Sweeping days

What if the sweeping days

Were gods 

And existence their 

Cries and laughter? 

I will be the joy or

Sadness of angelic Host 

Their sighing and 

Their smile 

I will be their death and 

Birth 

A divine gift 

Formed by the word 

"Mine" 

To take this life and make 

It so 

To rush and stream 

Toward undying light 

Greater things

There are greater things than the 

Idea of your gods

For gods can never know the 

Friendship of wanderers or the 

Sky-eyed host of grasstreaders, 

Oceangazers, treetouchers 

But that was the test wasn't it? 

God is:

"That than which nothing

Greater can be conceived" 

But I can conceive it 

And its conception fills me like a 

Star-lapping wave, 

With a truth that didn't come 

From a book, 

It surpasses the paper gods, 

It is greater by a green mile, 

By a host of singing lights 

That illuminate my heart, 

It is the love of a dear friend that 

Shares the long road and 

Sheds my tears 

The sunlight through the trees

Upon the infant's pure eye, 

The space between our 

Longing and Eternity, 

Present at every moment

For those with 

Eyes to see, 

Good hearts, 

Faces turned toward the 

Rising lands and waters 

October

What double filament link binds

my soul to you?

Catapulted through the centuries 

Like a cannonball 

Through a dark corridor.

This Fall is cold 

Without you... 

oh sacred month

oh sacred month

as old as tree and 

mountain stone 

let Nature's face

glow within our 

blood-red hearts 

the blood first spilled 

upon an autumn rock 

and spattered on the

yellow leaves of Fall 

we are their children and

will dance 

within the glowing 

groves 

what god would dare to

take the Name? 

not Perseph or Hest

Demeter or Saraswati

there is one 

Nature 

and I beneath the oak 

embrace her

There will be a reckoning

There will be a reckoning

For these thunderous 

Seeds we have planted in the 

Deep dark earth between us 

When this green sprout reaches 

To the crackling heavens 

Will the sky not be split in

Two? 

Will time not disappear and 

Moment's breath cease at the 

Coming of the thousand-leafed 

Wonder we have birthed?

Is there enough sky to contain it? 

crossings

at our meeting

the vision of you 

swept me away

and i will never 

live as much 

as in that  

moment 

how intensely the 

sky burns above us 

how the 

burning the stars 

and the premonition of

destinies touching 

here beside the quiet tree 

i wait for your 

streaming eyes 

oh darling vision 

memory's shimmering 

reflection 

a moment to share (lament)

a moment to share the
dazzling beauty of earth
traces of the sublime in
your eyes
please just a moment from
busy days and lists of tasks
eternity in some time
together
it's too much to ask on
days like these
days i walk through trees and
flowering fields
while the promise of summer
storms pushes wind through my
long hair and around 
blue eyes
scent of wildflowers in 
nostrils hungry for something 
real and fresh
why are we at such odds?
has complacency replaced the
ever-present moment?
will you chase a list into the
grave?
time will see us out the
flashing frame of life
but can it be together?

when words fail

when words fail to describe the beauty in my eye, i can only show you what i see, with hands, gentle touch, a presence there upon the grassy slope by wine dark water.

but there are things i cannot show you, divine, sacred, revealed out of themselves, upon those grassy slopes by wine dark waters.

one night not far from the dancing ground, in a little green tent upon the moonlit hill, i heard the song of two women humming like cicadas, drawing me up into a light, until coyote broke my will and drew me back to earth.  

goodbye sisters, goodbye light, coyote laughing in the night, but i love him all the more for it.

a night of revelry

a night of revelry 
laughter, flashing eyes
clinking glass
fire in our bellies
then fade the setting summer sun
fade the waking eye to
dream upon a dream

hello dawn with 
sandy throat
encrusted bloodshot eye
footstep like a 
pebble in a shoe
"the morning after" 
heavy as a leather jacket

tonight's new party
a farewell to friends
pour the blood-red wine
bringer of jollity and
open doors
the never-ending
celebration of life
before the passage of
another day

we must go on

we must go on
through loss of present things
carried by the wake of
absence
my god has it been a year
since your smiling face
vanished from the earth?
has the sky seen such
vaulting joy?
in my mind's eye
your face floats before my own
pale but smiling
gazing with
Buddha serenity
but i cannot mirror this
tranquility
not yet
and i fear dear cousin
not ever

paradox

"it's all a distraction"

she said, 

"to forget your mortality" 

"hm hm," i nodded, "go on" 

"the shows, the video games, 

and from the beginning of time, 

sporting events,

to distract us from 

the main event" 

"our own death, you mean?"

(i was getting into it) 

"yes yes, and we all 

fell for it" her eyes were 

on fire

or was it the candle light 

reflected in them 

"so we reach the end of life" 

she continued

"without ever really living" 

i sat up, "wait, you mean 

without ever thinking about 

our own death" 

she broke out in that ridiculously

beautiful smile she has 

"can't you see? you can 

never really live until 

you've seen your death" 

"seen it?" 

"yup, face to face, 

felt its cold breath 

against your skin" 

i scratched my head

"seems traumatizing" i muttered 

"yes absolutely, but then 

life can become totally life, 

it's a paradox.."

her voice trailed away 

the fire in her eyes faded 

i think a part of me 

experienced a death just then. 

later as i drove home 

it started to rain 

i turned the radio off so

I could hear the raindrops 

patter against my car 

"it's a paradox.. " i murmured 

a paradox 

 

so long since wind

so long since wind

along the rocky shore 

blew tossing wave and

goddess hair against

this wandering body 

today in shimmering 

vision i caught a glimpse of

old things 

still green in memory's 

golden eye 

there across the chasmed

darkness: vision flew. 

a passerby 

consumed by present things 

stumbled by the path 

"turn your face" i yelled 

but on they plodded

undisturbed in 

electromagnet sphere 

and i, i watched the phantom 

fade away 

how old i must be 

to view this with 

incredulity 

 

motorcycle narcissus

how desperately she looked

at me 

consumed by her feelings 

but I wasn't there

I forgot to be present 

why? 

my damned motorcycle

wouldn't start

I turned it over and over 

in my stupid mind

carburetor, regulator,

vaccuum leak? 

"yes" I nodded to 

a question she asked

but I didn't hear 

"yes, hmm, yes"

her hands were reaching out 

I took them

ashamed of my thoughts 

"my husband wants a divorce" 

"yes that's going around" I said 

"what?" 

"oh nothing," I purred

it's always this with her 

the ever impending 

d-i-v-o-r-c-e

she'll talk about him

for the next hour 

we used to be more than 

these conversations 

we were something 

magical

I look into her eyes 

to find the old truth 

I'll see her soul I gaze 

so deep 

but her eyes are mirrors

I see myself

I see my spark plugs 

I can't look away 

damn-it I'll need to 

take the carburetor off 

this is your going

this is your going

away 

without a consummation 

with an eye on jesus

away

from hot blood and 

nature's force 

with a whimper 

green wood to dust 

driven by the lunatic 

dream of money 

but we will both 

grow old regardless 

time chiseled on our 

twin faces

i cannot betray the 

original impulse 

(no matter how far 

the steel-cold distance) 

given like a falling star 

cradled as an ember 

in these hands 

that knew you 

i still see her

i still see her wind blown hair

there beside the sunny water

before the world was hustle bustle

there was green grass and 

golden summer halos 

around our tossing heads

she said, "what if life is all a circle?"

which made me smile

because here i was

but what could i say

that life's a mystery?

she licked her lips and

suddenly i didn't care

if life's a circle or a square

what mattered was

she was there

with sky in her perfect eyes

when she looked at me