Fire, Passion, And Stairways To Heaven

Ask a question any way you want.

The truth of the answer it won’t change.

Could the answers change the questions

into some other grammatical form or language?

Some day I will reach a place of Knowing nothing.

I’m wondering if invisible I will be. Or empty?

Better you’re transformed into the fullness of a symphony

with lots of brass, with a conductor with strong arms,

swamped by sound, swamped by the sound of love, 

by loving the harmonies, the chord progressions,

digressions, compressions, suggestions, avoiding the

false prophets and easy answers to abstract questions.

But what pain will it bring us, who knows, 

when our kisses fail to rise above simple disguises,

kisses of no fire, no passions, no stairways to heaven?

Answer from fullness, not from emptiness.

Answer with Mozart, with Bach, with Tchaikovsky.

Answer in full voice, sing in full harmony.

From: A Meandering Search for

Innocence, Time, and Love

Unpub. MS p. 12

Quartet

I have stood on many beaches staring

at the oceans’ promiscuous turbulence,

astonished by their vitality and exuberance.

In their seeming chaos, they were reassuring and calming.

I secretly wanted in despite their obvious warnings,

but the message was astoundingly clear.

Just wait—your time will come.

*

In the third grade

Lora Lee ambushed me with a kiss.

I had no idea what happened but it was exciting.

Today, I marvel at how a kiss of love is exhilarating, 

becoming suspended in a place of no time,

in a time of no place.

*

In our later years, 

we begin to acknowledge 

the frustrations of our youth, 

having left unpicked so many beautiful blossoms.

Too eager to pluck the easy ones and be ‘finished,’

we ignored what we really wanted, fearing the blossoms 

that were more elaborate and mysterious.

*

The world changes rapidly;

the usefulness of stuff is fleeting.

We accumulate more than we care to admit,

but how our hearts speak to us is obscured 

by the possession of glittery things,

sacrificing the Grace of intimate love.

From: In Transition

Unpub. MS p. 8

Kisses And Wine

You keep secrets on your tongue.

They age, mature, becoming tastier

than they ever were.

Music, wine, and prayers

are born in the soul.

There the meaning deepens.

It’s passion, not reason.

Kiss me, play a symphony, 

sip the wine, kiss me again,

say the prayers with me.

Secrets will emerge one by one,

something different every time.

From: Short Poems On How We Ramble

Unpub. MS p. 79