Monday Poetry Train

Kitties, puppies, bunnies is my mantra

When the big bad scaries infuse my dreams

With lavender and orange dahlias,

Twisting sweetness to malign travesty.

Morose is the hand that guides freakish tour,

Pointing the way toward spectral vastness,

And beings heard but unseen behind doors...

The ghoulish threat of mayhem and madness.

Engulf'd now in this panick'd mind's prison,

To become this corner'd lonely buffoon.

How came I to bend thought to these visions?

Just that one glance did I take at gray moon.

How came I to this persistent prowling?

Can no one cure me of this mad howling?

Copyright 2011

Dona Nobis Pacem

A Peace Sonnet

An evolution builds within my soul,

Seeking a spirit of oneness and peace,

Cultivating a clearly defin'd role

For myself in this world; not to appease,

No, nor to bind only to my ideal.
Days fill'd with moments we live then consign
To memory, to share or to conceal,
Lost to recall or polish'd to a shine
So bright it cannot fade; these all become
The light of who we are, one but still part
Of all, more alike in essence than some
Accept, though true in body, mind, and heart.

Diversity need not be divisive,

Nor need it be fear'd, if in peace we live.

Sonnet Six

Often I rush headlong through open gates

Without pausing to see where a path leads.

Impulse may motivate this wand'ring state;

Some innate need to run and not concede;

To jealously guard autonomous will;

Never to surrender to inaction.

I cannot...simply must not remain still,

For in quieter times do demons come

To invade my dreams with freakish malice.

Four walls in a dark room pressing inward;

A false tapestry woven and callous.

And yet, to move is what I can afford,

Refusing counterfeit tranquility

To plumb chartless depths of audacity.

Sonnet Five

Playing the music when it's night or day,

Whether cold and gloomy or in the sunshine.

Stepping close, embracing each other to sway,

Moving forward and backward, keeping time
In a crowded hall fill'd with revellers,
Ignoring pulse pounding beats that shake walls.
Effortless, they glide to soulful singers;
Romantic couples twirling through a waltz.
Some nights are truly for mad gyrations;
Cares of the day releas'd and forgotten,
Shed, cast away to unbridled motion.
Out of breath, spent, with music turn'd low, then,
Eyes only for each other, never straying,
Dancing in dreams like no one is watching.

Sonnet Four

Wind whip'd white caps on the steely gray bay,

Tempestuously rolling toward shore.

Cold bites hard, more winter ice than spring rain.

Vortexes of angry clouds promise more.

Within such uncheck'd volatility

Did the course of a fast friendship reside.

Only alive when running wild and free;

Never quiescent, rarely satisfied.

Yet often comes that day when paths diverge,

When the lives of men find distinct purpose,

Youth foregoing witless pursuits to merge

In honor with the few and the proud, and thus

For duty, one met his untimely end.

So shall I always remember my friend.

Copyright 2010

Sonnet Three

I think often of the path toward peace,

And in that thinking my mind cannot grasp

The length and breadth to which it is deceiv'd.

Simple seems my goal and not much to ask.

To put aside enmity; to be one

In this world with those like and not like me.

Yet why do I feel my hope is undone?

Why do I feel adrift in a gray sea?

Can love fo all trump fear of difference?

Or is man's future lock'd behind borders?

A sad state indeed, this world lacking sense.

the sameness of man hides beneath cultures.

And so I look inward for my lost way,

Serene in mind if only for today.

Copypright 2010

Sonnet Two

Heading east toward the returning sun,

Chill darkness retreating before the day,

I thought of hard round marbles lost and won.

A boy's game of skill and daring to play.

Bravado of youth risking precious stones.

Dead eye aim, shoulders tense, then a thumb flick;

Perfect orbs rolling, seeking fast to own

The target, easing alongside and click,

That one too becomes mine in my pocket.

My treasure, smooth like glass, won fair and square,

Stash'd away safe with my victory set

With those special ones never play'd and rare.

Eastward at dawn, when dreams are possible,

I drive and smile, remembering marbles.

Copyright 2010

Sonnet One

How many times have I looked to the skies,

To marvel at the majestic expanse

Of color and motion before my eyes?

Mighty birds of prey soar in deadly dance,

While intended victims escape by chance.

The spectacle of the sky is boundless

And beautiful, delighting ev'ry sense.

Still, danger often lurks from deep recess

Of space, old rocks that never coalesced,

Hurtling toward the earth at top speed.

If such threat were imminent, I confess,

If this earth's destruction were guaranteed,

Each man alone must find his own solace,

For my last hours belong in your embrace.

Copyright 2010