At Ryder Lake - a weekend visit to my cabin

My dog and cat
    what can I do for them
who sit together on the steps and wait
    upon my going
going out to part
    my life is twisted in the stem
and I who
    last to choose
must either stay or go
    postpone our fate
the estrangement of a file
    in someone's providential
cabinet up there
    no doubt where is father
to a motto

so I drink a brother glass to prove
    the pose of reason
is no match in satisfying
    man's esteem
in short
    I'm getting blotto!


mcmlxiii rev. mmviii

Civilization

A deck of cards
    dealt by the dealer
as they fall out
    and played according to a hoyle
whose rules enforced
    ensure the transactions of the game

a house of cards
    struck as a pasteboard pageant
of foreshadowy perceptions
    within the precincts of a crystal ball

see how the pictures
    dance and shuffle
hearts and diamonds
    lead the motley throng
with the kings and queens attending
    to the cries of
"show your hand!"

spades and clubs are bosses
    run the verbose show
disturbing threats they utter
    whenever dancers slow

come dance the minuet my queens
    come laugh and mime you knaves
aces in a hole declare
    that trumps will call
and cards will fall
    upon a deuce of judgment day
alike upon a judge of deucement day
    alike upon the cracking packing doom


mcmlx… rev. mmviii

Cut down to sighs

Aint outright difference ventually
    standards differ exclusive
peoplez a to zero just-so inclined
    like yer popular bookended
gilt-n-leather-bound volumes
    orl fer show

diffz singular incognito exception
    escapes who's who
can be domiciled by upper-case entitlement
    or yore scryptic latin incantation:
like darwinz heresy
    disturbs status quo vadis

neverbuddyz trueblue pals in concert
    cum down to brass tax
sumz gotta dance happystance
    sumz gotta sing boo-hoo blue
sum follers fiddlerz green
    sum pied piper
whose service we pay thru nose or rue


hasten or tarry
    stay single or marry
dig human logix whim
    how truthz tongue-in-cheek
an we iz turnabout fickle
    demonsterable primitive psyche
frum humblest to vainest
    universal a priori ahem!

nobuddyz exemplary
    imagewise in-mirror-copywhite     nah!
cos diffz me-n-you swapping god forfends
    playing hung-up or put-down
sing-song commonplaces reiterated ad lib
    made-to-measure lies as amends
winner gets booby prize

diffz uz emerging frum womb
    spelling out yer likely prophecies
cum cum    admit    aint we orl
    born lonely in company forlorn
aint we    aint we
    long long to cum despite resumé
cut down ventually
    cut down to equal size


mmviii

Tears don't mend

Tears don't mend
    like tears in cloth
nor does pain stand still
    like unstruck bell

touch to quick of grief
    tugs at scar tissue
vestige of prior hurt
    mortal reminder of event's remove

sap dripping from wounded bark
    birds' and insects' plunder
tree's life fluid
    preserved as amber

injured epidermal layers
    assimilate suffering's burden
memorialized distress
    by benign craft healing



mmviii

I saw a vision once

I saw a vision once
    let's not mock at visions
I have seen what eyes deny
    and feelings understand by intuition
whose world is right by knowing?
    what we have felt is just
and knowing shortly judges feeling

I believe my fancy
    let it play as fiddles dance
the tune my feet will tap
    the barrel-organ and the flute
are instruments of pleasure
    take them gladly or sadly
badly fails to please

I saw a vision once
    it taught me not a whit
about this peopled planet
    although I learnt the threefold rule
what it meant was meaningless
    the visioning was clear
visions are horizons
    they explore the hemisphere we never reach

let us teach ourselves as best we may
    find out the vision suited to our looking
I have spent a lifetime nearly
    searching out my need
the dream I swore to find has dissipated
    the flesh lives on:    the soul-search deprecated

vision as it was    and will be     I adore
    as madmen know the cost
the mind is not lost
    as long as searching searches
and the field is clear
    snuff out the candle when the wick is dim
bury him!     he burnt a flame
    in his own name!


mcmlxii, rev. mmviii

Rich get rich

Rich get rich
poor get poorer
call it "bottom line on top"
is too near the bone
nothing to do with Darwin

mmv

There's sometimes a sunny corner

There's sometimes a sunny corner
    just nicely in the shade
where gloom can gather glimmer
    and no remarks are made
where daffodils or tulips
    spring-born delight to show
they love the clement weather
    and they are good to know
    where love has planted seed
a garden fit is raised
    and folk go arm-in-arm
through rows of life amazed
there's sometimes a sunny corner
    to watch proceedings from
a garden in a nutshell
    a place when no-one's home



mcmxcix

When hope is dead

When hope
    is dead
patience seems
no virtue.
but
    out of
        the
            void
cometh forth
the new.


mcmxcix

Aphorism

People who live in public houses
with a glass in hand
often get stoned

mmv

Behold

Behold how the innocent bee
is seduced by the ravishing maw
of the lascivious cherry flower


mmv