Merriment

Do not seek your bliss
in only a kiss
Sometimes laughter can bring on the feeling

A beautiful face
A form full of grace
will not always turn out so appealing

A turn of the word
from straight to absurd
can live in your mind all your days

Sun rays in your heart
to break clouds apart
in the most unexpected of ways

So love if you must
in earnest and trust
but make sure they seek out your smile

For an edifice falls
with each drop of the ball
but a good laugh will keep all the while

Refill

Pour out the pitcher
Shake out the dregs
Give your mind peace
Give your dreams legs

Rinse out the residue
Scrub the sides clean
Live as a pauper
Live as a queen

Let the air enter
Let the drips dry
Find depth in each day
Find love in each eye

Refill your vessel
Drink deeply with friends
Don't wait 'til tomorrow
Don't wait 'til the end

Swallowed

Swallowed up by the world
with a suck and a swirl
and a deluge that carries you down

You float through each day
drifting farther away
and your feet miss the give of the ground

Grabbing tight with your hand
what can help you to stand
and pretend you can feel the rich soil

Still those buzzes and beeps
take your time and your sleep
and your days seem to reek with the spoil

Swimming upstream is tough
but enough is enough
so you thrash 'til you break through the surface

On the shore you collapse
and your weary hand grasps
what you sought all along, your true purpose

Shrinking Voice

The terror of a step
the shrinking of a voice
When pushed into the dark
When your fear had forced a choice

A day that's fraught with questions
that not a one can answer
When sunlight feels like nudity
when dreams feel like a cancer

You want life to be more
you want things to be better
yet getting out of bed
is an insurmountable endeavor

So you seethe each day with hope
and mourn the time that slips away
Listening for that shrinking voice's words
"It's time, Let's go, Today."

When We Began to Roar

The idea of her was whispers
told in boxy chambers
The conclusion unavoidable
and who could really blame her

Once power killed compassion
and the weak were left to languish
and towering bleached statues
smirked upon their anguish

She rose from scalding fires
she brushed away the ash
refusing mere perceptions
such as apron, gown or sash

Her heart gave her the bravery
but her mind gave her a sword
No more could she allow
the future we were moving toward

So the fight was started quietly
and grew into a din
For only those who led with love
could ever hope to win

Your Light

I love the light that shines from you
so subtle yet so radiant
it emanates with different hues
so rich in all its gradients

The layers of the love you hold
and share with all you meet
from flickering flame to spotlight bold
from crown to heart to feet

Some may seem so blind to it
but still it seeks their hearts
Its shine relentless, to them flits
to tear their walls apart

In spite of all the shadows cast
the dark cannot contain
Its lumination still will last
refusing e'er to wane

Nature

Cutting rock with water
moving earth with breezes
Creating vastly wonders
with everything it seizes

A storm can end forever
A perfect day slows time
The sunlight feeds your gardens
but lightning splits the pine

The real truth of existence
lives in the deepest wild
To the chipmunk your a giant
to the redwoods, just a child

When life becomes just taking
and lamenting what you lack
Do not underestimate
what can be taken back

The Love Within

In the name of love and charity
in rising solidarity
I wish now for the clarity
to see beyond disparity

In the name of sisters and of brothers
with the strength of fathers and of mothers
remove the hate that wants to smother
the joy of loving one another

In the name of wishes and of dreams
and the kindness sewing up the seams
we must listen to the haunting screams
if we wish to know what all this means

In the name of hands and hearts and heads
the laughs we've had and the tears we've shed
we must rebuke the lies we're fed
and seek the love within instead

Keys

Taking the time
to look through my mind
to tie up the pieces
of unraveled twine

Feeling the breaths
that fill up my chest
will they come with ease
or be fraught with unrest

Spending my night
in a room with no light
will I be awakened
or cower in fright

Watching my dreams
play out in scenes
some bring me comfort
some make me scream

Inside are the keys
to who I should be
And no one can find them
except maybe me

Son(s)

Fresh and clean
smooth and soft
murmuring
eyes aloft
A shine emits
from his new born soul
A story starts
his tale unfolds
Spectating joy
with endless wonder
his tiny spell
I've fallen under
and all my wishes
are now devoted
what once was dreams
has been promoted

At Day's End

When it feels like existence
drips down from your face
the last waking moments
your mind tries to chase
but life has been piled
upon once strong shoulders
and your arms seem to ache
like your problems were boulders
that you carried like oxen
through a jungle of wheat
each step you have taken
throbs within your feet
Now a place warm and cozy
is the one thing you seek
and the dreams from last night
deserve a fresh peek
So you wrap yourself soundly
in blankets and Zs
As a body in slumber
sets its addled mind free

Fractal Lessons

Our wish is to stop it
or somehow undo it
but really the hope is
we'll never go through it

Yet here the deeds stand
already done
there's blood on our hands
and nothing is won

A prophesy fed
a monster now sated
but there's still more to come
from the hate and the hated

There's no easy answer
no blanketing cure
so we hope for clear minds
and hearts that are pure

So spread not the terror
no assumptions applied
I chose peaceful resolve
rather then just a side

Opening

The slightest of bending
the softness of mercy
a heart inching open
words uttered less tersely

Showing up now as human
be it ever so subtle
Listening with ears open
not just forming rebuttals

Not a pouring emotion
just a blossoming fairness
Choosing words with a purpose
not dismissive and careless

With the stiffness of hinges
that crackle with rust
We can open that fortress
and build a new trust

Though our differences stand
let our barrier be rended
for this battle is known
for the joy it has ended

Call and Response

The skin that's been blighted
A hope unrequited
exposing the roots of the rage that's incited

Well shown in the annals
Is the way things were channeled
to turn certain humans from people to mammals

A continuous tamping
Through misandric vamping
and the boxes created were brutal and cramping

Yet their voices still rise
In unending reprise
our response to their call shows of what we're comprised

Bystander

Creep away quietly from your conventions
Muster your gusto to state your dissensions
The Self Immolation of constant neutrality
A witness to others perverting reality
Feel now the roiling that lurches your gut
Point out the space between open and shut
Pull down the curtain be it white, blue or black
Let words be your weapon and truth your attack