The Songbird

 Sometimes, I think of birds.
The mellow of the morning.
The dew gently waking up
as it dries under the rising sun.

And there's the bird. Chirp!
It sings to the awaiting day.
Its carols beat upon the
solemn silence as all other
eyes ache to lift their lids.

But then the bustle sets in.
Engines are revved.
Kids loitering at bus stops.
The buzz. The clamor.

So the bird stops its song.
My winged friend is relegated
back to the skies in search
of newer and quieter branches.

Who knows if it will be better?
Will its search come to an end?
All I do know is that
it's no longer here.

Ode to Early Winter

Bundled, I zip up the last
of these layers as I prepare
to step into the awaiting world.

And she waited for me. Chilling
down to my inmost layer,
she greets me with her
icy caress. Her affection
cools my scattered thoughts
so that she is the only
inspiration of that moment.

Doña Frija: mi amor de Noviembre...
I welcome your artic embrace!
I longed for the clinging of
your amorous frigidity down
to my very bones.

I don't care what they
say about you.
You've won over my heart.

Inky. Binky. Bonky.

Inky. Binky. Bonky.

While we all worried
about daddy's donkey dying,
we were blind to it all.

Blind to the casual,
cold and constant
calluses that built
upon our pure hearts.

That which awe once
captured has pattered
away with "progress"
that patterns itself
on the slate slab
of someone else's senses.

Just let our fists
tap around in circles and
beat upon our breasts.

Just let our giggles
over daddy's cries
rise as an oblation
to these sacred moments.

Inky. Binky. Bonky.

Awaiting

I yearned so long to hear your voice,
     I waited for your word;
but after time and time again
     there's nothing that I heard.

I ached so long to see your face,
     I hungered for your smile;
but days and months and years went by
     until all sights were vile.

Why? Oh why did you leave me
     to wonder where you are?
To sit and stir in silence kept
     to feel your distance far?

I trust. I hope. I'll wait for you
     until this pain grows numb.
Your promises, I won't forget
     until your kingdom come.

Blueberry Mountains

O how I desire the ingenuity
of those blueberry mountains--
The one exception in the buffeting
and expansive sea of impossibility!

What was new is now as null
as untrodden paths or uncharned wicks.
That which ought have never met
kissed once to never touch again.
A dot plotted never joined to another.
A heart made vulnerable never reciprocated.

Yet, at that moment, in this space,
inscribed like puppy love on tree trunks...
they existed. I saw them.
Even for a blink, I scaled their heights.

Encounter

Thus, I finally saw what
I heard so much about.
That feeling...a touch! Like the all
too familiar scent of sweetness,
like tasting the milk and honey.

It washed over me like rain
as it is swallowed by the earth;
like waves of warmed breezes
as the flames consume their bounty.

What I once held as solid
now melts away and fills
the air of my knowing.

Neither good
nor bad...

it just Is.

Intimacy

I saw it.
The only opportunity,
the modest moment when
guards can be ungirded--
when fears could be forgot.

Then it passed.
Hidden only in hope
that one day,
I may see you.

Like Lilies of the Field

You search me and you know me,
You've seen me,
You've heard me,
and you're still here.

In my weakness, you showed patience.
In my hunger, you satisfied.
In my troubles, you consoled
and beckoned me. Where?
To be determined.

WN1464

Beneath your blue lights,
my eyes, tired, try
to balance both the weight
and the breadth of hours lost,
of days spent drudging,
of moments now stilled.

But alas, I sit. I see. I wait.
This may not be my bed,
but my head found this place.

Reliant. You hold me sturdy.

Homage to Wisdom

All hail to her, the Queen of every man!
Whom spoken words of every tongue has praised…
Her prowess serves her since this world began,
when every cloud was formed and sun was raised.
She reigns in power…molds the human mind
to love and ponder mysteries unsought.
Yet, when our limits leave our awe confined,
We come to terms that certitude is naught.
For can we grasp all that she does possess?
Or comprehend the wholeness of her truth?
Humility—does now my heart confess
for she pervades from ancient down to youth.

You are in me…in them, in every soul!
For all eternity, may we extol.

Homage to Wisdom

All hail to her! O Queen of every man!
Her prowess still by every tongue is praised,
from when all time and space...the world began,
and when the clouds were formed and sun had raised.
For who can know the contents of her mind?
Or comprehend the deepness of her thought?
For us, her lovers, are our thoughts confined...
Without humility, our quest in naught.
The power she bestows, that we possess
ought find it’s grounding on the purest truth.
And I, infatuated, now confess
My love for her ‘til aged from my youth

She is in me, in them, in every soul!
For all eternity, may we extol.

Blackberry

Oh ye whose orbed figures gathered sweet,
connected by thy fibers ever frail.
Arranged in nature's order--bundled neat
to satisfy...and yet to no avail.

For too, thy flesh, is bitter to my taste
and seeded coarse like grit upon my teeth.
But yet I savor every bite as chaste,
as sacred, and as all that grace bequeath.

My dear beloved fruit of thorny bush,
you satiate the craving once unknown.
Though black, enlightened, do your flavors push
to understanding fluid, which has grown.

Now empty hands once full of thee must wait
until our paths are crossed again by fate.

...

Slumber...sleep, O somber soul.
Savor the sound of silent
songs of satisfying serenity.

O stop and sense the soothing
shade that salves the sickness
that settles secretly.

You're safe, O sweetness
of my spirit.

That Silenced Timber

Upon the edge of axes
pulse these veins of obedient
and humble servants.

What more must they give?
Abundant air...abodes
struck down for finite fill.

That Silenced Timber
at service to their Maker,
sharing all with neighbor:

Allowing them sustenance,
Providing life's shelter;
Breathing hope into tomorrow.

Breath

Freed. Fetters once binding now serve vainly.
How has renewal found its place here?
By what means does He call me?

Moved, I cannot return to this place.
Every pace plodded makes place for progress,
yet doubt darkens eyes to see it.

Like a breeze drifting on dormant shores,
Your breath has swayed my inmost being.
Changed, I cannot return to former ways.

Led by Your call, I face forward.
Refined by Your fire, I am unburdened.
Breathe on me, that I may see.

Stained Glass

How, o sharded face, do you,
in all your stillness,
 in all your beauty,
radiate such calm?

With hands unknown,
beyond your speckled surface--
sought to draw one's eyes
into the mysterious.

Though...function fades
when purpose prods the
pristine portrait for
"perceived" purity.

Behind your pigments,
between the rebar;
who are you?

My own eyes are kept,
veiled to who you really
are...beneath the stains.
Blinded to the window
of your very essence.

Though unseen, though loved
for your disguise;
I knew you. I get you.
I see you as you.

Standing

As raindrops strike the graveled stone
and clouds double over, creasing time,
I am left standing.

Fear coupled with denial.
Lose coupled with gloating.
With feet planted and eyes transfixed,
both eternity and I are left standing.

What more am I than a sentinel?
Is not this night standing vigil?

Mingle with me, O Mystery!
Give form to that which hearts desire.
That I may know you as you, me;
so at daybreak, I'm found standing.

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Just as waning wicks seek completion,
my heart aches for You, O Lord.
In stillness, in silence, in fragrant clouds;
Thy words and my words rest unveiled.

Why me, my King, do you reveal
Thyself? These eyes, these ears sense
only feebleness.

But worth was never in question.
Desert was never your cause.
A broken and contrite heart,
O Lord, you will not spurn.

Library

"If every one of them
were written down...
the whole world would NOT
have room for the books!"

But this is pretty close.
As far as eyes can see,
resting...desirous to be held,
tower Thomist tomes--
all bound together
and for greatness.

Oh! How the mind
needs this knowledge
to knead the nakedness
that thought occupies.
With every word, the veil
is torn asunder.

This smell of aged pages
fill not only lungs, but hearts.
For if truth cannot divorce,
lust only ventures elsewhere.

They Left...

He said...

"Withdraw your nets and follow me;
leave wealth, your ways and family.
I call you now to be the man
I destined since the world began.
The sword and evil men you'll face--
your stakes? the whole of human race.
To far and wide, this Word will go
and countless seeds of love, you'll sow.
Certitude you gave away,
your tongue, forfeited, will say,
'I see the heavens opened and
the Son of Man...at the right hand!'

O sons and daughters! Come and see.
The course of centuries has ran
to lead you into His embrace.
All humankind will come to know
the Light of everlasting day;
the fields of His eternal land."

And they left...