The shadow of a leaf descending past my windowpane                         Shutters autumn’s sun amid the fervent afternoon.                          Rejoining fellow fallen leaves along the frostbit lawn,                         The leaf rests warmly blazoned before the year is gone.                                     We thank the Lord for fallen things—for blessings here below,                         For rain above the dismal heights not yet bedecked with snow,...

Why does fall cause a lump in my throat, a bursting of my heart, a flaming nostalgia to awaken the past still slumbering in childhood dreams? A yearning grows like rising sun to float off into sapphire skies and velvet autumn air; to kick through paths of fallen leaves and find the secret stair to harvest’s maturing sun; to swing among the maples’ goldenrods and climb the mighty oak’s scarlet and persimmon arms waving into cornflower-blue skies.  Leaves scratch sidewalks in

Like a candle on a hill you flickered In a gale of will; You smoked like flax Put out almost by pride— Agonized to shine But never cried—never Breathed a sigh of weariness   Or pain but trimmed your blackened Wick and blazed again.    Wind mocked the burning truth    You beamed all night— And scoffed that righteousness  Isn’t right—but you Smiled back—laughed, even, At the fire Rebellion

Thy truth, in time, will come to light, Like patterns kissed with dawn. Oh, wait, thou window of the soul, Behold the sufferer's sun! In crucibles of love, thy panes With colors new imbued Shall scintillate with courage And sparkle forth in truth. Oh, rest in darkness for awhile, Thy glass stained black for death-- A conqueror's fire shall soon burst forth And crown thy shame in health. For Time a third dimension br

Sunlight on a bird wing And moonlight on a rose— Silver threads of heaven Woven into gold— Breaths of mountain...

For all the hopes that died with time, For all the dreams now dust-- For all the trinkets of the past Encrusted now...

I loved you in your perfect health When duty filled your day-- I love you now in shifting sands Where no one knows...

To heal is to grow older And leave a special scar-- To square the aching shoulder And still the pounding heart . . ....

We travel numb across the years In lonely hours of thought-- Remember all that Time has brought And crown Today with...

Faith smells a flower in winter, when all is dormant and dead; Sees beyond tangible darkness a glorious sunrise...

Life knows some hours of poetry But most of them are prose-- Some treasured notes of symphony, Far more of monotones....

Cooled air summons under starlight . . . night bugs pulse minor triads; slugs glide shiny trails in the streetlight between shadows . . ....

I love the calm, slate-gray mornings After a middle-night thunderstorm When rain still drips from a dome of trees, How...

We so often hear the sound of a thought without thinking. God is God. And we rush right on, wanting something more. There is no more. We...

A touch of love and petals open, blossoms burst through snowy bark, eaglets dare the mountain gorges, songbirds giggle...

All I want out of life is Heaven--Adam's Eden is long dead . . . But sometimes still a buttercup evening springs Gold shadows...

Waves, tumbling broken shells in the unbroken crash and hush of tide, skidding to shore and crawling backwards, spent, subdued, gurgle...

She pulls her silver in patient ripples, stringing adhesive wire from spoke to spoke, clasping one circumference and another, and...

Like a hot air balloon of gasping brightness, The sun ascends the gravity of night, Flames into a blinding, red-gold ball...

The spooky squeal of haunted brakes, The death rattle wailing down the rails-- A late-night train Flies off the compass...