Fireflies From Afar

Fireflies From Afar

In my winter, I loved you from afar,.
Like a sea captain views the North Star,
My hand in yours, as you whisked me away,
Through my dreams that served only to belay,
For in my Spring, I'd encase you in glass,
Firefly to enjoy, delight that would pass,
And send you adrift with morning's first light,
With beacon unnoticed as you take flight,
Yet when Nyx, again, bade darkness to fall,
Another firefly would answer my call,
And into my jar, to delight once more,
Until dawn's first light,  she'd fly out the door.
   Alas, in winter, this love from afar,
   My dear, is for you, and not me by far.


Invino Veritas
9/2/19

EOF

Dragon Matters

Dragon Matters

I saw you on the corner,
Preaching fire while they flatter,
Collecting approval and raising fingers,
While the animosity still lingers,
From followers and mourners,
'Cause In the end it doesn't matter.
You imagined yourself a dragon,
Breathing fire from your ladder,
To the sky, they raised you higher,
As you fed upon their fire,
Drank ambrosia from your flagon,
To that which does not matter;
But when you died,
The world remained the same,
Your words trailed ever ghostly,
Fading ever so mostly,
As they all forgot your game,
Because it didn't matter.
For in the end they turned around,
From your body in the ground,
And found themselves left behind,
And what mattered did they find.

Invino Veritas
5/4/17
(May the Fourth be with you!)
EOF

Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction

Reality's stranger than fiction,
Because I know how the story ends,
Beowulf becomes the caped crusader,
And it's his home the hero defends,
Ahab's white whale is Somalian,
And Queen Jadis rules the desert sands,
In Yemen, Dracul's a thirsty fool,
Readers think hail from far off Iran,
And yet King Lear shouts from Israel,
With Cordelia, dear, ever in tow,
No longer resembling Robin Hood,
But the Sheriff we've all come to know,
Yes, it's surely stranger than fiction,
Wherein the tongues shall all at once fork,
If ever it once made sense to me,
It is when aliens came from Ork.


Invino Veritas
2/21/17
EOF

Oblivious

Oblivious

She's beautiful because she's oblivious,
And I wouldn't want to break her glass,
If she knew -- if our eyes met, she'd know,
And therefore, she'd not be beautiful,
Because she would then know,
Because she would then change;

And now I feel dirty,
And I'll go home,
And drown in pop culture--
Whip myself,
Beat myself,
Tear myself,
Come to terms,
And return.

I'll catch another beauty,
Across the darkened bar,
In the flickering candlelight,
And she'll be beautiful;
She'll be oblivious,
Until she knows,
Then I'll feel dirty,
Again.


Invino Veritas
2/14/17
EOF

Rabble

Rabble

Content, am I, within my own thoughts now,
Amongst the rabble and theories of how,
The visions of sports do not penetrate,
Nor do the rumm'ling voices of debate,
Catching but snippets that pass without note,
On the surface, these topics are remote,
Turning about one another as swill,
From the ales and spirits, their bellies, fill,
Alas, a break, where the music enters,
Moving away from the steady centers,
And my mind topples atop with the head,
Tipping it back, forgetting what was said,
   Perhaps by choice or the subtle refrain,
   Drowning the rabble twice ever again.

Invino Veritas
2/14/17
EOF

Then

Then

I wish I knew you then,
When stars lit up your eyes,
When the passion you made,
Would bubble and not fade,
And the fires that burned,
Did not die.

I wish I'd seen your soul,
Before the frost chilled your bones,
When the gaze and a word,
Were the thunder they heard,
And the excited cadences,
Struck like stones.

But I barely know you now,
So it's the best it's ever been,
When a beer incites the smile,
I've been waiting for a while,
I'm glad to call you,
A friend.




Invino Veritas
1/27/17
EOF

Legal Tender

Legal Tender

They told us it was,
Legal tender for all debts,
And justified wars for all vets,
But their heart's in the tank,
Where the submarine sank,
And they offer no regrets.
They pointed out the heroes,
When they shot the old man down,
And the murderers they thusly found,
Were justified under the law,
According to the evidence the jury saw,
Followed by yet another round.
She wasn't prepared,
When she returned to camp,
With dreams to be the champ,
That catcalls and requests,
To reveal her breasts,
Would make her eyes, instead, damp.
And it was the legal tender,
That eventually built the wall,
Between the big and the small,
Between the eyes and the ears,
Predicated on manufactured fears,
And a will to control it all.


Invino Veritas
9/6/16
EOF