Beauty

. 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...

. 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...

. 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...

. 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 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...

. 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...

. Two Summer Villanelles . l. Lone Star Sear The burn and boil is grim for some. I’m red of neck and flushed of cheek. I’m roasting under summer’s thumb. Cicadas thrum and twang and strum Their shrill...

. To a Sand Gazelle You must believe the light will carry you, Across the Rub al Khali of your life. Let happy times light up your whole life through. Green oases are scattered through the dunes, It’s true,...

. Curious Couplets . Goose Lady When driving through a blizzard, Marge Espied a goose, not over large. Determinedly it marched along— One wing dragged as it sang its song And whistled wee wee as it went— A...

. The Blame Game a kyrielle They rile. They gall. They know it all. These irksome jerks in folly’s thrall Are perilously cretinous. __It’s always Them. It’s never...

. Conversion The great advantage of the years I stacked up often carelessly And often as a mutineer Against all simple things and dear, Is how I purely now by grace Within the smallest moments trace A curious...

. The Forgotten Earl He thought about the sonnets that he wrote; The time he spent composing metered lines Of rhyme, divided into quatrains. He Alone devised the scheme;—but Virgil’s books! If only there...

. August. The rose-of-sharon blossoms float like stars Within my reach: I’m lying on the grass Observing sunset fade and twilight pass Between their leaves.  Cicadas sing their airs, A gentle dirge: the...

. The Sky Within The rolling sea becomes a frothy lather When argent Sister Moon calls forth a tide And sooty billows on the skyline gather. A flash of lightning urges us inside Where we observe the phases of...

. Death Musings . 1 On New Year's Day my body fell as dead Before a frightened child who hid her face From terror's flaunt. Death-taunts delivered dread To this dear child with cold and reddened face Till I...

. The Heavy Launch of the Siegfried Idyll The landing offered just the space required for Wagner and the band that he had hired to play the idyl Cosima inspired, the mother of young Siegfried, whom he’d...

. . Learn Now, Learn Now, Young Master ‘Learn now, learn now, young master; You soon will take your test. The books to learn are plenty; You need to do your best; No time to take a rest. Your marriage is...

. Key West Rum, reeling, raunchiness, and revelry, Palms, poincianas, palaces of old--- All lie behind; the Morro Castle’s hold Guards old Havana past the sparkling sea A half-day’s sail south from this...

. Henry at Morning Time I’m lost in Greek or Latin, when You break into my life again. “Daddy, look! It’s morning time,” You say, as rays of sun sublime Bring color to the room. The leaves of...

. Seaside Retreat Footsteps move slow through shifting sand; A weather-beaten picket fence Encloses beach verbena fanned By sea oats where the influence Of busybody breezes fades. The cottage yard commingles...

. Formulas for Failure I’ve seen too much of devastating failure, In almost every avenue of life. One might guess lack of skill the main derailer, But that’s not even close to what’s most rife. A bigger...

. Back to Sleep In very early years, now far behind, When I returned to earth at midnight deep From nightmare scares within my frightened mind, My mother rocked and sang me back to sleep. I hid in bed from...

. The Sea The sea rolls on, unchanged. Unmarred By earthly wars it stays unscarred. Always as long as man exists, The sea will froth in perfect bliss. When our life is borne away, And sunlit fingers point the...

. On Lies and Liars A Double (Petrarchan) Sonnet . “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with...

. Melodious Curlew Melodious curlew mottled brown and bister, No longer raise your crescent-shapen beak Towards the waning moon, to which you shriek That harmony which haunts the twilight’s glister; Your...

. Via Appia Beneath the pines of Rome, the wrinkled sibyl will croak your future for eleven cents, and with her finger in the dust will scribble predictions of uncertain consequence. But go near, fix your eyes...

. Meditation on the Moon O! think about that strange celestial clump, That ball of dust God found beneath His bed And set it spinning round the Earth instead Of tossing it in outer space’s dump. Its...

. Balderdash? What are these hidden, unseen things? Do angels, demons, float on wings? Such ghostly shapes the full moon brings! __Our modern minds dismiss. Who twists and turns a shooter’s mind? Who ties...

. A Birthday Prayer Dear God, a new year has begun, My thirty-fourth of blessèd life. You’ve given children, lovely wife, And lately, happy, newborn son. We have, by your munificence, Enough intelligence...

. Panchavati, An Introduction by Maithili Sharan Gupt (1886-1964) translated by Paddy Raghunathan The full moon’s mesmerizing rays Appear to skim the lake and sand, As moonlight, fresh, diffuses...

. Stand There comes a time to stand for what you know To be the right, whatever be the cost. Then get you up to speak, or do, or go, To fill some gaping breach, though you be tossed From wave to towering wave,...

. Suiseki Rainfall has stopped; it’s the best time for hunting a stone. Drizzle still dampens debris; Trees put forth roots unobtrusively; mosses have grown; Animals leaving their burrows run free— Sodden...

. Insomnia Kyrielle The stars above have gone to bed, their quilt of clouds a calming sweep as moonlight strokes their tossing heads: O lord have mercy, let me sleep! Here in this dark I lie awake. The cliff...

. The Nation’s Heart The Nation’s heart has passed away, A loving grandmother to all. And now it’s for her son we pray Whom Charles the Third we’ll learn to call. But will he fill that vital...

. Heavy Excess a plea from the human realm I must flee this land where feelings choke, Unrope attachments that were tied in love. Through halting rites of passport checks I grope. My bulky baggage makes my...

. Peace For Our Time "I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." ---Neville Chamberlain “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.” ---Winston...

. The Billboard a pantoum It’s propped along the route I roll— A squatting square against the sky, Atop a sturdy metal pole, To tell me what new thing to buy. A squatting square against the sky, It blocks...

. Don't Mess with Texas Gals On My Late Life Wife . Don't mess with my hot Texan. She's Texas born and bred. She does not fool with strangers. She'd rather see them dead. They said when she was born She had...

. My Resignation Be still, my Heart, be stiller than the grave. When consciousness dissolves into the sea, This desperate taste will fade with memory Of nothing, undisturbed by bitter wave. Be still, my Heart,...

. Forever Nine My bare feet merge with weathered, knotty pineAs dripping swimsuit water cools the pier.The day belongs to me, for I am nine,With end of endless summer drawing near. My tanned and sunburnt...