EXCERPT

Black Flamingo

The steam that rises from my dark heart
Leads to tempt the fates.
I speak of a love strange and fair
For this woman I fell for.
She was to be my morning
I came to be her night.

Together our passions ignite
Our fires burn the heavens
And torch the furnaces of hell.
Apart I wither without her embrace.
The swamps sound of bitterness
Around this castle keep
Where my soul sleeps weary.

The twilight abounds in shadows
Dragons, maidens, and knights of our realm
The mysteries that surround my mad dreams
Where my love keeps her safe.
Hides away from the emptiness
That scrapes against the trellis
Of these garden walls.
How I long to see her in her favorite gown.

Often I think of our love as a fable
I heard as a child.
The Crane and The Flamingo
Their hearts forever young
Making a nest in the still waters
In a swampland oasis surrounded
By a mountain serene decent and fair
Our offspring a black flamingo
Only a parents love, would endure.

A strange world forever guarded
In the land of forgotten dreams.
She's still my darling, my hope
A prayer answered so long ago.
Our child has grown and left the nest
To make his way into horizon's unknown.
Where love remains immortal.

I impatiently wait for the twilight
So I may taste her kiss,
Caress her golden hair,
And feel her warmth again
In my darkened plight.

Love and Beauty

In the corner of my favorite library,
romance gleams in still life photos.
I met her there in romance classics.
Her skin was the color of gold in morning
casting her shimmering blue eyes.
Her hair long and red glowed
the color of the sun in spring.
High art I was told was love and beauty
intellectual pursuits and the romantic
never went hand in hand.

I and her were bound in the same book
I took her for my goddess of desire.
My heart races, veins throb
pulses beat quick as maracas
whenever she's near.
Our library romance,
is simple, elegant, gaunt, sophisticated.
If I could, I'd throw my chivalry to the dogs
take her and leap into a pulp novel
feel the savagery of our passions merge
in all its splendor
whether in a Edgar Rice Burroughs story
or hard boiled detective novel
or words from a poets quill
she's love and beauty incarnate to me.

Love in the Obscure

I'll be your mason
Until the end of time
Build you a castle
From love's cornerstone.

I'll build you a staircase to the moon
Set a path with moonbeams and
Water lilies to fill your pool of dreams.

We'll catch clouds in sunsets
And fish for falling stars
Then paint our darkness
In pastoral color bars.

I'll raise our towers
To heaven's door
Then lay a foundation
To the ocean floor,
So when we dance
We'll fly from shore to shore.

I give you my heart and will
I'll love you forever
Or until the world stands still.

I'll give you a gallery
Full of murals and drawers
Of loves everlasting
Who lived with nothing more.

We'll take the dawn
Make it our own
We'll use it as a doorway
To brighten our home

I'll give you the sunshine
For ribbons and bows
Sprinkle stardust in your hair
For a romantic afterglow.

I'll sing you lullabies
Full of gentle refrains
Then make wines
Out of softly falling rains.

I'll grow you a garden
Full of roses and
Gardenias in the spring
Carnations of white and yellow
And Daffodils made of snow.

My heart is for the asking
My love I give to leave
Go your way if you must
I'll build the castle and
Sweep the dust.

I'll endure with
Love untouched until
I fall into that ushered hush.

Hands of Michelangelo

A child I am and will be again
I've come to be a man of innocent eyes
watching fireflies in shimmering light.

Figments come and figments go
I mold with hands like Michelangelo.

A child I am still
floating on electronic streams
of moonlight nights on the Autobahn.
Berlin smiles like a beautiful woman
I want to kiss her when her hair
dangles as a weeping willow
where poetic rivers meet the Seine
in my Paris mind.

Figments come and figments go
I draw with hands like Michelangelo.

I want to feel her rain on my tongue
and taste the spice of her kiss
in a passionate deluge.
Hold her when the electric sun
rises above Rhineland winters
where castle stones are warm.

Figments come and figments go
I paint with hands like Michelangelo.

I watch her sleeping when sun shadows graze
and fall on her face
half orange light, slightly golden, add sparkles
to crystal chandeliers on the ceiling.

Figments come and figments go
I mold with hands like Michelangelo.

Romantic ears hear music from saintly choir
an electronic cowboy in a modern age
dancing half clothed in a euphoric state.
I need to feel, want, desire, be, and love
not just dream, I need, need.

Figments come and figments go
I touch with hands like Michelangelo.

A child I am and now a man
I watch fireflies dancing in the moonlight
crickets sing in a chorus song
I see Venus in a bright red gown standing there
beneath a spiral staircase and embrace her
in our villa by the sea.

Figments come and figments go
I hold with hands like Michelangelo.

Samurai Kiss

Walk with me under the eaves,
while the rain gently lingers and still drops fall,
into bamboo shoots of dark tunnel tubes,
beacon lights shine beautiful memories behind and beyond,
running water sails butterflies down a stream to their callings.

Does not the blue bell tremble
when the shaman strikes with mallet strong
Touch the lotus to my heart
let the orchid sprout her seeds with longing
I shall forever serve what love I have to give.

My kiss shall be the sword of reckoning
To guard forever more our sacred bond
your Ichiban first and last
and the night to your morning rising
when the red sun sets east.

Goodnight my queen of Maine
Pigeons shall call me when your heart is blue,
I am your retainer, keeper, honor and subordinate.
I would take my lips, be your breath and life
If yours were to falter.

If ever I fail you, I would take my life
and give my day of endings
so yours can begin anew.
May you find a truer love
whose heart will keep you safe with care.

The day my final day is done.