Brittle Night

Brittle night pulls breath
from tender lungs; drifting lives
rise to star-bright sky.


Approach with care! By
thin nets ensnared, love will
cut to glassy tears.

Distance Melts

Distance melts, sky fades

dim glow of cloud-wrapped day; blank

pages are waiting.

Doors open wide, cold

winds rush inside - I’m a stone 

in dancing waters.

Beyond pale clouds, stars

blaze in black silk of winter’s

sky, lighting my way.

My soul rises through

dim limits; words soar to love-

songs I sing to you

Fifteen Million

Earth reels to cold night
yet everything
stays
the same.

I wait for morning
when grey light
might brighten
somber skies.

Another day’s lies.

I don’t understand
my sadness,
for my life is good,
full of love and rich in faith.

So why do these clouds
hold me fast
in this dark place?

I observe winter’s brutal grip
squeeze tender spring leaves
and curse with frost new-flowering trees.

I understand how the wading white bird
startled by blare of a frantic train
might die from panic
where she stands.

But mostly I see
how ruin fills my nation’s streets
with yard-signs
foreclosing
on fifteen million
dreams.

Self-Examination

my name
my place in line
my face
my fleeting time
to find what I need.

after
so much fear
it's no longer clear
what is true

for truth is thin
and empty
within
enfolded and
faded to
night

Dark Night of the Soul

Black lies

empty nights
mock my weary faith,

when burning heart
sinks beneath
a sea of
fiery grace.

Free at last
I rise to heaven
chastened, and
by God forgiven.

.

Respite

gentle breeze
windows open
to tender
glow

slight
tree sways
green buds lace
dormant
limbs

and hint
at summer,

presage
spring’s
perennial
leap!

Vesper

The western sun glows tangerine;
noon’s blue edge not wanting to leave

vaults high over bright valley skies.

With wide sweep of level cloud,

bands of passion, blushing impasto

strokes of burning orange contend with

fading light to send spent day down

into indigo night.

Fog's Gone

Fog's gone, the sky rises
to steaming heights
sheds hot silver to gleaming bay
thin lines of fire spreading
through the blue, hazy day.

From this hill I see
how space
to white space fades
and bold day strides to night.

Fog's back
to block my hobbled sight.

Elegy for Juliani

They found him today,
the dirty canal washing his face,
his lungs bursting full
with watery breath.

Confusion and hatred
coldly cast this child
to the chilly turbid flow.

Another child died long ago
and all the people wept
to see young life so quickly swept
into death’s deep sleep,

and so they begged
for a miracle. He said

“Wake up, little girl,”
and startled, wide eyed and
very hungry, she sat up.

Does sleepy Juliani
hear a soothing voice say,
“Wake up, little boy”?

Does he rise now to play
in heaven’s soft, new day?