Beauty

. 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...

. The Battle of Athelstaneford King Angus clapperclawed NorthumbriansIn combat close enough to hammer faces;His Pictish troops enacted brutal plansTo break the bones of foes with metal macesAnd throttle dumbstruck throats with hempen laces.The savage screams of naked Picts rammed fearThrough adversaries, leaving gutless traces;Their kinglet fell, pierced by a...

. Night Bird Singing Birdsong is a conspicuous avian vocalization often used for mate attraction. ---Basic Ornithology Long after midnight, a lonely bird sings; From tangles of tree branches, a sudden song springs. Again and again, the haunting refrain— It pierces the darkness of the black windowpane. Note follows note,...

. The Thief He stole my song, my music;He stole my poetry.He broke my holy vesselsAnd felled my sacred tree.He climbed my garden’s rampartAnd stole amongst the leavesAnd stole away the applesof my Hesperides.Then I was left to witherWithin my walls of stone.A winter overtook meWith loneliness unknown.All my fragrant...

. Gloom at the Shore Down at the shore of Lake Ontario, Battleship gray under inclement sky, We vied for space with seagulls standing by. Call it a draw—a strange scenario. Colorless, too, an umbra to the eye, Were all the trees and other vegetation, As if they’d bring us...

. . Freedom high school algebra class; May 12, 1993 . A breeze blows in; it wisps my hair, And flutters papers in the air; It carries, with the scent of rose, A dream---and takes one as it goes. . Upon its wings the gentle breeze Transports sweet memories with...

. Reflection on the Approach of Another Birthday “He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland…” ---Deuteronomy 32:10 I find, I fear, I can’t outleap, As age begins its yearly creep To center stage, the gnawing sense That time is getting shorter yet For all my failings to beget Some...

. Not Forgetting 9.11 in 2023 New York, the City that I've only seen In flashes, glimpses, footage, faraway, New York I've read about, you filter in To every cranny of America. We are your suburbs, everywhere we go. If it happens at all, it happens here. What's done to...

. . Wings of Desire: Canto I of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns . God’s glory, which moves all, sends beams to bless __each thing in space, reflected just as bright __as that thing’s worth is deemed, here more, there less. Now to that Heaven that...

. . Blackberry Memories We’d fill our buckets to the brim--- __my brother, sis, and I--- and rush the juicy berries home __for Grandma’s cobbler pie, our oatmeal, or for Mama’s jam--- __sweet scenes from days gone by. . Those berries came to mean much more __than something good to...

. Perchance to Dream __The sky is wide, __The sea is deep, And when we’ve woken into sleep __A place to hide __Cannot be found, For probing eyes are all around. __The day is bright __And notes are sharp When chubby cherubs play the harp. __Much like the night, __The...

. Nine: A Song for a Granddaughter for a girl, M___, raised in my household, though not a blood relative 1 She is the girl who cheers my heart: “Come, Jeff. Let’s play!” she voices smart And innocent as we depart. We go outside beneath the azure skies--- She advocates...

. Pilgrimage The strong will long to go on pilgrimage, Assembling to reclaim their heritage Of sanctity and stable permanence Embezzled by debased belligerence, For life is war, as Job so aptly said; We battle even when we are misled, But gaining ground in stout strategic march We take unrivaled...

. Hymn to the Night Every thinking creature adores the light __Where twinkling stones and stars and flowers stun Senseless matter into a sense of sight __And all behold the splendors of the sun. First masterpiece of the created world, __God fashioned you but not like Adam’s wife, ____Spun from...

. On Professionally Hesitant Poets O, for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention! —Shakespeare, Henry V Old Vergil guided Dante to the place Where uncommitted, opportunist souls Swarm back and forth, through tracts of vacant space, Unfit for heaven, or infernal coals. Neither good...

. On Going Through Max's Things in memory of Max Rizley, Jr., 1956-2001 As sand slips through my fingers at the beach, Withdrawing swiftly, like the sighing tide, So slipped your life away beyond my reach, Out of my earthly grasp, the day you died. Not all the gathered wisdom...

. . Late Bloomers My last red rose-of-sharon __Is slowly curling closed, Each giant shell-shaped petal __Beginning to turn in, The five of them a pinwheel, __Crepe-paper veins exposed To August’s reminiscence __Of the summer that has been. . Today it holds its brightness; __Tomorrow it will fall--- Frail, old,...

. At the Dog Store “Now this hound here’s a Disappointment Hound. His dam was Thwart; his pappy’s name was Slink. He’ll chew up expectations in a wink and snake along, his belly to the ground. Sir, you don’t want to buy this sorry runt. These dogs aren’t bred for...

. Aphorisms for a Foggy Morning No literary monuments exist without the word. A lord who lacks entitlements is patently absurd. A song that has no sound to give has never yet been heard. Two wings for every bird that sings, no cheese without the curd. * The prospects for...

. The Magic Casket 'Twas in the local funeral home __The miracle occurred, As ticking clock hands kissed at noon __And restless spirits stirred… A gasp, a creak, a quake, a crash, __A spectral puff of dust; A ghostly face as gray as ash, __An icy, eerie hush. A casket caught a toiling guy __Who’d plunged right through the ceiling....

. Lessons from the Sky I breathe the bracing air, I feel the dew Wet through my shoes and socks. The morning’s fair, The sky’s a waiting canvas backed with blue, The sun still sleeps, my eyes cut through the air. Absorbent blue near hides a beauty rare: The morning...

. Sonnet for Houston The highway shuffles traffic as the sun begins to bake the tarmac; its black emits waves of heat that waver as it gets a thousand fractions hotter. Heat is one of many factors I find under sun: the buildings rise to meet the sky, as fits...

. The Merry Wanderer When God wills man to know His favor, He sends him where the wide world gleams And makes him wonder at the splendor Of mountains, forests, fields and streams. The lazybones at home lies jaded; Dawn never rouses him from bed. He only knows poor children’s...

. . Tucson Sunday Morning Chorus: Tucson Sunday morning, See the sage brush come alive. Gold upon the Rincons, Catalina mountain sides. Saguaro in the desert Lift their silent arms in prayer. The mission bell is tolling, My stage will soon be rolling, But my dreams will still be there....

. Overheard in a Mexico City Cantina A downpour started. The cantina beckoned. I sat and heard two men debating change; How Mexico’s divisions should be reckoned. These words are what I heard in that exchange: “You radicals are dull. You bear this chip Of weighty social anger on your...

. . Poetics the Ginger Cat —Ποιητική: ‘poi-EIGH-tee-keigh’ By a caged fire I read. Around me walls of ancient lore, of poetry and war….           Prometheus bound, flames behind glass doors:  . I pause, plying the sage, musing upon a well worn Mediterranean page. Poetics now plays...

. The Old Place Once there was a family here Where now is all plantation pines. There’s a cabin—I see the lines— It was their home for many years. This farm was poor but to them dear, A world whole in its small confines. They labored as the soil declined,...

. At Thirteen At thirteen, I received a birthday card from Buffalo, my aunt sent my Dad’s poem he’d written at thirteen.  Our plain back yard picnic table became a podium as I savored every word… “Oh for a good old Summer’s day / with no cares in my way.”...

. Something Higher the brown scapular of Elijah Departures and arrivals. Passengers. The life of one old man describes an arc: A sudden collapse from sitting. Messengers, Come lift my weight, grown lighter than a lark, The height we rise to not the length I fell But something higher. Seated...

. . Virgil Departs, Beatrice Arrives: Canto XXX of Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns . Now when the primal Heaven’s Septentrion—____seven lights of the Holy Spirit __which does not rise nor set, and whose report __goes unveiled to us but by mists of sin, which guided...

. My Favourite Photo of Mum I’ve just found my favourite photo of Mum, standing in the snow of a new century in the back garden; her sweater’s bottle-blue, her smile an ad for British dentistry. Sleeves rolled up, stood beside a wooden fence, she acts as if she’s conjured...

. Deep in the Heat of Texas a rhupunt One hundred one, a scorching sun that I should shun. I shed no tear. Sun blazing down, the grass is brown, I do not frown I’m in good cheer. The soil on fire as we perspire in all attire. I am...

. First Footsteps on a One-way Journey to America Leave home behind, another lies ahead, Beyond these hills, these clover-covered dales; Empty the mind aboard those sea-bound sails, To fill with saline tears the ocean’s bed; But forward steps make thought turn back my head, The thought of all that...

. My Boy His mess of hair plays with the wind; Eyes beaming now, he shines alive, A thrill to watch amongst his friends, The guys who throw, and hit a drive, And catch the fun, with glove and dirt, And run ‘round bases on the field, to home, from...

. Lahaina I’ve felt your restless tides and watched your palms Sway in the breeze that sweeps in from Lanai; I’ve joined your mission church in singing psalms, And gazed across the strait at Molokai. Hawaiian royals occupied this place; Explorers came, and whalers from Cape Cod; And missionaries; men...

. Mighty Oak Spread thy boughs, oh mighty oak, __Let fall thy wine-red leaves, Which, when the rains around thee soak, __Shall pile up high as sheaves. Some leaves are scorched in summer sun, __Or lost in violent gale; Some leaves don autumn’s raiment dun, __Till they, too, finally fail:...

. Beach Fragments A million tiny fragments strewn across the sand Along the foaming margin of the boundless sea--- The spiraled, fluted castles built so splendidly Now smashed and shattered, mere detritus on the strand. The sculpted contours, hues and patterns tell how grand Slow, humble, unseen labor shone once...

. The Outing . I Miss Deidre Ealing of Tiny Tots School, A woman who'd never be anyone's fool, Observing her charges like little buds sprouting, Decided the next day they'd go on an outing. Departure was posted that morning for nine; No clouds could be seen and the outlook...

. Facing a Famine of Fatherhood in memory of Father Peter Carota They say a country road or city street, The pavement, stones, and dirt pressed by his feet, Recall a holy man who passed thereby, But what of paths where bytes of data fly, The fibers, wires, or airwaves...