I Prefer Not To.
red, green, and blue
black, white, and gray
quiddity
is not a crime
if not for your lips
as they rest on your face
would your kiss then
no longer be yours
is ego content
with ill-gotten conclusion
your virtue
my heart doth avow
to all the world
this
i shall ever aver
requite not these words
with the burden of speech
in tacit skies
we remain boundless
unwinding allusions
to infinite realms
where idyll
submits not
to idealization
[image credit: Vittorio Zecchin]
every day
we awaken
edging ever closer
to oblivion
none
can say
how or when
some dare
ask why
only one
stands
to find
out
i for you
and
i for i
[Artwork: M.C. Escher]
a mirror stood
before me
i hesitated to look
for fear of seeing
the ugliness
the weakness
the shame
cast to seas of sorrow
the skewed mouth
and squinting eyes
the furrowed brow of condemnation
the cowardice of complacency
the body
time forsook
the heart left to bleed
on sleeves of insolence
wincing reprieve
i strained to raise my head
to actually look
at the abomination
splayed supinely
before me
for all to see
but foreign was this frail affliction
that watched my fears
fade into light
through windows
of my own humanity
to see the world within myself
as myself within the world
amid the autumn embrace
of this fated fantasy
i stumbled to awaken
in the outskirts of a dream
with every lucid moment
pigments rich from painted past
voices, faces, feelings
more familiar than the last
my every thought, mistaken
by the vacant world i’d known
shone forged in the foundation
of this humble hearth i roamed
the kindness deemed as weakness
preyed upon in days of yore
now flourished as the impetus
to spur the heart’s implore
the essence of my exile
was found precious deep within
the radiance that beamed from smiles
and hearts of honest friends
the endless hours of anguish
seemed to vanish in the void
of resonant romanticism
emanating joy
though not remiss to disregard
the suffering imbued
upon the weary countenance
of every life accrued
such love was seen ensconcing
from the onset of the eve
that ever shall remain inside
again ’til i am freed
so if i may display in earnest
gratitude sincere
the difference each of you has made
in ways beyond compare
for all my years i was bereft
of those who shared my world
now every time a tear is shed
it greets the earth impearled
having just awoken from a truth
none dare to dream
i reveled in the feeling
of an old familiar friend
for once the house that held this heart
had found itself a home
inhabited by every hapless moment
rapt in youth
i felt a warmth so radiant
where smiles wore freedom’s linger
the foreign touch of fingers
poised to praise and not condemn
i wandered through the shifting walls
of visions so uplifting
while drifting in between
the conscious states that fate once held
a gentle hand was guiding me
through windows of perception
with eyes of every fabled tale
of caring and concern
many arms were reaching out
that left no sting of burden
and words were spoken
with a calming comfort and relief
in this fixed expression of release
like peals of fulgurance
strike every version’s revelations
voiced of your reflection
with resonance, they ring out
to floresce in all dimensions
through broken mirrors
of latent introspection
Let not the pain in which we suffer
Afflict those carrying our hearts
Release allures veiling elusive
For each must tend their burdened load
Let the ancient souls subsist us
With forces none dare comprehend
Let no man stand to quash thy purpose
Stay the path shone brightly with truth
For only minds of open ingress
Sow the seeds of fortune’s reap
Filling fields we’d let fall fallow
With abundant wonders strewed
Train thy sights of weather eye
Upon these friendships, forge thy freedom
Under skies of vibrant valor
Let us rise to heights unknown
To walk in every path whence trod
Perchance, to understand our own
Max, or Not 