rift

Through days and years of joyous youth gone past,
I've never felt such strong love for a dame.
And now I know what passion is at last,
Only for you does my heart burst aflame.
A single place in your fray'd mind I crave,
My love I hope you'll graciously accept,
Each hint of your affection I will save,
Pray tell, what so close to thine chest is kept.
Forever I've waited -- or so it seems,
Arrested long by your seduction sweet,
For time in mine eyes oft doth slow its stream.
But in my trance, I stumble o'er my feet--
For all that fall shall fracture and shatter,
And all that burn shall die with one spatter.

the same mistakes

I look up at the moon and stars
in fear that time will pass me by
too quickly as I bow my head
in deep regret of the wasted past
And while I yearn to stare down my heart
to reflect on what I should have done
I tell myself to see the sky

and Move on

not Repeat

iridescence in the peabody museum

opal fire hidden within
charcoal-lined, earthen feathers
of the taxidermied turkey
glint centuries
after the inception of its immortality.

hummingbird jewels
adorn the walls
fire feathers puffed and shifting
red in shadows
green in light
deepest sapphire blues hiding
in the blackest night.

lily pads

life
is like
stepping onto lily pads:
just enough to hold you up from drowning,
but sometimes it's hard to remember to balance,
and hearbeats flutter when the scenery rushes by too
quickly,
or when loved ones are forced into the memory realm before due time.
but you must float on.

gratitude 🕷️

The most beautiful creation of humankind,
that which immortalizes through ink and song,
still bastardizes this profound gratitude
for what saves my life
over

and over.

And in that I see
Just how much I value time in this world
     in this state of matter --
So much so, that
through profession of this song in my soul,
the garish light of its own conception
and reality enhanced by its being shared

mutes its flaring hues.

Yet, I still wish for the world
to see just how much it means to me
and in that eternal struggle
such gratitude warps into a pied jester
and turns to taunt me
and taint itself.