HALLUCINATION
Morning is a mountain
Rising in shadow
Curtains bleed pink
From the newborn sun
Shadows disappear in the glow
Of Lucia lying before me
A translucent dream of light
Like candles in the heavens
Burning bright
I have come, says Lucia,
To heal your dreams
Be silent and rest
My fingers are wings
They caress you gently
Tracing your thoughts
Then slowly take flight
With the coming of night
Lucia do not leave me
I grieve when you recede
When dark has descended
And my vision has ended
I trade my dreams for worries
Do not fear, my child
I am far away and near at once
Soon I will stand before you
As real as the moon
And offer myself once more
My spirit will embrace you
I will breathe on your heart
My hair will feather your weary shoulders
My lips will soothe your burning cheeks
The sun may fade and never return
The moon may bleed like a ruptured rose
Yet I will remain forever
Imbedded in your dreams
Until you reach sleep’s shore
And weep no more
PRAYER FOR MY WIFE
Even though this day is like every day
Let it be rewarding in a special way
Let your heart accept the Love
That comes from near and above
It is greater and more precious
Than anything I can say
Let it warm your heart
Put a smile on your face
And be a lasting part
Of God’s everpresent Grace
And may you always know
That the love we share —
Like the seeds we sow —
Sprouts roots over time
And continues to grow
No matter what happens
Our love will survive
Its roots run deep
Anchored and secure
It is ours to keep
ODE TO THE COAL MAN
Back broken pain pounding
I lie face down suspended paralyzed
numb, a dumb rotisserie man strapped,
mummified, a human sausage
The black-as-coal hand
grabs the handle
spins me in space
my face up, twisted
Awwghh … Morphine! Quick!
The window glows angry fire
from the riot outside
Watts: 1965
Coal man leans down
in my face. You hooked man
You ain’t no better or worse
than them niggers on the street
You not my race but you the same
That stuff may take your pain
but never give you feet
Sirens spilt the night
fading for another day
You just got to pull yourself up
Little Brother you one of us now —
his tone softer, pain in his eyes.
I sigh feeling awful truth
sink deep in my bones
I will survive — my only hope
The coal man has thrown me a rope
PARALYSIS IS BLACK
I wasn’t always Black
Nor was I Paralyzed
My Youth was my Truth
And the Truth was White
In my college years
I lost my legs
Yet they are still
With me I carry them
Wherever I go
When I go wherever I go
I go in a wheelchair
And that makes me Old
No more Youth no more Truth
And soon I will learn
I am no longer White
Every day I am no longer White
Nor Young each moment I feel
The sting of being unseen
The paralysis of Bias
The burn of discrimination
Makes me Black
I am powerless to change
How people see me
I will always be Old, Black,
Paralyzed, and now apart
Never a part
And I am Black
Always Black
ETERNAL MOMENT (To Jim)
Moments before, we looked down:
white sand beach
windblown waves waking
horizon arcing over
a cloudless sky
framing our futures
our lives on the cusp
of adulthood and youth
And you, my friend, proud pilot,
innocence entering its moment
of truth the coastal ranch
beckoning beyond the barn
the stand of eucalyptus
the plowed strip appearing
at the mountain’s base
I have relived the moment
countless days remembering
your eyes as we searched
the sky rising in silence
the promise of our lives suspended
confidence giving way to fear
our mortality near The little Cessna climbing
the mountain’s face
slowing stalling at the peak
nose down diving
like a lightning-struck eagle.
The shared shock of realization
the ravine rushing up, old oaks,
birds winging golden grass rising
How did thousands of choices
reaching back decades
arrive at this moment
our lives changed forever
one of us dying in a breath
the other’s death waiting
fateful years to appear
Now I look back a half century later
the moment a memory spared
our lives yet intertwined
as if born of the same womb
preserved, eternal.
We are not alone knowing
each ending bears its gift
of a new beginning, my friend
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