1:57 PM

- We're two minutes late! -

say some passersby.

I am one of them

as I marvel at

their odd meeting time.

Rain falls like dark angels

from eternally 

grey skies. Tomorrow

will be better I

silently surmise.

You are far from here.

Somewhere warmer, some-

where gold, giving no 

thought of me on some-

one else's shoulder.

--040714--

© 2014 vagrant moon

Crime & Punishment

Justice is forgiveness –
it is surely heard
in the bishop's song
to the con Jean Valjean;

for the brave melody
he sings to the cops –
that climbs like a prayer –
is the same sung by Javert:

the restless pursuer,

that relentless judge

who sorely assumed
justice equals judgment.

And justice surely does.
But where does it lie,
this judgment? On the
back of a thief or a

Priest? And who possesses
the privilege to try
and to deal out death
but God and God Himself?


© 2014 vagrant moon

Researching Moliére

Oh, the drama! 

Oh, how tragic!

That one would die

of a heaving cough

while playing a

hypochondriac.

Oh, what irony!

What a discovery!

How Argan's ghost must

have swooned upon seeing 

his imagined malady 

was not so imaginary.

© 2014 vagrant moon

Coffee Shop Talk

A crush betrays you –

your heart turns your face red

as you laugh off the truth 

like a child who just 

pulled his hand out 

of the cookie jar 

mommy told him 

not to touch before dinner.

Your lukewarm coffee sits

waiting beneath your shy chin,

desperate for another chance

to be thought of,

to be bought with the tongue

and enjoyed like water
to a desert rose – 

your countenance sharing it’s subtle

shade of color – pink like blush;

red like the heart’s thunder.

© 2014 vagrant moon

Our Love is a Slur

Our love is a slur;
I gotta walk away.
I've been grabbing at straws
And only leave with tragedy.

Our love is a slur,
can't you see it slip away?
It's drifting along like an
atmosphere in jilted space.

And I don't wanna
wake up like this,
With nothing but a
superficial kiss

on my lips.


© 2014 vagrant moon
[written in March 2014]

Threshold of Heaven

When we cross over
the threshold of heaven
I suppose our love will
be truer,
purer,
richer,
deeper,
immediate –

Immediately.

I suppose I won't care
when you don't write,
or rather visit me in
my marble mansion,
though I'm thinking
I'll be in a tent –

this is partly due
to how I view myself,
and partly due to how
I wish to live:

simply and with abandon.

I suppose this dream
will be easier to live
in paradise,

above the vacant skies
we now live under.


© 2014 vagrant moon

Promise Keeper

________________

"I am still livin' with your ghost,

lonely and dreamin' of the west coast."

- Art Alexakis

I visited you before

I flew across your

distant cousin

nearly two years ago.

I never dipped

my hand or foot

in you because

the air was cooler

than expected;

It's the same here.

Before I left

I told you

I would return

someday, to live

or simply visit,

to stroll

the bohemian streets

that bustle beside you.

I am keeping that promise;

come fall, I will deliver. 

© 2014 vagrant moon

Constant Fairies

Mercy.
Temperance.
Patience.

You taught me these.

Acceptance
& perseverance.

These grace you
like constant fairies
filling the space around you,

sprinkling the air
with newness,

telling Tomorrow
it's just an excuse

to wait.


© 2014 vagrant moon

Music Can Be Like That

The pale headphones
fall from my hands like ash

and hover above a blue
shadow on the ground;

Something exploded here
in recent past,

now leaving a dim powdery
stain on gravel.

Music can be like that -
both abrupt and subtle,

exploding in the ears
like a bomb,

then settling upon
a blistered soul

like a wayward swallow,
leaving only the

faint melody of song.


© 2014 vagrant moon

An Exercise in Hope

'Finish the psalm,'
they rant,
these shadows of the past

that still hang upon
the walls
of hope and circumstance;

these voices of my friends
that calling
left behind,

'Strap on your boots,
return to your roots,
and finish the psalm,'
they chide.

'Let the sunlight be
your guide,
keep the shadows as
your friends;

but when clouds abide
and you lose your stride
never keep the
darkness in.

Be a mirror for
the cosmos,
be it all gaseous, marvelous
and bright;

let the blast project
and the glory reflect,
then you, simply
paraphrase the light.

Let the future remain
a mystery
never let it lead
you on,

And to the Creator
ever address,
as you cry out in
your distress,

and as your back's
still bent
don't you ever forget

to pick up
your pen and
finish the psalm.'


© 2014 vagrant moon

Peter & John

______________

We smoked the screen
to make it
what it was to be

now to know it
in my memory

And at once I knew
I was not
magnificent

-Bon Iver


I broke the line
back broke my spine
it's not significant

Now thoughts cloudy
as the mire
scoliosis of the mind

But I am not
repentant
None of us is
innocent

Voice of God
mind of Christ:
What's it to you
if I take a life?

We walk beside
we stand in line
my brother in mind

I would rather
die in twos
than die as one

Essence of God
life of Christ:
The cornerstone.

Body fight
spirit strive
Follow Me!

Voice of God
mind of Christ:
What's it to you
if I keep him
alive?

Yet I am not
repentant
None of us is
innocent

--103111--

The Rose Garden

__________________

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
At the end of the day saying,
'I will try again tomorrow.'

- Mary Anne Radmacher


Try again
Tomorrow,
Wrestle with despair
And win.

Sin shall not
Be master,
Shall not provoke you
To do things you cannot do.

The little lion can scratch,
But he cannot kill.

The thorn in your flesh
Will yield a rose garden
Come morning,
Will smell of
Sweet sunlight
And dragon’s breath.

Let the enemy’s sword
Break upon the chainmail
Of your chest
Like an arrogant ocean on
A steadfast shore.

Come no further,

Says the Light.

Consume no more.


--121710--

Yesterday's Friend

___________________

Yesterday’s friend,

Now I know how you

Felt, how the years of silence

Must have pierced

Your heart like a

Needle going through

The eye of the camel.

If the rich man cannot

Enter heaven by limousine

How can the beggar

Simply walk right in?

Are there still prayers

To pray? Is life itself the

Indulgence one must pay?

I don’t know why you

Tossed in your sleep

Those many dark nights.

Where did you seek the change?

It is hard to live with ghosts,

To make deals with the devil,

To bury the only life you have

To only have it raise up

To strangle your ghost on the

Last day.

--120310--

The Past Will Have the Last Word

_____________________________________

History repeats itself.
– unknown


And this is how it ends,
How it began last winter.

The sun sang his final
Song before dipping down

Out of sight. Will we
See him again? Will

Our brows again be
Kissed with his holy

Blood? Fall has been
Here before, has tip-

Toed away from Summer
on ruffled leaves, has

signaled Winter to start
her annual dirge. Fall

has fooled us all again
into crowning Compromise

king for another term,
into meeting in the middle

and giving none of our
possessions to the poor.


--100810--

Something New

_______________

Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here.

-Jon Foreman


This is where I stood
This time
Last year.

This is where the rain
Fell.
Where the vultures
Gathered death
Like food.

Where Darkness gripped
My hand
Like a fond lover,

Only to whore itself
Out to a hopeless
Humanity.

I was not fooled.
Only lost.
Only wandering.
Only on a vacation

From Joy.
From Purpose.
From Life.

Would these three
Ever find me?
I could not tell.

But today,
As I look back
Over the glaring precipice

Us four dance
On the grave of whores,
Those who promised
life
But only delivered
Disease.

Only longing.

I dare you
To
Move,

Sang the Light.

I dare you to
Become
Who
You
Are.


--100710--

Unless it Falls

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

-Jesus

Today

Hope wears black

and carries a casket

of thorns.

I did not wish it to be this way.

How things change

so soon.

How Winter swallows up

Autumn

on the last night

of Summer.

I hold a plane ticket

in my hands.

Eighteen million are homeless

at my former destination.

Now 18,000 of my

cousin’s days are dead.

It all happened overnight.

I can still hear

my uncle’s voice

on the phone those

ten years ago.

I was just a kid

trying to find my way

in this world,

just a man

trying to make sense

of silence.

I see him standing

in the corner

of next week.

He too wears black,

like Hope.

--082910--

The Returning

__________________

I spoke too soon.

Tonight,

The sunken moon

Kissed me

With starlight

Before I could

Cry into the

Lonely

Pillow.

Tonight,

Darkness knows

Bounds,

Like the ocean’s

Mighty waves.

“Come no further!”

Crashing into the

Light

In my brother’s

Heavy eyes,

It broke its

Bloody knuckles

On tomorrow’s

Steadfast gaze.

“I would have

Despaired

Unless

I had believed

I would see

The goodness of the LORD

In the land of the

Living.”

Take heart;

I am

Returning.

--051810--

The Lifesaver

The life in winter

Which froze fragile bones

Is now hot like ash.

The flames caught wind

Of you pouring gasoline

On your past,

So they kissed your

Black boots

With hot hell.

Now you dance

In the garden’s

Man-made purgatory,

Shaking the dust

Of this world

Off your feet

As you learn to

Live and love

Again.

--051210--

I’m an alien in the garden

Walking tall, thin and proud.

Not all are lost who wander;

Not all the lost are found.

I make my home in Evergreen,

Colors from long ago,

This pale afternoon sending water

Upon an ever thirsty soul.

When I arrive I’ll write you

From wherever it is I go.

Until then,

I wear the sky as my robing

And the earth as my home.

--051110 and 051210--

Snow Fountain (Weeping Higan Cherry)

I've recently started intentionally drawing in natural settings (mainly in a botanical garden) and writing poems to go along with the drawings about once a week. Enjoy the journey!

Snow Fountain,

Green winter

Has come and bowed

You down like ash.

Why are you weeping?

Or are you simply resting

In the arms of the older

Tree, playing dress-up

With his hand-me-down

Clothes? You who are

Cradled in wind and waves,

Do you still feel alone

In the shade, not knowing

Ancient light crouches

Behind you?

--050810--