Colors

On waves of midnight blue –

We shoved off in the boat –

It mattered not where to –

Anywhere at a casual knot.

We entered a world of darkness

None but us could see –

One of two black firmaments

Distinguished by a cool breeze

And then, cradled by whitecaps –

We kissed – you kept me warm.

That the hour was so late

Was inconsequential.

~~~~~~~

Pink is the morning sun ablaze.

Gray is the balmy air.

Purple is the city's haze.

Brown is the wren's bleary stare.

White is the glistening dew.

Night – adieu!

~~~~~~~

A mist of yellow

Gold upon the curtains

Blinding is its glow

The breath of calm winds

Birds silent like they know

Things muted by grayness

A wide, blue shadow

Trees black in the distance –

This is how the sun sets.

~~~~~~~

Under a sky of celadon -

I watched bees huddle

In frenzied expectation

Of riding a flaxen petal.

Lupine and globe mallow

Danced about while sage

Waved at me from below -

Comprising my entourage.

I saw pale butterflies mingle

Within dewy creosotes

Then came an argent gale

Which tugged at their cloaks

And then - the drape shifted

But my vision proves true -

A celadon echo gifted

To me that sunny interlude.

~~~~~~~

I was smote by words

As a soldier with bullets

'Til I harnessed their power

And they slight retreated lest

I would fire back

Then they came for my freedom

But they did not prevail;

No rights were forsaken

Because time outran evil

And faded to black.

~~~~~~~

MY EYES SO GREEN

Plumes of peacock -

Silver sequins -

Halls and faces are aglow.

Music resounds -

Ev'ry lady

Is dancing around her beau.

Where is my friend

Who I wish would

Seek me hither presently?

Yet I, too, wear

A sequined mask.

How shall he recognize me?

I am the one with eyes so green -

The greenest this court has thus far seen -

And they shall search those who convened

For the fair knight of whom I'm so keen.

He wanders about nigh, I deem -

And he shall hold me in high esteem

And love me true once he has seen

My eyes, oh, my eyes so green.

Let the lutes play

For he found me

And his love lights up my life!

Ocarinas

Whistle a tune

As we celebrate tonight!

~~~~~~~

Keep your vigil, whispers of gray –

Speak of what I do understand.

Assault the evil glare of day;

It doesn't speak for my heart –

Rather for the city made of stone

Which knows no bounds of hate.

On this day, I've fallen asunder;

No love for the pieces that remain.

This day has nothing to offer.

Your neutrality fills me whole;

Share my haven with this mute

Though you are harsh but truthful.

Engage me, oh – whispers of gray –

Until I can bear its façade –

I will bleed for a better day.

~~~~~~~

Among hills Apache red

Where damas and vaqueros

Built up a homestead

Past the mercados

And hills with a vague past

Running aside the mission

Its white walls chaste

In the glow of the noontime sun

Past a dreamy mountain range

And several places where in brief

There was a Butterfield stage –

Runs a highway through my life

And whether bathed by the sun

Or a cloud of headlight glare

It continues to function

And remain my anchor.

~~~~~~~

Ample is the rising sun

That alights the furthest mountain –

A carmine drape upon every hill –

Exciting the birds to warble.

Ample, too, is the evening sun

That paints a nebulous curtain –

Quickly changing the palette until

Bringing the good day to shutter.

~~~~~~~

PANTOUM #1

I give you a gift of fireflies;

They're all I have to give –

Captured by many tries –

Given with all my love.

They're all I have to give

To you. They are white magick –

Given with all my love.

Let them illuminate your path.

To you, they are white magick

In the myst of the forest.

Let them illuminate your path

Because fear is darkness

In the myst of the forest.

Captured by many tries –

Because fear is darkness –

I give you a gift of fireflies.

~~~~~~~

Like a sparkling Roman candle –

Parry's penstemon dots the canyon.

Oh, what deep purple bells!

That decorate the trail along

Where pebblestones were swept aside

And sway with the breeze –

Not to elicit a reaction

But to accompany green.

~~~~~~~

Our Sun imprints heavy July

Upon a crimson sunset.

The first star I see in the west

Brings with it a cobalt sigh ...

~~~~~~~

With a spurn of yellow and a shout –

A lone Mexican poppy

Aside the mountain path

Caught my meandering eye.

How diminutive was its stem

And so few were its petals –

Nevertheless – smart with poison –

As it stood there – tranquil.

For one who's loud in color –

I warned the little poppy –

It's not good to be popular

For you can be plucked easily.

~~~~~~~

My lover – he feels blank –

His personality shows through

Those shades of love and kindness

And fears held in check by curfew –

Neither brown nor yellow nor black

But blank with diamond edges

That detect Truth and what

I give back that simply is –

Neither opaque nor translucent

Nor what spectroscopy in between

But fashioned by the eye of God –

Made whole in splendid being.

Neither is love red nor pink

Rather crystalline and pure

And sparkles – discreet –

Behind some rare perimeter.

~~~~~~~

I see the green of the desert

That overcomes the brown –

Clinging to ground and water –

And with gentle affection –

It might reveal some color

Like a yellow persuasion.

I feel the fermenting sun

Calling out the vultures

That fly with a heart of one.

I sense the black jaguar's stare –

Eyes that have a thirst for blood

And those teeth – a gnashing lair.

I smell blood in the wind

When death captures its prey

And in birth when life tries again.

I hear the cicadas' buzz

Drowning in humidity

As thunderheads growl above.

I spy the purple mountains

Blending in with their shadows –

Not knowing where either begin.

They tempt my spirit below

To their crags and lonely peaks –

To secret places I know.