Downstream

The measure of a man

Is not what he does or fails to do

But who he is

And the greater of these will always be

Like frozen snow on the mountain peaks

The prior, and never what we merely see

Downstream

Broken brush

It's like I'm a painter

Who can no longer hold the brush

Is no longer fluent with the colorant stain

And through certainly there are other forms

Of acrylic and enamel and oil

All of which are not and the same

It hurts the soul most deeply today

And with great force I am hit

By the understanding that I can no longer paint

The young man in me remembers still

But I am not the same

Never the same

Embodied Dream

When you meet your dream

Embodied and full standing there before you suddenly

You need to be reminded

That it’s not

That she is something else entirely

Saria

The wind and weeds

Goosegrass grows

In the wind which knows

How its own voice would be silent

Without such promiscuous weed

Such a relationship is ironic

No?

Haiku of stone

For this I am not

A man of brick and mortal

But of words instead

A sound to soak in

I await the day

When your harp voice calls

And aloud

Sings our newly sprouted flowers

(A song)

As all voices do

But especially yours

Will be a wonderful sound

Which I will soak in most long

And until then longingly

Saria

Saria

Horizons, a tanka

I no longer wish

To see the other side of

These hills of my own

Instead now I rest in this

The valley which calls me home

SPF

Sunshine

Is something

Most wonderfully free

And full

And warm

And soothing

And powerful

To a kid

This heat

Is nothing more than to see

And yet to we the adults

How we hide

How we SPF and forget

Just how soothing this sunshine

Can inevitably be

Stuck in a meeting

I may volunteer my body

And my presence

My time

And though you will it

Or know it

Or command it by grace

There is one thing unstill, always

Which will remain, this, for

You'll never control my mind

Just try

Builders

Everyone respects

Both the builder

And the architect

Not for their personal life

For their drinking habits

For any number of ordinary

Or unordinary things alike

No

Everyone respects

For the tall towers of humanity

Which they aspire to and directly direct

And erect

To the skies

It is

Its hard sometimes

To remeber who

And who is who

And the you which is you

Standalone and tall

And to nothing else hold

For you are more than any world

Than any song or word

You are more than that is

You are are not what you do

Though it's tempting for sure

It is

Of smiles

That moment when

You realize this

You smile alone

And know

This is special

Because it is

Heart for hearts

Your heart
Is not required to
But really ought to have
Its own heart for the broken
For those lost and unknown
For they are yours
And in your company
Just as much as you are your own
And someday, perhaps
You will be there also
Be it old, or hurt, or forgotten, or alone

Do not think you are immune to such things
Do not worship that which you currently own

Because nothing lasts be it good or bad

Thoughts, unending waves

Even the ocean waves

Though precarious in nature

Take their breaks from breaking

Reserve some time for unwaking

And sleep in a subtle

Surface tension leaden peace

Which can only be described

As unbroken

And so also my own mind ought to be

A settled globe

We live this life
In a snow globe, my dear
And when the world shakes our universe
Into a chaotic existence of white
I am thankful for these grounded feet
Which were certainly designed
For this us, this ours

For surely as this globe exists
So this snow is the same
And glass is glass

And we settle still

Before (soon)

My darling

I've been trying to determine
How to say this, best

Having since whispered to you
And enjoyed your whispering back

That we each to the other
Would prefer to be kept

And so I now must say
And with joy can attest

To your "wanting to be kept"
(On that Monday afternoon)

That I most happily felt
And am excited to invest

In us
My darling

Soon!

Saria

Where the Rooster crows

You walked into my life
At a coffee bar

Making your presence known
Like a morning venti
Like caffeine just before a run

And I

With arms opened wide
Embraced your warmth for the first time
And with those warming smiles
Bright as new days dawning sun
No longer was my heart undone

Instead with ours
This loving patience tied anew
And with grace
Continually given and renewed

We about turn and face one another
Asking only this
Will you?
Forever remeber this place?

With me
For a second time, would you please?


Saria

Bouncing

Humanity is a ball

Bouncing up and down

And rolling round

And wishing for slanted walls

To launch high in the sky

Be it to wonder or grow

How we all focus more and more and more

On the bouncing of out

Of the rolling of around

On the wishing to go

In some ways, higher than ever before

How we bound and bound

Like a ball bouncing round

Your feet were meant to walk, my friend

Sometimes a choice

Or none

Are the same

Sometimes God looks to you

Not to establish truth

But to live it out

And it's in the stepping (forward

Which we then move

Be it onward or back

Any movement requires you to move

Saria, tanka, expression

Who among us can

Express that which is most true

In just a moment

Or a single verse detailed

Such a universe is vast