Beauty

. The Wound in Christ's Side Culprits inflicted countless injuries On Jesus’ body during fifteen hours; The spear-thrust (last of loathsome savageries) Ripped out from His dead Heart, for sins of ours, Water and blood in separate healing showers. Although the gaping puncture proves Him dead, The wondrous wound, life’s...

. True North Light, opalescent, swirls the arctic bright; Siberian, Scandinavian, Alaskan lights. The morning sun, Aurora, hides her face. King David sings a chariot’s fiery flight, a psalmody of light, exultant grace above the open grave of polar night. Midnight: a momentary ache of blue, a tranquility of light,...

. The End Unraveled string may be rewound, __A hidden thing be sighted; A missing object may be found, __A fallen object righted; A candle snuffed can be relit, __And if a glass has spilled, That doesn’t mean the end of it--- __It still may be refilled. A soiled cloth...

. Regret The rivulets, the patterns in the glass, the dots of rain that race down to the sill, the treacle speed of days that somehow pass, she thinks will kill her, but they never will. It wasn't all her fault, she tells herself, too late to change a single...

. The Mystery of Poetry The mystery of poetry __is found between the lines. The poet sends the signals while __the sentence shows the signs. Alliterative artifices __alert the adept minds. The power of each poem portrays __the images one finds. Enchantment of entendrés and __emotions words define, As carefully...

. La Muerte In those days, no king ruled in Ithaca. A pack moved in with communist ideals: An orgy funded by another’s store. Wine flowed like beer, with all the women free. All except one. Plus one too old to count. The old order withdrew in toothlessness, And kept...

. Shishaldin Radiant angel, bathed in light, Gleaming opalescent white _On the smooth, sheer snow Clothing your smooth symmetry-- Smooth cone, sculpted gracefully _Like no peak I know--- Rising from the icy sea, Rising high, majestically _Piercing through the blue; Rising to the diamond sun, Your light’s source, the only...

. . Ballerina The balanced ballerina on her toe was poised with perfect posture—back and chest. The crowd, in silent awe, enjoyed the show, as she maintained a flawless arabesque. The dancer twirled to glide a sweet chassé with ease and elegance of mastery. This student of the classical ballet...

. Song of the Wailing Women Her spirit has gone forth. Return her to the earth, Released from work and words; In death she is the Lord’s. Did Adam bury Eve? Leave Abraham to grieve The wife no longer his. He buys a field that is The plot of holy...

. In My Wilderness Once, I thought I saw things clearly. Certainty felt quite sincerely. But, my path was very nearly Overgrown by worldliness. Without charts or maps beside me. With no compass there to guide me And no confidence inside me, I became directionless. I was trapped, was somehow...

. The Cat Who Barked There is a row of trees that crowd the ground, They’re dark and still. My cat lies in that spot. His tiger stripes were equal all around, But now lie wrapped in shrouds and put to rot. Or—perhaps not. Though he once mewed, and purred,...

. Promise While winter holds her icy grip __There’s promise in south breezes That make their yearly northward trip--- __Springtime, she comes and teases. The snow and ice as water run forth __As she firmly squeezes The cold and windy heart of the north __With warm and southerly breezes. In...

. The Glass Delusion of King Charles VI of France ‘His malady grew worse every day until his mind was completely gone. Sometimes he thought he was made of glass and would not let himself be touched. He had iron rods put into his clothing and protected himself in all...

. The Dandelion Suburbia frowns upon her sunlit face: “Out, out thou upstart weed!” Poor Dandelion —like sisters Cinderella, Queen Anne’s lace— a beauty cast aside; no bed to lie in. Medicinal, nutritious: a balm on scrapes and sores, on insect bites; the grape of dandy wines. Yet scorned, like...

. To the Reader of Verse Ah, lover, critic, arbiter of verse, divulge your passions, fill a lusting soul with praises. Let the balladeer coerce the skeptic. Let the troubadour cajole Antaéus: wrestle not with me, unclench your fists. Behold the Muse Calliope, her flights and fancies. Bear the hellish...

. Old Orphan They’re over on my dresser, simply framed And looking 1940s fresh and young. There’s something to them holy and unnamed, Some song inside them waiting to be sung. And I their youngest, young no more at all, On days I feel a bit the worse for wear,...

. The Last Night That We Met in memoriam CQD, Halifax, February, 2001 We gripped hands awkwardly. I’d grasped your shoulder To say goodbye, and, that cold winter night A month before your death, you asked who, turned, And said my name in such a way that, colder Though winter...

. St. Jerome’s Cicero Obsession based on St. Jerome’s letter to his disciple St. Eustochium in Rome, A.D. 384 When I was young and foolish long ago, I traveled to Jerusalem alone To fast and pray away from everyone. My book collection I could not forgo; With greatest toil I...

. Beatrice Smiles: Canto XXXI of Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns “You, on the other side of the sacred river,” __Lethe __she called to me, and sharply to the point, __Beatrice __after her blade’s edge left a cut so bitter, and then commenced: “Say, say, if...

. The Sea Cliffs Imposing, somber, motionless they stand, Like ranks of rugged soldiers primed for war, They stand where they have always stood before Through generations—guardians of the land. In dark array, with militant persistence, They rise up in their crumbling armor where They keep watch, with a proud...

. Britomart and Marinell In Edmund Spenser's epic poem, The Faerie Queene, Britomart is a female knight who represents the virtue of chastity.  Marinell is a knight whose mother has prophesied that he will only be conquered by a woman—romantically, he presumes. When Britomart takes on Sir Marinell, The waves are...

. The Scottish Gourmand A culture-rich country which lay to the east where we were invited to conference and feast from Cuba to China, and some of the rest they bade them here gather and money invest for though that land needed infusions of cash its laws were quite muddled...

. Winter Sunset Gnarled, naked boughs, shadowed skeleton arms Stretch in despair and agony. They frame Like barbed-wire twists the western sky aflame Red-orange, ember-glow that no longer warms--- The blasted remnants of a milder day, Clawing its harsh heir, fading fast away. Come, moonless, starless night. Come, let your...

Pastoral Calls—Part 2 of 3 . Face-to-Face A weeping woman called me on the phone And said, “My daughter’s in the county jail. They will not let me see her on my own She’s charged with murder with no hope for bail. “But you’re a pastor and they said that...

. El Melon There is a maze or map on melon skin Even the blind could read and seek to solve. A little girl watches the housewives, deft, Touching the head shapes swiftly, one by one, Until they somehow know which to select. Sometimes they set it wobbling in the...

. Poet Tree Legacy: The Saga Begins is a 14-chapter narrative poem. In this excerpt, the adolescent hero Abelbee, who has to venture deep into the Great Wood to find wise Vallenbee, arrives at Vallenbee’s Place. Abel finds an unbound scroll on a desk. It’s a poem that Vallenbee wrote to...

. Farinelli A thousand thanks, Martini, for your visit. Bologna is a town of balladeers. You’ll love it! Now I wonder, how long is it Since we both quit Madrid? Ah! Twenty years Since I last sang before the King of Spain! And forty since vast crowds hailed me on...

. Lean on Him after Ecclesiasties We labor long beneath the sun. Forgotten soon by everyone. We come from dust and end the same, Depart this life just like we came. It’s all just chasing wind because Whatever is already was, And what will be has been before, There’s nothing...

. Evolution I can’t run fast or jump high anymore. Mistakes I make I never made before. Some maladies and aches don’t have a cure, Alertness and reflexes are less sure. My memory is challenged on most days, It’s easier to get stuck in old ways. But some emotions long...

. Before Going to Sleep as a Boy I saw Him when I closed my eyes, Gazing down sidelong, seeing all, Serenely, stoically wise. I knew that judgement was to fall But found His habit was to look Past me—a boy’s vain hope, as He Was of his conjuring? I...

. Ruben “We have words that speak of the ongoing presence of such privations: orphan, widow, widower. And perhaps the fact that we have no word for the parent who has lost a child is itself a testimony to the unspeakable abiding horror and pain of such a circumstance.” ---Carl...

. Of When I Lived in Prague--- I wander through a maze of gold and stone, Mosaic pavement watched by gilded faces; Bridges, towers etched with cryptic traces Of bygone kings that haunt a bygone throne. I wandered through that city all alone, Aimless through its trove of secret places,...

. Peach Blossom Dreaming Peach blossoms furnish inwrought dreaming room Intangible to fingertips corrupt; __Substantially beyond each tapered petal’s plume Flow fragrances to subtly interrupt The wintry retrospectives of my gloom. On water shields and Long Jing tea we supped, But now beneath peach buds you prate of wine __Poured...

. Spring Shower How beautiful the rain– The cool and cleansing rain! I watch as tiny rivulets Run down my window pane And countless glad and golden drops Renew the earth again. How tender is the rain! With what maternal grace It nourishes the passive earth And wipes its soiled...

. The Piano Student Glissandos flow like rivers from the keys, One by one, you slide with practiced skill And let us hear some hidden melodies, Delighting in these notes that lift and thrill. When you play Bach or other masterpieces, Interpreting in ways that give a new Shape to...

. Delmon’s Progeny Delmon, also known as Dilmun, is a Semitic culture connected to Mesopotamia that flourished in the 2nd millennium B.C.  Beneath the torrid coastal sun tenacious men these waters rode. They ferry pearls from port to port; each City sings its special ode. Some sing of spice, some sing...

. Winter Hyphenation Knit cap above, two squinting eyes below Face frozen fresh-fall snowfall, white as snow. Constricted pupils dim the sight and fight Against the blinding sunrise-lumined light. An ice-chill world where exhaled, hot breath steams And wreathes a winter wonderland of dreams Where muffled footfalls squeaky-clean impress Compressive tracks...

. Moon Garden Party It’s small and all reserved For plants that love full sun, Edges distinct though curved Refine how moments run Through dainty daisy days Succeeded when they’re done By crazed azaleas’ blaze. The details glow at closer range: Kaleidoscopic shape, spread, height Delight the guests whose interchange...

. Aristotle Abridged* And so we ponder virtue and vice. __We seek the mean, not the extreme. Perplexed, I ask for wise advice: __Why does not vice ever suffice? Excess—restraint—both have a price. __So hard to find the Good between. Quench the fire—thaw out the ice. __How shall I choose?...

. The Emerald Queen A Legend from the Future . Part I. Have you heard the old tale of the Emerald Queen? ‘Twas a long time ago when folks would demean Us humans as animals—nothing else more!— Evolved from bacteria found on the floor. They forgot the Creator had made...