Inspiration

Old age doesn't exist for all

Because many claim its presence;

I submit that living goes on

Through many-hued firmaments.

A shade of love lives here

And over there, a victory, I deem –

Patience caught them in her lair

And surprise – she frolics in between

For one might, on some fateful day –

Pluck a strange flower

And on another, move a rock away

And something wonderful – uncover.

~~~~~~~

City lights, city lights –

Look at all the city lights!

Some are red, some are blue –

Some light up a roof –

Such are our summer nights.

A therapeutic wind blows

As I dare to look below

At the freeway steadily

Moving as an artery

By the bright headlight glow.

From such a great height

In the lateness of the night –

A thrill to my young heart

I feel before we must part.

What wondrous city lights!

~~~~~~~

Sweat is the other garment

You wear in the desert

When the only water is in the cactus

And all but the flies are inert

But a cool layer of sweat

Is a hiker's proof of award

For taking a thin trail

And in curiosity, moving forward.

~~~~~~~

It was hefted upon a breeze -

As in a warm, flowing current

Through a sea of palo verdes -

To search for an embankment.

That seed of promise -

An implicit aster -

Was sent to broken gneiss

To become one with nature -

A golden bloom to come

To an expectant glen -

Not knowing how it found home

Except that it did.

~~~~~~~

The treetop glimmers outside my window

As light, dancing upon the leaflets -

Shimmies about in affable yellow.

My gaze can't help but be captivated

By light, pure and perfectly aglow.

In the wind, swaying charismatically -

Every leaf is twirled as a ballerina -

Playing with my fragile jealousy.

I think I hear an underlying viola -

Oh, light - would you dance with me?

~~~~~~~

Frolic - frolic along with me

And be as a spritely fawn

Running carelessly through the reeds

As best we can imagine.

Let's traipse across the rivulet

Where a log fell in the right place.

What luck that we should find it

Like it knew of our escapade!

The shrubs have something to say;

Small murmurs are thrown to the wind.

They catch up to us and whizz by

But we've not a common language.

So wildly about, the winds gush

That my whipped hair looks feral.

We trample the weeds underfoot;

We overtake a lonesome hill.

Somewhere, anywhere - let us run

And forge for ourselves a new path.

Frolic with me through the unknown

So sure that we never look back.

~~~~~~~

Dry logs redden and snap;

The fire is soon impressive.

The wolf moon takes better shape

As night begins to settle in.

I watch the conflagration spike;

A spark flies off, then others

Like the universe had coaxed them

To become one of the stars.

~~~~~~~

A dream is a butterfly

Fresh from the cocoon

That is realized and soon

Flutters up into the sky

Or faltering, goes astray

Is suddenly killed

While young still

And fast fades away.

~~~~~~~

Every day is a new adventure

A new iota, a new gnosis –

Search not by the easy standard

But see through the eyes of genesis.

The more I learn, the more I love

What man before me has done.

It catapults my soul aloft –

I yearn for that higher plane.

Push back those old perimeters.

Notch in my brain a new wrinkle.

I forge pathways never traversed

And find my world bigger still.

~~~~~~~

Blanched veils there and above

Hold it in stony repose

Throughout time's continuum

And blustering air flows.

Earth granted an ovation -

Nodding its magnificence -

But bigger still is the one

Who goes and conquers it.

~~~~~~~

I believe in charity –

Simple but profound –

Joy made compound –

Spurred momentarily.

One act – hand to hand –

Across the bridge –

Is one's privilege

For the strong withstand.

I believe in humanity

And if a smile be requited –

Humble and innocent –

It little cost me.

~~~~~~~

Don't tell it to the wind

To be blown away as vapor

Or share it with a gossiper

As fragile as a dandelion.

Don't speak of it on the mountaintop;

Even the clouds have ears.

For fear that the Devil hears –

Don't pray for it aloud to God.

Let the wish build up inside

Then straight-faced, release it subtly –

As your actions make it be –

Until its existence can't be denied.

~~~~~~~

Let us drink in the sunshine

From a cup of globe mallow

As would one of palatine

Privilege beside God's throne.

Here's to another springtime.

Here's to hope for tomorrow.

~~~~~~~

Grass is a taut crew;

They stand at attention

As soldiers do

With orders from the sun –

Never having thoughts

That their purpose is trite

Or any nagging doubts

Or need of strife

That'd disturb their ranks.

How exemplary –

I whispered to one blade –

To live as they.

~~~~~~~

Flowers in the desert

Vibrantly grow forth

In yellows and purples

Despite the salty Earth

And when I think about

How birds can fly at all

I am reminded that

Anything is possible.