Lay no markers
On my grave-
Why do the living
Love to throw stones
At the dead?
Bury me in obscurity
In an untraveled land
Let the first time
My feet touch the soil
Be tucking them in
For a long sleep.
Tell no soul
Where I am buried.
Plant no flowers.
Allow the ground
To subside over my bones
Like ephemeral ripples
Spreading, slowing,
Birthing still meadows

And I will be Nature’s dark companion,
Her hidden treasure, her
Secret buried six deep.

If I spoke softly
Like those who manipulate you,
Could it reach back and unravel,
Can anything ever undo,
My desperate harshness?

Was there ever a force
In Heaven, or this teeming earth,
Able to dismantle the barriers,
To rewrite the circumstances of birth,
Or increase my worth to your life?

If I brushed my lips
Gently against your ear
What whispers could inspire you?
Is there a word you might hear
To help you stand your tallest?

I have nothing to please,
Nor to strengthen or establish you.
I am a silver-plated locket twirling in the sun,
Empty, with no objective value,
Reflecting light I cannot possess.

I long for all I do not deserve
And could never maintain,
It makes me weep alone,
I sleep alone in the pain
Of the constant knowing

You are
And I will never be

And you will never be
Better off because of me.

I know no one can be trusted
To be anything akin to selfless
But humans are delightful
Between their sinful messes
Funny, and warm, and clever.
Some are mighty patient, too
I am not attaching; I know better
Than to spoil the nascent view
With invitations or introducions:

I’m just saying they’re pleasant.

Another wave of letting go.
Time and distance
Wash away the memories,
And their absence and resistance
Solidifies my flight plan.

I’m not sure why I broke protocol
For an unknown people
Releasing intimate allegiance
Assuming a steeple
Where a pirate mast stood.

It’s time to chart a course
Back to places I belong
The stars are high in the sky
My sailors sing a cast-off song
Ready to weigh anchor.

I asked for safe passage here
But they thrice denied
I asked for equal treatment
And they brushed my needs aside:
There’s nothing left but the leaving.

They showed me who they are,
I revealed myself in the same.
I praised them for pittances
And why I stay safely contained
Is if they are the best

Anyone could hope to attain:
From this day onward
It is better to remain
Solitary as an oyster.

Let the day
March ahead on percussive feet
Like a child at play
Let the stamp and beat
Carry away
The victory and defeat
Of hours wasted
and incomplete

(Months old/Written in Injection Molding)

How deeply I feel the season
The fog that rolls over my soul
Not in gloom, but as tulle in a dress
Dancing, twirling through the cold
Raindrops embellishing silver webs:
Mother Nature’s diamonds and pearls.
She dresses stately, a refined matron;
She pounces capriciously, a mischievous girl.
I long to hide away, to wile away
My few remaining, precious hours
Painting her bare in mantle portrait,
Framing the beauty of her unfettered powers

But Father Time is a jealous fellow
Who is reluctant to share her in open session
I must steal my gazes, sketch in haste,
And content myself with the passing impression!

My soul constrains me to sing:

You have done the things
You said You would do-

You have not left them undone.

The only honest response to You
Are praises forever sung,

In strains of Hallelujah! God Most High!
Hallelujah, Most Holy, Most Wise
Shepherd who never deserts a lamb.

Hallelujah, oh Great I Am!

For the part that was their sin,
I forgive them again
With warmth in my sprit this time.
For my part, forgive my crimes,
Blend these shadows, weave these hours,
Cause the deluge to grow the flowers;
Work all things together for the best
For those destined to enter Your rest
As I fully believe You are doing.
I wait for You to sing
Over all our tiny tragedies;
Realign our gravity
With You as our center.
Carry us through dark winter.
Form unity among disparates;
Your every odd child inherits
That promise

And Your promises
Will prevail
Your word
Can in nowise fail
It remains ever True.

And in full view of my sins,
In the humility of repentance,
I aver my belief
In Who You Are
What You Can Do

What You Are Already Doing
What You Have Already Done

I Believe You.

I tried to take something here
That doesn’t belong to me
In broad daylight:
Brazen thief

And they pushed me back
Knocked me hard down
I blamed them for
Hard ground.

I must have believed if I found a stately
Abandoned oak in the wood, lonely,
It wouldn’t mind so very much really
If I grafted myself into the family tree.

I’ve been
A foolish dreamer
Shame on me for taking hold,
Refusing to let go when I saw the demeanor

Said No Trespassing.
Purple marks on the founding trees
Left their purple marks on the roots of me,
But the sun will shine, and the miles will see

The nomad smile again
In kindness true
At strangers
As I’m destined to do.

And I’m leaving here
Wiser.
The one mistake
I will never duplicate.

How foolish of me
Fighting to plant seeds
In a patch of my own land.
I am always free.
I have a hundred homes
In the back, by the window seats,
Where I can watch the world turn
Anonymous and unseen
Sharing warmth with warm souls,
But if they curse me
I move on empty-handed
With no grudges to keep
Because no one owns or owes me
Anything.
Whatever their squeezing fingers,
In hunger or brutality,
Try to pull off the bone
Dies with me when I flee.
Purple fingerprints
Don’t stain like ink, not indelibly.
I’m a sin-eater
Moving alongside reality
Absorbing the dark
Dispelling it with esprit.
No coarse hand
Can kill beauty.
I follow her trail
Smiling quietly
With the other travelers
Who can also see.