Beauty

. Alfie’s Answer “What’s it all about, Alfie?” ---Hal David Not selfish pleasure, as I thought, but love For isolated pleasures quickly sour. Love feeds a hunger nothing else avails The power of love all others overpowers And love is needed in the giving too, For giving love gives more...

. Ecstasy and Me I’ve not, I fear, the spiritual thrust To quite propel myself to mystic heights; To taste the inconceivable delights That saints have savored, hallowed and nonplussed By drawing near to something so august The very soul with tender awe ignites And somewhere in the human heart...

. The Miasma Enshrouding Disneyland I came here as a fairytale-struck child; The tickets cost less than a week of pay And we would spend a carefree, joy-filled day. The park was clean; the rides were fun though mild: Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean. The Haunted Mansion where blithe...

. Beyond the Shadows  The light from above may be blinding And cause us to shelter our eyes, But promises God makes are binding, For laggards as well as the wise. At last we get used to the brightness, Descrying a path up ahead That leads to a place where uptightness...

. Child's Laughter It bubbles forth from deep inside his soul; Joy twinkles brightly through his youthful eyes, For any pain he knows, his laugh defies: This shattered world has briefly been made whole. It rings out clearer than choir bells toll, And sings God’s promise out to hopeless lives....

. All Saints' Day by Gabrielle de Coignard (c.1550–1586), translated by Margaret Coats O Saints, you have your heritage in hand Because you battled Satan’s sanctimony! Though burned or tortured, you gave testimony; A thousand torments tore your valiant band. Arrived in port, you see the whirlwinds fanned Around our...

. Extract from DoorWay Canto 3: Constellation of the Virgin DoorWay is the Poet’s journey through Heaven. Having left the constellation of Libra in Canto 2, he now enters the Constellation of Virgo where he finds and meets various ‘innocents’ and literal virgins of life, as well as Dr. Johnson,...

. Autumn by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), translated by Bruce Phenix The falling leaves seem fallen from afar, as though in heaven distant gardens faded; they fall with gestures that deny, negate. And, falling in the night, the earth’s sad weight finds solitude apart from every star. We all fall....

. The Reincarnations of Donald J. Trump after Andrew Benson Brown’s Legends of Liberty  . I. 218 B.C. Above the mellow grass, cliff faces soar Like walls to house a huge primeval god. The pass into the valley is his door Through which a hundred thousand soldiers plod. Their war...

. The Word “Let there be light,” He said and light there was. The seething chaos split to day and night And space and time were brightly set abuzz. From atom unto Adam, highest heights To deepest depths His mystery did unfold Although we still don’t understand it quite: Among...

. The Truth about Fall Colors  I am October’s most submissive bitch, And just when I believed I’d struck it rich, The gold that hovered overhead was blown Away before I’d claimed it for my own. And now the maples turning scarlet red Will shed their leaves on every flower...

. Quiet Night Thoughts by Li Bai (701-762), translated by Talbot Hook My bed looks over bright moonlight. I muse: could it in fact be frost? I lift my head and watch the moon; I bow my head and think of home. . 静夜思 , 李白 床前明月光 疑是地上霜 举头望明月 低头思故乡...

. Unveiled, They Appear Reminiscence, and longings, and echoes unseal, from the depths in the ground which has covered, concealed, recollections of those who you meant to reveal. What your senses revere, neath our cavern of earth, Is the essence you feel, for all that we’re worth. In your mind...

. My Brother in Galilee I had a fearsome dream---I saw my friend -- My teacher-brother---nailed onto a cross. I wept with sorrow at my brother’s feet. He said his mother henceforth would be mine. Unearthly lightning blazed across the land. I gasped and woke, my blanket cold with sweat....

. Autumn Winds have Come Again Autumn winds have come again, Whistling wafts are dithering, Trees are shedding leaves like rain, Garden vines are withering. Looking from my window sill Out into the snowy night, Snowflakes clad the leaves until My world’s wrapped in a winking white. Here inside I...

. Epiphany It stays in your memory like a pealing bell, A smallish thing, an unimportant fact— The mute suggestion of a random act. What do I speak of? Listen, I shall tell: A kindness from someone you barely knew Dropped like a curtsey from the chambermaid Who smiles to...

. Two Bugologues . Moth Onto a wall in chilly gloom I fold myself, all silk and dust, and then, from half across the room, the candle flickers: Come. You must. I am well past my crawling days when, wingless, I thought only of my next mealtime. Now, nothing stays...

. A Psalm of Lament So says the Lord: A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children for they are not. ---Jeramiah 31 In Israel a voice was heard, Lament and bitter weeping. For Rachel’s heart...

. Sacandaga I go, I go to the lake so blue, Tree-lined shore in autumn hue. This place, my heart, my Shangri-la-da— The deep blue lake of Sacandaga. The morning dawns upon the scene; Its peace replaces every dream. Loudly geese and crows adore The sun's first rays upon this...

. Ode to the Cello Fingered strings upon the cello Vibrate by the moving bow. Autumn tones in red and yellow Echo from the to and fro Through the eight-shaped box’s hollow, Out the narrow, curving holes. Oaken humming sounds must follow Movements of the bow that rolls. Violins sing...

. For Israel Under Siege Imagine that you live in fear of violent Acts of terror daily---bombs may kill Your friends and family---all you love grows silent As hatred of the Jews makes more blood spill. Imagine that you’ve tried to live in peace With neighbors who deny your right...

. Morning Witness To greet the dawn, I crossed a meadow green, still blanketed in jewels of morning dew. I sat upon a rock, still and serene, and watched the sky transform from black to blue. Even before the silhouettes of trees defined the border of the unborn sky, I...

. The Cabin _Atop the plateau’s rise, __I’m homeward bound, When sights familiar strike my eyes. Come with me---see the scenes I've found. _Turn right off highway 8, __Mount Pleasant Church, Then left, then right, then through the gate Of Dunaway to start your search. _Continue, down the hill __Descend, veer...

. The Lowest Heaven: Canto III of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns The sun which with first love had warmed my breast ____Beatrice __now showed, in her reproving, proving way, __the lovely truth’s sweet face, all manifest. I lifted more erect my head to say __that...

. Winter Storm in May A High Sierra snowstorm passes through, Injecting winter into springtime May; As frozen fluffs of ermine drift into A world remade in black and white and gray. The once-blue sky anneals into steel And Donner Lake as like a pewter tray; While snow-bound trees bough...

. Village Home after George Enescu's Orchestral Suite no. 3, “Villageoise” Along the tree-lined lane he walks at dusk; What brought him here, he cannot now remember. The chilling breeze, the scent of pine and musk, Suggest a tranquil eve in late September. He saunters slowly, with a sense of...

. Hybrid and Wild All of her life had a meaning, Each section in its compartment. Tenants went through a close screening— Somehow, I got the apartment. She was a prickly old lady— I, a rambling young upstart who Took care she sat where it’s shady And watched as her...

. Introduction This long lyric of short lines has pairs of stanzas linked in rhyme. It is a sequence honoring Gilbert of Sempringham (1083–1189, canonized 1202), founder of the Catholic Church’s only religious order to originate in England. The Gilbertine order included women and men observing strict separation while striving...

. The Song of the Woman Who Bled Mark 5:25-34 When you have no more money you can spend, Then men will tell you, “You cannot be cured.” Though Jesus makes it better in the end, First tribulation has to be endured. The disappointment, when you’ve been assured That medicine...

. The Fairy Godmother for Susan Jarvis Bryant The fairy sings so far away and lifts My spirit, day by day through fading light; With every word well measured, clear inspite Of distance, space and time. The season shifts Along with changing faces; yet her voice Remains the same, now...

. Autumn Summons The wind carries the leaves, And leaves the colors bear; The field prepares the sheaves That hold the sun ensnared. The leaves the colors bear; The colors hold the song That cooler grows the air, As autumn comes along. The colors hold the song That quickens in...

. Wood a pantoum It’s only furniture. But that’s both truth and lie. To find Mom’s treasured things a loving new address is near impossible, no matter what I try. Her home’s impending sale exacerbates the stress of finding treasured things a loving new address. The size and weight of...

. Ode to the Strings of My Guitar I How still you sleep, oh strings of my guitar, As if you did not feel the faint caress Of my soft finger, shaped to form a bar; I wish to wake you with a gentle press, So as to hear the...

. Two Dragon Statues Tây Hồ, Hà Nội, Việt Nam, Constructed 2012 They stand on waves just off West Lake’s west bank— two dragon statues—jade ceramic gods commemorating when the Emperor beheld a soaring dragon, Heaven’s sign that Thăng Long should be made the capital, which doomed Hoa Lư, the...

. Sea Breeze Negative ions aloft, Wafting aloft in the breeze. That mystical, maritime breeze Bestowing a comfort and ease. Beautiful, bountiful breeze, Offering more than it seems--- A lift to the spirit and soul, Expansion of whimsical dreams. Blessings abound in the breeze--- Tangible tension relief, Pathway to reason...

. In Eve’s Footsteps based on “Genesis 2: Teaching its Truth to Women” by Kimberly Hartke “And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. ... And the Lord God built the rib which he took...

. Ponderings on the Porch The chutes of light this autumn day __Beam down between the leaves. Sun’s equinox has long since passed— __Dew drips from grass and eaves. This sacred porch! Secure and safe __From wasps and snakes and mice. Decaying pine straw rides the breeze--- __I sip green...

. In the Park ___It showed up in the green ___Today: that velveteen _Exhaustion that betokens summer’s end, ___Its richness but a sigh ___That warns the passerby _There’s nothing he can do now to defend __Himself against the tale retold— A winter’s tale that’s whispered softly in the cold. ....

. Out of Purgatory There I went blind. I could no longer speak, but as I died, I murmured Mary’s name, And there I fell and left my empty flesh.   Now hear the truth. Tell it to living men: God’s angel took me up, and Hell’s fiend cried: ‘O...

. One Friend A friend who always wants to learn __Whatever’s going on, Whose warm assistance and concern __Can be relied upon, A friend who shows his gratitude __For what you bring to him, Who deals with any type of mood __And raises hopes when dim, A friend who won’t...