Beauty

. Accidents Happen We’re told time tends toward catastrophe, And that a butterfly’s ephemeral wings Might quake the sky somewhere across the sea By strange cascades of simple happenings, Arousing thus a violent hurricane; Which is to say that no one really knows Just how or why occurrences occur, But...

. The Settlers —to my forefathers, and all the intrepid men and womenwho settled the Oklahoma panhandle. Across these barren hills, the cold winds blow,As bitter now as in those days long past,When first their rustic wagon, rolling slow,Came down a slope against an icy blast, And settled on this...

. Snow Sonnet Where silent flakes of whiteness fill the air And cutting winds of winter come to rule The bitter storm of new year strips all bare With iciness at once perfect and cruel. We drift into an otherworldly realm Where spectral pallor shrouds the sleeping earth Such beauty...

. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Silently beats an invisible clock. Night turns to day, day turns to night. Following a metronome nowhere in sight. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Sixty seconds make a minute. Sixty minutes, the hour limit. Twenty-four hours beget a day. Seven-day weeks just slip...

. Autumn Twilight Full moon. Crickets singing. Scarlet sky.Long past summer solstice; now the sunDescends before the short day’s work is done.Last light and fast-invading violet vieTo shape inconstant shadows. Moving cloudsRe-sculpt themselves, suffusing the horizonWith sunset’s deepening watercolor-crimson.Together with the cricket choir, crowdsOf brittle oak leaves rattle---tambourinesSyncopating nightfall’s music....

. The Introvert Sequestered in an abstract mood,Replete in blissful solitude;Behind the veil of scenes overtYou’ll find the pensive introvert. You may not find him center stage,The Hercules of any age;But like the spy who goes unseenHe functions best behind the scenes. The kind of friendship that he seeks,The few...

. Libra There in my hand I held a crystal vial Of distillation potent, red, and sweet, By which my broken heart was put on trial, And golden apples scattered at my feet. Ask not the name of him who gave to me The dark elixir, nor the price I...

. On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir (June, 2024) W e all should thank our God for William Mahrt, I nto whose hands He placed a sacred trust, L eaving to him to keep the aural art L aid down with care, but left to...

. I Will Awaken the Dawn The birds have yet to echo Their songs across the trees, The sun has yet to whistle Its foggy rays in streams, The dark still holds the world, Creation slumbers on; But now the time has come, And I will awaken the dawn. The...

. True Love On a hill far away, a true love waits, In a place of weathered, broken gates. And though the gates are falling down, One place on the hill is hallowed ground. Nothing moves on that faraway hill, But dry, dead leaves and a wind that’s chill. And...

. Another Crossroads I have a rendezvous with destiny.It’s at the crossroads of Straight Street and Main.With cardboard sign, that man rules his domain.(Cops do not bother with such vagrancy.)Some iced tea and granola bars—my snack.The green light cautions, quickly turns to red.The dude certainly does not look well fed.He’ll...

. The Magic Trick Another dove spawns from the wizard's hat. A youngster, goggle-eyed, forgets to clap, enchanted by the spell. With every flap this spongy creature makes, he wonders at the skill required to master such a craft. Last stunt, and then the curtains will unfurl. Dissected in two...

. Cloth of Destiny From his jail cell, he preached civility— despite the agony centuries had brought. Proud Rosa occupied a seat; though fraught with risk, that act preserved her dignity. We dreamed of equal opportunity, and bloody segregation’s end besought. King asked: “How can such justice not be wrought...

. Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age Unburdened from that which has recently been. An era of progress about to begin. Mending the messes afflicting our nation. Ending the slow California-cation. Money for groceries, and eggs by the crate. Payments to credit cards, never made late. Dining, at times, at a...

Free People In some sense, free people have no needOf poets to give their speech a better voice.But freedom wanes without great art and heedOf powers that will enslave us with rejoiceIf only given a chance. They’re here again,Insidious as ever, they’ll try to seduceAnd lull the hearts of good...

. Stones for My Parents I didn’t want to come. How sad it sounded To kneel beneath a hazy sun surrounded By strangers’ graves---grim watchmen for the bones Of those who’ve crossed the Bridge. The ghosts outnumber The living---I can’t even count the stones. But somewhere in these rows I...

. Whoever Am I? Preface to His Poetry .by Prudentius (c. 4th century AD)translated by Margaret Coats If I see clear, through fifty yearsI’ve lived. The seventh after them appears to wheelAround as we enjoy these whirling circlings of the sun. My end is near, and every dayThat God may...

. The Hectic Life _Sometimes we get discouraged _With life and all its fuss, Its raucous moments speeding by _Like children on a bus. _It’s all the hectic worries, _The troubles and the stress, That pull us down and tear us up _And make our life a mess. _They make...

. Death Is But a Passing A death is but a passing from one world into another, A change of state, a change of place, a starting to discover, A test of fortitude perhaps for those I leave behind, A change of worlds, a change of views, another state of...

. Pearls or Swine? Pray show me how to tell a pearl from swine. I have a thirst for sanity to slake. I seek a clue---a firm not fluid sign To steer me from the sway of all that’s fake. While Einsteins whine and eggheads bellyache, As boundaries blur and...

. Best of the Windy City Nation’s hub and culture center, O’Hare Airport, millions enter. Stunning architecture sites, The awesomeness of Frank Lloyd Wright; Union Stockyards fed the nation; Second City improvisation; Lake Shore Drive, no road just like it, Drive or bike or even hike it; Cow that caused...

. Elusive Illusive Art Where are the pure, illusive works of artthat bubble upward from the deep unknown?Where in this world are worlds Art sets apart? Duct tape? A banana fresh from the cart?Renoir would recoil and Monet would moan.Where are the pure, illusive works of art? A gallery is...

. A Pleased Jaques ---after a soliloquy in Shakespeare's As You Like It At first there is the infant, grinning widebecause he has escaped his nurse's armsand her chagrin, in short shirt takes his stridearound the corner, swaggering with charms. Next comes the busy schoolboy in the morn.He's running off...

. My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean My soul is at home in the depths of the ocean; My soul is at home in the cosmos above, Always adventuring, seeking to grow and Wreathing my body in infinite love. My soul permeates every stone on...

. The Lemon Tree We leave the house, the nurtured lawn is gone; The garden still resembles lifeless works Of abstract art; at times banana leaves Seem painted by a brush. I look upon The fruiting lemon tree, a souvenir My father gifted me some years ago; He says such...

. Out in the Open The slanting rain comes on and on! The cold drops blear and blur the sun When they hang in my eyelashes. My heavy stomp in the mud mashes The leaves and twigs and mud together. I plough on through the battering weather. I walk with...

. Magna Lex ---to the choirmaster, a Psalm (19) of David. . I The heavens herald God’s resplendency; The skies above display his artistry. By day the discourse spills like falling rain; Deep verities the night’s dim lights explain. There is no language, not a jangling word, No resonance, no...

. Let There Be Light From beyond, there came the Word—a cosmic “Om”That pierced the void with one colossal bang of sound,Releasing undulating waves of hallowed humThat thundered through the geodesic grid unbound With bursting, brilliant Light! Acoustic alchemyOf Earth’s Creator—names like Brahma, God, Amun.Divine vibration uttered by the DeityFrom...

. Emergent Occasions “And even angels, whose home is heaven, and who are winged too, yet had a ladder to go to heaven by steps.” —John Donne, Meditation II, Emergent Occasions __Affliction is a sea, a sink,__A place that begs the soul to think.__As treasure, sick-bed souvenirs,__Woe wets our ashes,...

. Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations I. Everywhere, the sands are endless. Look: A joke is made of all my glory. On Stone once sculpted in my image, my High authority, my grandest works’ Marks, have vanished. On my visage, ye See my ancient sneer. I, who was mighty,...

. Winter Night A full moon fills the sky with lustrous light And gives the vault of heaven in the night A golden sheen that gilds the cloudy wisps That drift across the sky like phantom ships. The moon's glow falls upon the ice-bound lake, On frosted reeds and brambles...

. . None for All Backbones wilt and waistlines grow; Brightness dims as diodes glow. It’s history’s course, a simple fact, Declared with pride—or else with tact. Vigor falters, wits regress; The perspicacious acquiesce. It’s civilized, it’s preordained, This kingdom of the addlebrained. Rhyme is dead—and reason too: They’re obsolete,...

. Healing Hands ---in appreciation of the care provided (free of charge) by the NHS, the National Health Service of the UK, while I was hospitalised as a pain patient. I thank the Lord for healing hands, indeed! For Satan gripped me with his razor claws; In agony, just begging...

. Happy ---for B.K. A ground to play, a set to swing, A slide to slide, a bell to ring: She walks the way of there and then. “Hap-py,” she says; “hap-py,” again. A ball for foot, a nut for squirrel; The way is wide for baby girl Without the...

. The Adoration of the Peacock ---on The Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi The world is a-gawk at a gaudy surprise, for kings walk on foot while the commoners ride, and I, though a Peacock with feathers on high, fold them up and sit...

. Bollical Dogs I have a complaint! T.S. Eliot hogs All the fun with his stories of Jellicle Cats! So let me (inspired by zoo catalogs) Write of beasts ripe for versificational chats. But shall I vaunt possums? Or groundhogs? Or bats? Of course not! I’ll write about Bollical Dogs!...

. Caleb in Canaan  Green fields, walled towns, strong foes, but we are fit To overcome. Forward, I say. It’s ours. These forty days of foraging have fed Twelve spies good fare and knowledge requisite. Let no one claim this promised land devours Its dwellers. Milk and honey flow. Widespread...

. The Shepherd God On Autumn eves when solipsistic stars__Peer down on bloody, towering oaksWhose gnarled, twisted branches create bars__Encaging man in Fortune’s spokes,When groaning wind rustles through sloping eaves__To make one wonder why she grieves Despair parades these things before my eyes__Dungeoning the world with gloom,Obscuring heaven’s vivifying skies__To...

. Topics Over Time At 10 boys talk about the games in which they’ve played. At 14 they discuss the girls and “progress” made. At 16 there’s the homework everybody’s got, At 18 work or college and their future lot. At 25 it’s new jobs or careers presaged, At 30...

. Oh, the Days Oh, the days of poop and vomit! My best dress had drool upon it While I walked my teething child Up and down the hall for miles. Oh, the days of poop and vomit! When the baby chose to not sit In a high chair during...