Once upon a time
I was a strong young lad
I had muscles and my health
Opportunities to be had

There were things I loved to do
I've done a lot of things, I guess
But youthfulness and headstrong ways
Made my life a goddamned mess

I overdid, and underperformed
I was a cat out on the prowl
I fought with bigger dogs
Roared... damn, I had a growl

Sometimes, I was a winner
Just as often, I was losing
I wouldn't slow my ass down
Take my time in choosing

His voice
soft, gentle mesmerizing,
pleading with me to rise above,
loneliness filling the urgency.

I awake, "where am I?"
the only light is of
hundreds of luminescent candles
there is music, the music of the night

and he is there my angel of music
inside, a part of what he has made of me
I'm lost within the seductiveness of his voice.

It is not pity I feel
when I gaze upon him
but a deep longing
to learn the mysteries
And yet I feel fear

tell me dear I want to hear
where were you last night

trailing stars and meteorites
moonlight in your hair

singing up the driveway
dancing through the door

laughter in your bones my dear
eyes sparkling in the night

so who made your shoes go tapping
that tango up the stairs

who touched the feathers of your lips
and filled your voice with song

but now you are asleep my love
safe from winter frosts

your smile so wide you cannot hide
you tango’d up the stairs

he was not a stranger once
just someone I sat with sometimes
drinking coffee
talking about cars
mobile phones and rust

dull conversations about nothing much

but sometimes darker
thoughts would tumble in a torrent
from his mouth

like flies watching death

fear of madness
prison
kakodaimons

I had nothing much to say
understanding the spaces
in anguish

until he hit me

one semi-perfect day

Nothing is ordinary,
Unless you choose to ignore
The succulence of extra-ordinary -

When each spoon fits the perfection
Of teacups, or the warmth of mouths,
And soup ladles curve, cradling broth,
Dipping like swans’ necks into painted bowls
Steaming with nourishment -

Nothing is ordinary,

Not when you remember hands engrained
With dirt and hardship,
Working the stiff and strength of clay,
Fingers learning the flesh of the stuff,

Snuggled in my bed
Wrapped in its enfolding warmth
Alarm jangles me

Drifting in the Netherlands, in the thick, grey, clammy mist
I woke suddenly to the low moaning of siren-song
Clammy fingers of fear, gripped my heart
I stumbled, struggling to keep balance, hold my soul...

My brain wasn't firing on all cylinders, sporadic power outages
Flickering off and on, stronger each time
The walls glowing bright-white, then dark after-images, blink, blink...
I'm baaaaaccck! Whew, now that was a trip!

Her dark hair covers her face,
as if to hide her insecurities.
The black boots which bless her feet;
she walks with dignity and grace.
Despite the fiery hells that she has endured,
with her charred dress and burning skin,
the soil blooms before her among the earth...
As if a divine.
The tears that fall from her pale face,
grazes my skin as she embraces me
and I feel I have entered the eternal life.

I used to worry that our hearts would slip away from each other
Everytime I couldn’t feel the touch of your hand
I used to worry that I would never see you again
Everytime I had to wave you goodbye
I used to worry that you would finally let yourself fall into my heart
And not like what you saw
I used to worry that if your hands did not reach towards me
No one else’s ever would

all knees and elbows;
I remember that awkward stage,
feeling out of faze in my body
when being graceful was the rage.

a faint hunger in my belly
growing to an aching roar.
watching the dancers with their
inspired movements on the floor.

how I longed to join them
letting the music move me
carrying me along in rhythm
finding notes of ecstasy.

hanging back, watching from the wings
listening, hearing the music of the time
caught up in the lights and the words
of the lyrical passages of rhyme