To My Mind

To my mind:

Please rest.

Quiet the demons.

Destroy the doubt.

Obsess no more.

Put away all the old

unsolvable

worries and neuroses.

Relieve the weight

you place on me

for a day or

even for a moment.

Then together

we might find

what eludes us.

       

Living Here

I.

Living here in the cream

of the Milky Way

in a solar system

perched awkwardly

in an outer band

spun out into space –

I dream.

II.

Living here among matter

dark, desolate

ever mysterious

under heavy influence

of the sprinkling of stars –

I wander.

III.

Living here in a maze

made of galaxies

I dare not begin to count

millions of light years

away from my soul –

I seek.

       

My Verse

I.

My verse is not yet written.

My song is not yet sung.

All marrow from the bone,

has yet to be wrung.

II.

My verse is not yet written.

My life is not yet lived.

A legacy must I leave,

and more must I give.

III.

My verse is not yet written.

My time is not yet done.

I must arrive on empty

when my end has come.

       

Ancient Me

I.

Memories –

that ancient me

lies in dust and dirt

buried in the deepest recess

of the basement.

II.

Upon my next

archaeological dig

I will stumble upon

who I was – once.

III.

These were things

I once cared about

now discarded like

so much rubbish.

IV.

Unearthing them

will remind me

how I cared before.

But will I care again?

       

Fists and Intellect

I.

Be proud of that title – that reputation

that your fists are ready and willing,

that any and all situation can be

settled by your brute force.

II.

I will be proud that I can speak –

that I can verbally spar with most,

that conflict can/should be settled

with something you lack – intellect.

        

Drop the Beat

Is every word written

required to be bent

into the shape

of a rhythm?

Write what you know.

Write what you feel.

Pour yourself onto

the page.

And drop the beat.

       

Doubt

I.

Are you steadfast in all you know is true?

Is all you believe immutable and sure?

Do you prove to be steady and cocksure?

II.

Perhaps the best lesson of your life,

will present itself unannounced.

That is when you will discover

everything that you don’t know.

III.

And as this instruction finds its way,

into the fabric of who you are or will become,

it may shake the pillars of all you once knew,

all you once held dear, all with which you identify.

IV.

Reject the fear that this moment brings.

Rather, embrace this wondrous moment.

For the greatest gift, the most sublime quality

that will lead you to all knowledge is doubt.

       

Dream/Awake

Between sleep

and consciousness,

between dreams

and reality –

my mind, my body

cannot differentiate.

Do I sleep

to rest and dream

or remain awake

to face an

ever-confusing reality?

        

If Only

If only.

If only we could go back

to how it was

to how we were

to who we were.

The way back to that

can no longer be found

perhaps.

The path back to that

was long ago destroyed

I guess.

This is not about forgive.

This is not about forget.

This is now about forward.

This is now about friendship

that I know we can find again.

If only.

Love Lives Here Again

I wrote something in honor of a federal judge’s decision today to strike down the ban on same-sex marriage here in the state of North Carolina.

it is human

part of the general condition

belong

together

forever

–

it is hatred

part of the bigoted set

deny

separate

forever

–

a war was waged

rightfully so

and victory could come

only by way

of the bench

the robe

–

the final salvo

has been launched

standing victorious

on the right side

of history

–

Love lives here again!