I have it over here

And there within the opened case
The artist's verdant heart
And laid about it like a fern
Its thought provoking art

While marveling at the works within
Their soft emotions shimmering
They floated out into the sky
Poured from the heart there brimming

Remember then this wisdom shared
From sages grey and coy
Eternal life’s inside of you
And it’s set free by joy

So as the sky and sun wheel on
And constant pass above
Keepsake within your chest of hope
The verdant heart of love

**************************