Morning

                                  

at my side
still he lay
breathing past passion
moonlight licking is heels
he lay
quiet
expecting morning
but he got me instead

The Weather

                                        

don't trust no
slick-packaged sounds

no ooh baby croonin
wailin nighttime
cross some back alley blues

no knee diggin
hard lovin mama
tunes

no more

cause love don't come easy
like a Sunday eggs-over day
like clouds rollin
over hilltop sky
like smilin out the backseat
of a windy Porsche convertible

like fast times

love don't come easy
but when it comes
it thunders
and I rain

A Way Out of No Way

                                         

when life has turned its face away
and trials bunch around you
when no one hears a word you say
and hate and lies have drowned you

when doors close fast and windows stick
and peace has turned to war
when you feel cornered in the thick
and ready to settle the score

when winter mocks the brightest star
shadows press against the day
remember God made who you are
and fears can never stay

no matter how long the road
how steep the hill you're climbing
no matter how heavy is your load
it's all just in the timing

for when we stumble in the dark
we trip on miracle jewels
that once the sun has risen up
turn adversity into tools

we laugh and wonder how we missed
the answer right before us
the door has opened, dawn has come
and God has heard our stories

do not look down and don't look back
listen to the silence say
"Be still and know that I am God"
I make a way out of no way

Winter Rose

                                    

the first time I touched your face
it was the first time again
a touch so delicate
with traces of you
holding me in your arms

and the first time we kissed
it was like the last time and then
I fell on a shooting star
into a thorny garden scarred
with the ache of crucifixion

the wine we drank was a
dangerous brew
stars kissing the night
ripe with moon pouting
over the crushed petals
in our silence

would that I were a
rose rooted, bowed and bent
in simple prayer
when mother moon consents
stars kiss the night
and mystery's veil is rent

if the first be the last
let me wake to the laughter
of daybreak dawning before and after
let us dare taste even life's bitter hour
a winter rose bud of blood-red flower

Train

                                          

I really can't write about it
the thing that keeps calling me

it sits like a train at the station
waiting for me to board
and I won't

in a lonely compartment with
the curtain half drawn
you sit:  face in shadow
but I would know you anywhere

I envision old movies with
starched maidens in gabardine
lingering in foreign stations;
sincere men sprout white handkerchiefs
profess everything through the
steam of the train as it pulls away

but this train has no driver
no engine
a past but no destination

I cannot look in case it leaves
I can only look in case it stays

I just can't write about it

Flight

                           

mystery candle night
let fall the pendant moon
too soon the morrow light
at precipice of time
I tempt impossible height
awake my dreams and live
to fly with thee tonight

A Leafy Demise

                                  

blue day lazy
silver the river in
cafe window
slows the hour
jumpy with java jive
checkered tables
and leafy demise

you sit near
fit just so warm
snug
and closer still
the river rushes
in perfect syllables

touch the taste
you cup my face
I am dazed voluptuous
with croissant and your lips
in perfect lies awaken

hold my hand

taste the touch of history salty
fingertips wet with kisses
and slim sails slice a windy contentment

quiet the river sings

then clang:  a fork on clapboard floor
a curtain flaps
and nothing more