Some Kind of Purgatory - with audio

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When the travelers' sleep began to thaw
The shadows had not yet gone to rest
A moment in the wall of cold, then harnesses buckled
Once again the iron gate called out its ancient sound
Beyond the colonnade and gardens two sprites shown
A lone sentry watched as we entered his regard
Marking our departure from the place of dreams
A coyote, that crooked shade, paused, then flew across the way
Opening an unseen lock to let our vessel pass
His bushy pale grey tail flagged us onward
Out and into the main channel's current,
Between the mouth of the railroad's black underbrush
And the opposing forest of cobalt house shrubbery
We passed by in our heated soap bubble
Black shadows danced about on the corner
As if driven by an oven's pungent breath
Like black flames in some kind of purgatory
There in the tender wisps of white morning mists
Dangling like bait on unseen strings
Until the great metal Leviathan
Came down hard and fast with a wail and a snort
To swallow everyone, his soul and future
Carrying them off like Jonahs to Nineveh
Where had they gone, to whom would they prophesy
My head turned round,
There my little one was left behind
To bathe at sun up in a cheery water polo soup
While I drifted on into the hazy blinding sky at high speeds
Then coughed out and delivered on the doorstep
Picking up where I'd left off and
Stepping into the clock of the dream breaker
I Slowly awakened to glare of florescent lights
With the warm smell of strong coffee
Pouring through my mind

Sleep

For now to sleep
The bygone way
To leave behind
The things of day
To travel on
A darkened stay
Into the light

Of thoughts and sprites
Forgone and last
To wrongs and rights

Beneath the mast
What cannot be
He must work past
In hungry rings
Of future's Milky Way
All the things
That we conceive
Flights of spirit,
Souls, you and me

G-d rocks the cradle ever gently
Into the not yet and spectral jello
Beyond the reach of fractured sun-ray

Blanket and pillow
On silken bedding bare
In the quiet stream
Of cool night air
Befuddled, troubled,
Peaceful, clear
Looking for one
Who passed by here
Through hallways long

In garden passages
Delighted to be swimming
Up in the breezes

While yet resting
With princes and sages
Unseen family testing
Help turn the pages
Enter one swept onward
Brave blind coward
Doors and currents please
With lilting birdsong
Unknowable day to seize

Clouds recline and kiss the dawn
Misting joy on sunlit buttercups
Bid the morning haze begone

Spreading out far and wide
Lifting spirit and every eye
Telling of the news
Herein lives another day.

Horse Hoof and Hound - with audio

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Upon hearing the sound
Of  horn, hoof and hound
Like mountain streams gone river bound
Refreshing waters underground
In canyons deep where oceans abound
Done round and round and round
He ventured and stumbled on like a funny clown
To the peopled boroughs where the lights shown
Up and down around the mounds
Over the hills and statued lawns
In distant floating nights
In breezy chirping dawns
On his face grew dew and sun
Guiding to the place and town
Of schooled and steepled vagabond
Where the only safe one
Was the rabbit on the run

The glory was great and wine ran freely
Kisses like roses, fragrant, blushing and lively 
Those in tails and wedding gowns danced gaily
Rocking babies in their cribs slept well
Old ones rested and blessed the spell
With stories long gone and present to tell
So the spinning spun along in the dell
And all things seemed well done and said
When on the green the fox turned red
Startled by the black sound of a gun
Well before it's shout the race had begun
Come spring, come summer, come fall undone
For life and horizon
Origin and destination
Cursing, fighting and alienation
Creating, loving, with much dedication
Toil, blessing and damnation
Prayer, song and coronation
Flowers, fowlers and commendation
Prosperity, fools gold, joy and lamentation
Of living, dying and regeneration

Till the muted coo coo looked on without animation
In the pasture cows lowed to slow the expectation
Time's point ever sharpening while dulling sensation,
Shot an arrow from a distant quiver
Below, Country and  town  began to shiver
Breath on his lips was fleeting, and the clouds fickle
Southward Ducks and Geese looked down like angels
Upon each newborn calf, lamb and foal
The bell in the in the market place began to toll
With howling the windswept snow-squalls flew
Slowly hands of ice on placid waters grew
Then all was calm in his mind's landscape view
All he had been and done, those he'd loved and known
'Till the days were gone and scattered shadows shew
Now lain aside were cap and gown
As vacant white sleep lay quiet on frozen ground
Silently, fly away, fly away sight and sound
Far from his bosom, where he lay down 
With the earth his bed, the cold his blanket,
The snow his pillow, G-d his comfort,
And death his crown.

The Well of Night - with audio

audio link

The Well of night is frightening
The dark hides many things
To look therein is fearful
What is found there is terrifying
Inside the broken rings it brings

The Sunlight sinks down upon the barrier
Reflecting on the surface of it's pool
And gives me strength like a warrior
To carry on strong, yet my heart is cool
I dare not peer into that place

For this strength is weakness that must pass
In that day far away but sure
When tidal season brings the rain
To wash away the dredge of sludge
To drain away the underwater pain

When night is broken and peace shall reign
There baby and elder, sick and unwanted
Large and insignificant are to gain
Then I will lose myself in clear blue sky
On resting vapor's floating sigh

With stars for companions by and by.

A Prayer for loved ones - audio link

 audio link

Oh the pain, Oh the pain
For my loved ones
And their fading strength
Like a breath that I cannot catch
Like the fleeting moment that is past
As I climb a mountain of emotion
To the pinnacle of prayer
There I spy release from evil's lair
For my beloved ones tender and slight
To see them struggle against darkest night
Oh Lord fan the spark of life
His assurance calms my fright
I do not know where they travel
In His ship of peace can be no evil
I take comfort in this right spirit

Oh the pain, Oh the pain
Of my loved ones ripped away
Their faces fade to black and white
Speaking softly in my night of their day
Showing me things I'd long forgotten
They clap for me while I play
Silently they tread away
From my field of cotton
In their eyes a knowing look
Welled up with tears of joy
My heart is sad and lachrymose
With the longings of a boy
To be enfolded again in arms now lost
Where they are I cannot be
Where they be I surely go
To the deep black night of heaven's sea

When the sun shall wash away our memory
And we embrace at the end of day
Restored anew in Love's endless country.

Time and Being - with audio

audio link

The twisting cloudy mists
Of all that we seek to grasp
Slips away to become
That which we think we wanted
And when we find ourselves
In the place of our desire
A pebble comes to break up
Our reflection in the pool of vision
At that instant the crash of time appears
Violently to rip away part of our life and
For a fleeting moment we come
Face to face with our mortality
In the cold damp tomb of
Our now uncertain future
No matter how we distract ourselves
In the flurry of life
A piece of us shudders
Waiting for the shock of death
To deliver us into
The still and roaring presence of the Eternal.

Oklahoma - with audio

audio link

Oklahoma is that state
Which bares the worst scars
Of our country in its very soul
An Indian head penny
Minted and pressed out
In the great depression,
It's land still breaths the threats
And curses of the dust bowl
The spirits in the plains wind
Have drawn from deep wells of hatred,
Bigotry, hardship and bitter sleep
The ground yet boasts of
The blood of black tar
And the willows rest alone
The air is like dusty coffee
The people like a painting
For the clocks there are surreal
The earth is become brown and even
Supported by the hum and bumpy line
Of a bug-like pickup truck on the horizon
Fear not, for Oklahoma is a wide
And mighty roaring river of faith
Burnt and tested golden
In the furnace of time
It will carry each contemplative soul
Back to his or her destiny
Some on a whirlwind,
And that with great simplicity
Don't chase away the blackbird
When you catch his scrawny tune
His song may be the freshest event
That will split the serenity of your plateau,
Save the light of G-d
In the hearts of men passing near.

The Old Oak, In Memory of Robert Frost - with audio

audio link

The old oak stands stretching tall
Full of sweet dripping sap
That smells so like mash
Who's stain of sticky resin stays

As I walk away with turned back
And feel the weight of sunbeams
Coming through his fingers
Striking out my shadow

A ponderous wonderment of strength
In his robust limbs and branches
Casting down cool patches of shade
Baring and bending, filtering light

In that shelter the birds alight
Fluttering along the creaking bough
Their songs a shower of blessings
Flowing down the ripply, wrinkled trunk

Grasping twisted roots find their way
Ants tickling the belly of amber red leaves
That crackle and swish with life, while
From the Old Oak's base flows a legacy

Of warmth to the spirit, and
Refreshment to the soul of creatures
A Spring of words traveling ever onward,
Curling, drifting and working through each eddy

Telling truths and secrets - this one to be sure,
Even as the woolly bed of winter comes
To bring the Old Oak blanketed sleep...
There is Another, Who smiles to see him wake.

The Speaker - with audio

audio link

Analogies like allergies
Spring forth like pollen
In the flower of a teaching

Oh those diagrams
Shine like diadems
In the mind of the speaker

Get off of my perception
It's too free to be used
For building up your ego
Which has gotten so huge

Lift up a mountain
Drink up the sea
Capture the wind
Its all the same to me

How is it the man does not hear
What has to us become so clear
That the clouds have crowded his ears

Syllogisms, stories, little jokes
Enthymemes, quips, anecdotes
Pickles, olives, artichokes
All seem so very much remote

To those waiting for the news
Thirsty for some hidden truths
But never there to find

Once eclipsed and passed over,
Behind the blind, drawn
By the words... of the speaker

Leaden Splendor - with audio

audio link

None can
Console him
In his present state
He got up early
Then stayed up late
His mind like butter
In the cold
His actions like those
Of a 70 yr old
His mirror image
Torn asunder
His body cast
In leaden splendor
Makes him
Speculate and wonder
Shall he
Ever recover
Now cast aside
The old sock
Let caffeine break
The mental block
This grumpy soul
Now taken
Shall surely
Sharpen and awaken
Until his eyes
Can clearly see
What the clay is
Meant to be.