Stranger

We know the heart of the stranger
The echoing sound of his footsteps
Take comfort in his eyes
The uncertainty is familiar
And the shadow of his hardships
Is the fallen crest of time

We know the fear of the stranger
The pregnant desperation in his voice
Find sanctuary in his hands
The filth is only warmth
And his glorious gospel
Tempts the mercilessly pure savior

We know the wonder of the stranger
The pungent lash of realized reality
Seek out his silent answers
The foreign feels like home
And his sun-kissed darkness
Fights the comfort of our cradle

A Jazz

The darkened face next to
Me taps, taps his jolly

Toes to the marvelous
Beat of unforgotten

Jazzy riffs. You know how
That rat-scat-a-tat-tat

Of sizzling snare solos
Tempestuous trumpet

Blows and the tap, toe, tap
From Vaudeville, music hall

Ladies and Gents can stir
Even the lazy hearts

Of crooked businessmen
And cantankerous crones.

Beat-a-beat-bop-doo-bop
Say the footsteps of old

And young hearts in love and
In like, teaching the world

A contemporary
Rain dance. A dance for life.

I, Angel

I, angel, come swiftly down.
Will you remember me?
I will remember your deceivingly kind smile
And the forbidden charm in your eye that lured me
To within a whisper of sinful temptation.
I, angel, fall shackled to your expectations.
Will you remember me?
I will remember the familiar warmth of your hollow embrace
And the hungry desperation that enslaved our minds
As our lonely eyes connected,
Forging a wicked path between our souls.
I, angel, find myself lost.
Will you remember me?
I will remember the deeply shallow sting
Of your suddenly foreign touch.
And the bitter folly that morphed into anguish
As it traveled effortlessly from your hand to my heart.
I, angel, will remember you.
Will you remember me?

Love You

I do not love you like the gentle bird
That sings sweet sonnets to the early morning sun.
I do not love you like the exuberant audience
That matches musical beauty with cacophonous applause.

I love you like the frightened whisper,
Teetering precariously on the tip of my tongue,
Too timid to betray my heart.
I love you like the indecisive clouds
That trudge longingly across the vast heavens,
Aching with thunder as their vanishing tears
Descend toward the earth.

Though my silence spreads a cosmic expanse between our hearts,
They beat in glorious unison,
Nurtured by the tacit desires of my soul.
I feel your intoxicating presence so close
That my lips tingle with anticipation
Before you utter, “Goodnight.”
And my desperate breaths grow long and deep
As you fall asleep.

Sonnet II

How young what faces shake my soul so deep,
With crescent eyes bent under from the sun,
Like those so blinded from the world’s unrest,
Just waiting idly by for Kingdom Come.

Our spirits plagued with growing greed and pride,
We plant our evil seeds in foreign soil.
In fighting for our common, clay-cut kind,
Our truest treason could not be more loyal.

Let freedom ring from sea to shining sea,
But tremble at the hearth of polar thought.
With minds oppressed and skeletons of lead,
Their daily fatal battles must be fought.

If Godly sons could curb our ebbing souls,
Then may we now surrender moral roles.