Untitled Haiku

A time for sleep, Dreams
Dance in my head don't compare
To the waking world.

From the Ashes

From the debris and
From the ashes
The Phoenix will rise
Though not the same as before
Tarnished feathers
Burned at the tips
Create a permanent reminder of
Horrors that can't be unseen
But now looked upon with the
Proverbial bird's eye view
A change of perspective
To offer peace
In a milieu of emotion.

Through newly acquired wisdom
The mundane will fall away
In the sunrise of a new world
Burnished eyes
Grim with determination
Take flight to the unknown
Soaring away into joy
Leaving behind all concept of "down"
It cannot be known from where this admiration springs
For the Phoenix flies beyond its reach
With knowledge of the universe
A gift imparted to those left behind
The greatest lesson ever learned

Wings are not needed to soar into joy.

Two Princes (Glass and Steel) [Draft #1]

Drafted into battle by a wicked Queen
Two intrepid Knights gaze into the night
Each clutching a heart to their breast.
Both begin their quest
Riding into the sunrise
Toward a future unknown.

The Queen, in her hatred of those pure of heart
Visited a curse upon the Knights on the eve of their birth
Through dark magic she removed their hearts
Stealing their purity
Turning one to glass, The other steel
Before switching one for the other
It was in this way
The heroes lived through countless quests
Puppets of a Queen who sought only
To use them for her own ends.

The Knights could know nothing
Of joy, or confidence, or love
So emptied were they by the Queen's curse
Yet raised as Champions of the Kingdom
Each knew their worth
Fighting valiantly in the name of duty and honor
Reveling in the adoration and tributes that were offered
They faced many trials alone
Fighting for the same Kingdom
Never side by side.
Until the Queen, blinded by avarice
Dispatched her two champions
The quest doomed to fail.


Before a lake of fire
The first to arrive dismounts his steed
A steel heart dropping from his breastplate
His face betrays no emotion as
He draws sword from scabbard
Determinedly entering the lake of flame.
Unseen, the second arrival dismounts,
Sword in hand, charging the flames
No concern for safety in his countenance.

What should he see,
But another valiant Knight
Tangled in the flames
Armor red from the heat
Face dripping blood
As the licking flames flay his skin
Crackling like a whip
Halting in admiration of his compatriot to the fight
He grasps a glass heart worn around his chest.
"I'll not see you die today." says he, charging the flames

Beating back flames with his own armor and sword
The two Knights now stand
Backs together amidst tumultuous flames
Holding back immolation
Each has the help of the other until,
Moving as one, they leap to safety
Leaving the lake of fire to separate them from their home
"Are you hurt?" says the first
No response comes.

Crawling to his comrade in arms
Strong hands force apart armor
Only to cry out in agony at
An empty hole in his chest
Through tears of anger
He tears away his own, useless armor
Revealing a matching hole in his own, empty chest.

Gently, almost tenderly,
He removes the heart of glass from his neck
These many years, saying only
"Take back that which was taken from you."
With a start, the Knight gasps
Sitting upright, Eyes immediately fixed
Upon his saviors chest.
He clutches the heart around his neck,
The steel ever cold in his hands.

"You saved me." says he.
Only a nod in response.
"You've returned something I'd lost."
Another nod.
Holding up the heart of steel, he says
"Then I shall return this to you."
Placing the heart where it once belonged
And belonged again
The curse is lifted
And each now sees in the other
What had been missing before

"I don't recognize this feeling." says Glass
"Nor do I," answers Steel
"Though I've oft heard of a feeling that creates the elation this must be."
"What?" asks Glass
"Love." comes the answer.
The two Knights set out hand in hand
Moving forward
Into a world of infinite possibility
Leaving behind evil Queens, curses and battles
One a Poet
The other a Prince

What's in a Look

What's in a look?
Because I'd really like to understand
Why your eyes stab me in the heart
With a longing that can only be described as poetic

And your half-smile . . .
Thinning your (oh so kissable) lips
Conveying desire that my lips might touch your own
With a silent acquiesence why this cannot be

Your beautiful eyes
Touch me with sorrow
Deep and timeless as a black hole
Reaching across space and time
Allowing you to touch me in spite of physical limitations

In that look I know love
But no ordinary love can be seen so completely
In only a look
This must be the love of kings

A love that cannot be kept
No  matter how deeply shared
Its needs must with and surely die
Should it not remain free to grow

What's in a look?
All this and more
As I watch you walk away.

Poles Apart

All I see is beauty
Within me and without
In your warm embrace and
Passionate kiss
In your hardness so unyielding and
Softness so inviting
In your taking of what is given and
Giving freely of yourself

All I am is love
Laid out for you, my lover
Please come inside
On display for you, my lover
Please take what is yours
Joining with you, my lover
Inside or out
Becoming more than existed before

Joy is beauty; Beauty is love
Balanced on the biggest wave
We make ourselves
Loving in our own image
Taking it in and
Breathing it out
One cannot exist without the other, and
I am so filled with joy that I should have both

Saturday

I don't know where I am
Lost in a sea of tiny death
The waves crash over me
Pulling me under
And dragging me down
I can't move
I can't breathe
I can't stop
His lips found mine
Grounding me, drawing me back to life
Resuscitating my awareness
As we breathe the same breath
Eyes that are as crystal blue as the waters I drown in
Toss a lifeline I grab hungrily
Following the anchor back to land
I gasp for air
Choking on what I've seen
Until, feeling as small as a child
He drags me to my feet
I'm a doll in his strong arms
A plaything; broken toy
Validated by his intoxicating, perfect smile

I don't know where I am
My body  clenching in a sick parody of rigor mortis
Every muscle locked, on fire
Burning exquisitely from the inside
I can't move
I can't breathe
I can't stop
He moves me
From the darkness to the light
A pressure holding me in place
Comforting me through the things we do at night
He drinks me in
Taking the chaos into himself
Burning from the inside
A twin flame
Burning strong
Until we're the same fire
Flickering in the moonlight
Lighting up the sky as we burn
I'm flying
Launched into the night
When his heated touch
Explodes behind my eyes
And we both know
How close to burning I've been
And how he saved me

I don't know where I am
Lost in a sea of tiny death
A sick parody of rigor mortis
Suddenly consumed with fear
Everything this good comes with a price
I can't move
I can't breathe
I can't stop
Crying out in the dark
your arms wrap me tightly
A sweet ethereal voice reaching out
"I'm right here"
I drink in your security
Coming back to life
Until one by one
My senses return
My first vision one of beauty
As I can finally see your smile
My first breath full of your air
When I can finally breathe you in
The first sound, that of joy
As your laughter fills my ears
My skin tingles in tiny explosions under your fingertips
My face is wet
With exertion and tears
As I sink into you
Laughing with joy when I hear
"I've got you"
Can you tell me that you're real
So that everything I feel I can finally show
The waves Bring me gently down
Into your waiting arms
The same only different
Alive from the inside
Awake for the first time
Cleansed and unbroken
Complete and perfect

I know where I am
And how you saved me

First Date

The first time I saw you
Was on a computer
When you lept off the screen
I knew you were for me.
So of course we never met
See, I guess I wasn't ready for you to jump off the screen
And I wish I had known then
Just how much I would benefit from that jump
But at the time
I was bound in the barbed wire of honor and duty
and gagged by the sentiments of unrequieted love
Barely surviving an abuse I didn't know was happening

The second time I saw you
Was still on a computer screen
Through the invention of social networking
Your eyes beckoned and somehow promised the future
Obviously, we still didn't meet.
Our lives were in completely different places
You were half a world away
While I was just waking up to read the writing on the wall
But those eyes . . .
For the first time I knew what the phrase
"Necessity is the mother of invention" was all about.
So I invented a reason to reach across the miles and talk to you
And hello became a promise of a drink and conversation
That I knever thought could happen with the thousands of miles between us
Until the day that it did happen
When the magic of social networking told me you were moving
To my city.
Nearly a year had passed
But I remembered those eyes
And in that remembering I became thirsty
Thirstier than I've ever been
My throat became as dry as the desert you were escaping
I gave thanks for the invention of the keyboard that let me type:
"How about that drink when you get in town?"
Because the power of speech was simply not an option
As I had somehow forgotten how to produce sound from my throat and form it into words

The third time I saw you
Was in a bar I'd never been to before
I'd spent the hour and a half before getting there
Pretending to be a teenager in front of my bathroom mirror
And when we met for the first time
I was finally ready.
My sense of duty was to myself as I ordered the first round
My honor stood proud on my face when your eyes locked on mine and I didn't look away
My scars stood prominently and on display
Because I wanted to celebrate my survival in reaching this moment
Having a conversation with you that ended with our lives in the same place
Finally.
The same place.
Ready for those eyes
We walked down the street
With me trying to resist holding your hand
The angel on one shoulder saying
"It's too soon!"
With the devil on the other screaming
"Fuck that! Grab it!"
And this sort of battle continued as you showed me around my own city
And I followed willingly, seeing it all for the first time
Until it all had to end
And in the late, late night
     (or the early, early morning)
I drove you to your car
And our eyes met when you said you had to go
But not before . . . .

When I was a kid
I took my dad's car keys and stuck them inside a power outlet
So I could start the building
And when your lips found mine, there in the dark,
That's the memory that went through my head
As the electricity moved between us
Only this time
I knew I would do it again
The next time I saw you.