I Can Never Say Love

I can never say love.

I see your wondrous blue eyes open wide,

wider than the breath of my devoted heart,

and you move away from my side.

 

I can never say “love,”

though my blood rushes when you near,

and the time together is never enough,

and the word is filled with fear.

 

I can never say “love.”

Nevertheless, we’re no longer the same,

becoming more and more one,

and caring does dull the pain.

 

I can never say “love,”

yet we meet it when our fingers touch,

when we raise each class of ruby wine.

To admit the truth would be too much.

 

I want to say “love,”

to release a burning cosmic energy,

to take you into me,

to unite in lovers’ ecstasy.

 

I want to say “love,”

and here you grateful to confess,

what we’ve tried so hard to hide,

no longer guilty of wanting more than less.

 

I can never say “love,”

I have only myself to blame.

Maybe we can say it,

but it’s not because we don’t,

it’s just because we do.

Maturity

 

Weary arms reach upward

toward an overcast sky.

My mind wanders,

back to seasons

of glorious colors gone by.

Brittle and broken,

my branches now snap,

under a passerby’s foot.

I look down, around,

at the tender upstarts

eager to show me up

and touch the brightest star,

cocky in the straightness

of their green spines,

while mine points downward

to a spot where soon I might become

the smoldering ashes of a

camper’s fire.

Red, gold, orange leaves

blanket the ground

below me,

ready to catch me

when I

f

a

l

l.

Renovation

 

I watched him from my car window.

I’m waiting for the light to turn green.

He stands there, motionless,

armed with a paintbrush

dripping noiselessly

on the yellowing grass.

Pointing toward Heaven,

the brush releases

a pale gray river.

It trickles downward

cautiously charting

unexplored territory

this side of Elbow Hill.

A Camel has attached itself

to his sagging lower lip.

Searing smoke rises leftward

entering that tunnel to his mind.

He blinks

and a dried up river bed

collects the withered tear.

The light is about to change.

I’ll be free to go.

Inhaling deeply,

he puts down the brush.

Green.

I leave him chipping away

mechanically

at all the years of

peeling paint.

Miscalculation

Gray

the morning

ripped apart

by long, thin

read – nailed fingers,

scratching

the sleeping sky

until

golden rivulets

reach the earth

warming

the little children

standing

all alone on the corner

waiting

for the lethargic

loping, yellow beast,

shuttling them protectively,

carrying them

to the playground

above the gray horizon

which quickly fades

when night begins to fall.

Bakelite Emotions

Melting street

trapping plastic souls.

Tar oozing over concrete

edges of crowded sidewalks.

Flannel suits and Dior dresses

jump quickly out of the way.

The sun burns white

dark glasses shutting it out.

Around the corner,

a body meditates

on the plight of the homeless,

a crumpled bag

providing amber nourishment

and the illusion of flight.

The Gazebo

The Gazebo

 

A cool summer evening,

we walk in the sand.

We hear music,

it comes from the band

in the town.

Your hand in mine,

a soft, gentle touch.

I love you, and oh,

how you’ve come to mean so much.

The Gazebo, do you remember?

It was there we first met.

How were we to know that there

our destiny had been set

forever.

The Gazebo,

its beauty, its charms,

took to unwilling minds,

and forced them

to become entwined

in life

A Lesson In Painting I & II

A Lesson In Painting I & II.