I would admire you like sunset
An act of nature
Random in intent
Beautiful by design
Too far away for me to hold
A luminance in my mind

I would savor you like wine
An aging vintage
Created by circumstance
Delightful to the palate
Yet to taste would cost too much
I am forsworn, so

I will remember you like tawny kisses
Your energies in fluid dance
Erotic to my passions
Soothing to my soul
A stellar flame when days grow cold
When I am held in silence, when I am gone, alone

Giftbox Psalm

The rainbow-laden crenulence of thunder, rain, and sunshine
The sun-drenched tans on an opalescent beach
The swirlings of leaves, poundings of acorns, fires shared against the chill
The cloud of crystallizing steam as I exhale

The promise of my Son in you

The thousand years of meals, exquisitely prepared
The winter sunrise in a multihued infinity
The ancient text that is speaking of today

The graceful curves of you in early morning light

The tiny stellar spark that drives away the loneliness of night
The blackened edges of my heart, stoked coals in conflagration

The time and space when you hold me as your love

Semper Virons

My gentle touch upon you
Leaves me breathless
Leaves your scent upon my skin
And intoxicates my dreams

I lay upon your limbs these
Nights of revelry and laughter
of quiet contemplation
Nights more precious than the ornaments
of gold and bejeweled decoration
These eves of myrrh and days of cinnamon

You hold my angel here
A crown of light like haloes
on the moon
Where every star is set
to twinkle in your eyes
And I am lost Orion
set upon this sea of night with you

And while I know our days are numbered
For even love must pass its flame eternal
Every night is cause to celebrate and
Every dawn I wake to revel and to wonder
to gaze with awe
At the magnificence that is you

Forces

There is a movement through this world
That is akin to tides, like sunset through the clouds
Two objects drawn into a spiral dance of
Heat and light, of mystery and enchantment

And in this circling destiny of seasons I find you
And we kiss with the passion of the moon in orbit
And time stretches to the space between heartbeats
When I think of you and breathe you in as you exhale

Four Verses

Enchantment lies beneath your roaming fingers
and Inspiration's in your eyes
I look to you to find Delight
with Luminence in your smiles

You are the Wonder of a tailored fit for me
a Mergence of form and function
woven Vines of morning glory and moon flower
night-blue Satin on goose-down pillows

I glance up from thoughtful reading to find
You staring at my (soul) reclined, and I am
Yearning for your touch to soothe through
Gentle heat ... I smile my love into your gaze

If every day I grow a little older and
Learn that life is love and must be lived
Then I would choose to love with you
And grow in ways that happiness can bring

The Tin Soldier’s Lament

In the thousand dreams I have aged away the years
My dreams of colored lights and joyous song
The memories of snow-lit diamond forests
Beneath a cold December moon
Have been my warmth too many nights alone

You sparkle in my sight, suspended from the Sun
And are you longing as I do
To share the stars and icy prisms, the heat of Love
Beneath a well-worn quilt
And never waking to a cold sunrise, alone

Do I see the same desire in your eyes
When you stare corundum fire
And hang, like an angel from the skies
To say my name is beauty
And give meaning to all the years alone

You are a Tantalus kiss, not quite within my reach
And soon the snowy New Year comes
When all the gifts, and holidays are through
When I am left to quiet slumber
Will I sleep alone, with you?

No Bitter Wind

And if not you, then who?

I will tread my weary path alone,
With new purpose, new means
And still I will not settle nor
Compromise, nor strive for love
But let Blind Cupid seek me
In his own time
And if I live my life long and
Still alone, I will only freeze a
Portion of my heart for you, a
Fragment left to die, so I will
Not grow cold, and have no bitter wind

She steals your kisses

She steals your kisses
And holds your hands
She takes my time
To sleep inside your warmth

She lies to you
And you comfort her
She hurts you, and I cry
For while she is your life

You are my love

My love for you
Is like a secret thing
I keep inside my heart
Hidden from the world
I smile, knowing
That you have given me
This love

Quietly, I sit and read
Sunlight slanting into dusk
My mother asks me what I do
I look across my teacup smiling
"I wait."

My love can be a selfish thing

My love can be a selfish thing
I want to share the world with you
And only you, but
My love is still a selfless thing
And I will share my world with you
And any whom you love

I love you
And I want you
For my own:
To wake up next to you
To heal you when you hurt
To ache when you are gone
To love you always

I would do this thing for you

I would do this thing for you
Because I trust you in small ways
And ways that seem ordinary
You make life worth living
So I trust you with what I have

I have grown very fond of you

I have grown very fond of you
You are wonderful to be with
You give me life when I am low
Adventure when I am high
And love when I am lonely

Fit for Gods

Dreams are the food of the Soul
So do not dream as fit for Kings
But dream as fit for Gods

The Tings You Left Behind

In dreams, I cursed you;
By day, I longed.
I counted time
By hours, and by tears.

But sometimes,
When you smile, and
When I laugh,
The world seems like I was
When I was young,
And as you have always been:
Fair and bright,
With hidden beauty few can see.

I missed you when you were gone,
And died to think I'd hurt you.

Sometimes,
Despite the miles and tears,
You can go back,
And things you left behind
Can still be found.

Drag me, now, to Stygian depths

Drag me, now, to Stygian depths
I lay on the edge of endless night
Confessing, communing of my sins
For I have sinned; have sinned
In the eyes of Sons long-risen
But as to John: I love you
Drag me, then, to Stygian depths
I lay on the edge of endless light
Continuing of the sins that I have sinned
Drag me down, but I have loved
No fire burns as hot
There is no Hell but separation
And death is distance
But as to John: I will return
Drag me down to Stygian depths
For I have loved him
There is no hell, for I have loved...

Inside The Box

These ancient corridors are empty
And I am all that's left
Days grow long; dust settles on the shelves
With such bare bones to offer
What wealth would lie upon my doorstep
The ancient and the wise withdraw
So only paupers knock and
Beg alms through the tiny keyhole
I give them what I can
But that is hope, enough

Love Like Strangers

For a while we walked
between the pillars of ancient marble,
we walked when the moon was full
and the ruins took the hue of bone.
For a while we talked
of pleasantries: of birds and weather,
of how the city enjoyed its gown of leaves,
we left the somber mood behind
laughing quietly as the final hope of sunset
dropped beneath the trees.
She asked me
where I'd been, what caused my eyes
to linger in the dusk
what things of night had chilled my soul
I turned away
not willing to forgive the secrets
how well you look, I said
She touched my cheek
and you have aged beyond your years
my years are many, but here we are again
to walk beneath the moon.

HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING?
YOU TURN TO ME, AND KISS.
YOU HOLD ME UNDER A SUBJUGATION.
WHY? YOU SMILE.
THERE ARE NO WORDS
FOR THE PART OF ME THAT DIES
WITH EVERY HARSH WORD.
I CANNOT SEE BEHIND
YOUR COOL AND CONFIDENT EYES.
THEY LAUGH AT ME.
YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.
EVERYONE IS CAUGHT
WITHIN A WEB OF FEAR.
YOU BLINK, AND ALL MY FEARS
BECOME A TORTURE,
SLOWLY GRINDING AWAY
A NAIVE SHELL AND
LEAVING ME STRANDED IN REALITY.

I HAVE HIDDEN FOR YEARS
COWERING IN A BLINDNESS
IMPOTENT AGAINST HIS RAGE
I SEARCH FOR SUBMISSION
BRINGING THOSE PEOPLE WHO
ACCEPT NO WAY BUT THEIRS

I FALL LOWER AND TEARS
PASS THROUGH MY HANDS LIKE
WINE COUNTING DOWN MY FEARS
FOR TOO LONG I HAVE HIDDEN
FROM THIS MAN TOO LONG
THE MANY SPITES HAVE STUNG
TOO LATE I SEE MY SUBMISSION
INTO FEAR

i. the serpent

She loved the stone-cold
ceramic tile, she willowed
away, curving to another form,
another life, where trees were
poor and flat-faced rocks
circled into basins
a faucet replaced the chill
of the river, with a never
moving H, teaching patience,
conservation, and a passion
never found in heat
she bent black hair, and
bit with frosted lips, she
shrouded me with frigidity, I
had the virtue of the glacier
the river flowed, and I
slept with tile, a wisp of
hair, and a gentle pale
Madonna, inside the crypt of
her temple, forgiving her as
God

ii. the scorpion

She told me once that her
time was over, that she was an
unreconciled past that soon must
end, and soon it did
the tile and steel fitted more
than satin, velvet, wood, I
paused and yet confirmed that it
was she, and saw her last seed
sown beneath eager trees and rain
she never said the words, but
left them penned on mirrors in
lipstick, tears, and silk, I
cried for her, and bled, and
spilled myself inside her soul
the words reflected, and her
eyes, my light, my love, I did
not know it was never her love
returned, but mine reflecting
off the mirrors of pale blue ice
absorb, my dear, her silent lips
betrayed, kiss to get burned and
keep the sun to love, the moon
must die, she cannot take, cannot
give birth, must yet reflect the
light that you create

iii. the eagle

I fell in love with salt-green
ceramic tile, with the slender
cobalt blue reserved for deep
respect, I fell in love with
life, with creation, with kids,
with blondes
I found a hollow place inside,
with salty edges, and caverns
for a glacier, and a river, and
in an empty cave, I stored a
single comb of icy lace
never asked, and never told,
the secret whispers of arctic
winds blow coldly, but with
passions that endure

I love your legs
Strong like mine
And making our passion
As we entwine and collapse
More like fusion
Radiating heat and sweat
And light that shines
In your eyes
A sun
A nova
Create with me
From silver
Gold