What love is this That spellbinds me And keeps me returning To read scripture? Older I will get

I was smote by words As a soldier with bullets ‘Til I harnessed their power And they slight retreated lest I would fire back

My spirit cannot be bridled For it is as wild as fire— As innocent as a child And in secrecy, has desires. My body cannot contain it—

My friend once sighed That he watches planes fly by And wonders where they’re going. The world’s tempo beats on. I, too, prefer to stop along

My heart is an empty jardiniere Receptive to flowers and affection… By your wayward glances, I could… There is a festering attraction But speak up bravely; be not passi…

Flowers in the desert Vibrantly grow forth In yellows and purples Despite the salty Earth And when I think about

A milky-eyed mourning dove Sat upon a tombstone – tacit – Inside the grounds of St. Francis To admire a cache betroved. A sentinel’s duty – it bears –

How capricious it is To follow the tail of a comet And skip across Saturn’s rings - To wade in endless streams - Cloaked in ether’s blanket

Rabat is a black pearl Of cellophanic rainbow Gazing upon waves that curl And lick a shore little known. Gibraltar is the dock

He comes around the wall And I feel my quickened heart. I dare to look even while Seconds become a moment. He passes with dull eyes

A rose gave up her secret Of its origin – of its beauty – In the shadow of her crescent— Fiercely hushed once to me. She told me of a plan of love

Happy eyes need not the sun For they, like yours, have a light… A cutting light the demons shun That confesses to a kind, ageless… Brown upon brown, they draw me in;

Jesus stole him from me; A cleft of my heart went With my beloved to grand company. Shock distracted the void - Grief befriended melancholy

Death, to me, is a stranger; I know not his whereabouts. I’ve seen him but haven’t heard – I know of him but we’ve not met. He spoke at length with my elder

Oh star – brightest star – That’s first in the sky – I don’t need advice; I just need an ear. Nobody else must know