A HEARING HEART

LIVING THE TRUTH

Believe what you believe

Or succumb to self-deceive.

Worshiping a mirage

Will only serve to sabotage

A faith on the fringe

When doctrines unhinge.

Eyes need to see

The objects that be..

Anniversary Unhappy

Today I am 36 years

Post miracle. My story

Is unique but

No different.

Defying all expectations

To live a life

That wasn’t supposed

To be

Full of challenges

No one can see.

TRUTH TASTING

Truth be told
Lies are sold

Because we only hear
What we hold dear.

Easier to believe
When we deceive

Replacing "the" with "our"
So facts become sour.

THE POINT OF TALKING

When all speech is free
Hearing comes at a cost.

All civility is lost
And sounds to see

Hate when spoken
Bonds of love and peace are broken.

What price willing to pay
For the right to say

Who you want to hurt?

LIMITATIONS BY STATUE

Testimony to treason
But history is the reason

Used for their defense
To perpetuate the offense.

Fears that the past we erase
When it's the present afraid to face.

NO HAPPY RETURNS

Maybe I should have held on tighter
Maybe I was too blind to see
What you meant to me
Or I to you.

If I only knew
Then what now I can clearly see
What was meant to be.
Moving back to move on

Hoping to capture
What is already gone.

TEARS FROM THE SAVIOUR

Tears from the savior
Wash the bloody soil
From the souls of the
Feet of the fallen.

Stains of hatred permeate
The hearts of the lost
Children of God.
The heart beats making

The sounds of echoed
Violence. The lonely righteous
Cry for the love ofthe
Forgotten. Who will be brave
Enough to remember?

THE DEFINING MOMENT

What ever happens in life,
"Be the person you choose!".
To let others define is to lose.

Strength comes from within
So don't be pulled along
By somebody else's fight song.

Only when you dance
To your own, will
The music never be still,

THE REALITY OF REAL

You may not be
The person you
Were but you can't
Escape from the past.

No matter how much
Of a change there is
The record remains
To remind.

Facts are forever
But the truth is
Subject to perception.

TIME CHANGE

Sometimes the future
Is a past that moves
Coming together for
A present that grooves.

Lessons learned,
A new chapter can write
And out of the dark
Comes a new light.

When the past becomes
The future and the Now
Undo what is done
To make the most of what time will allow.

FINDING HAPPINESS

What does it take to be happy you might as.
Cause for many seems a daunting task.

We begin with things held dear
Sometimes far away, sometimes near.

It can be caused by memories from the past
Or from making new ones meant to last.

Sometimes you must live in the moment
Sometimes the moment to live is sent.

SOUL BATTLE

Looking for the failure in me
Prevents the who I could be.

Sometimes it takes outside looking in
To be able to see victory again.

In order for the demons to be set free
You just have to change from where you see.

Doesn't matter where you've been
Believe in yourself for the win.

DISTORTION BY PROXY

Words come fast when
Feelings come slow
So you don't always
Know what you know..

Victims of emotional slavery
Are often bound by
Messages they
Unintentionally convey.

Meanings lost in
Carnival mirrors.
Reflections can be distortions
One doesn't always see what is seen.

VERBAL EXPLOSIVES

Words have dangerous
Unseen power and
Must be handled with care
Less there be victims of friendly fire.

Sometimes the volatility
Of the message
Can consume the
Unsuspecting messenger.

Truths unspoken provide
The context of the meaning.

DANCING WITH THE PAST

My ears bleed from the silence
Wounds from a tortured soul.
Recovery and renovation requires patience,
Kind words to fill a hole.

Waiting to breathe again
Waiting for the music to play.
A song to sing once
Filled my soul but

But fears of being
Forgotten and faded by history.
Trying to listen to the music
So the lyrics will no longer be a mystery.

CHANCES UNTAKEN

Waiting on a tomorrow
That may never come.
Is better than living in
A past that never was.

Hope is movement
While satisfaction is
Sometimes failure's
Mask of acceptance.

Be bold for the
Future rewards takers
Of risks and punishes
The present with complacency.

MAKING FATE

Chained to memories
Both good and bad
Trauma and euphoria of equal
Either can make one sad

Because of what was
Or no longer is.
Both in flashback
The moment relives

Whether pleasure or pain
Wisdom to be gained.
No matter the future
The past is remained.

FANTASY'S FATE

Back together like a Lifetime movie
But questions of happy ending have will we

A heartwarming story it does make
Fantasies of a wedding cake.

But then reality storms back in
Because of where you're at and where you've been.

Returning home is never an easy task
Life's history wears many a mask.

LIFE BY DEGREE

The earth does shake
For arguments sake.

Learning comes from tremors in knowledge
Not all found in college.

Life has many lessons to give
The only prerequisite is to learn to live.

Long held truths are there to discern
All that's required, "Be open to learn".

RICHES AMONG US

Life is an ongoing experiment
Where failure is research
And success is the
Reward of learning.

Research is constant
And rewards are
Constantly being
redefined

Wisdom comes
From knowing the difference

SEARCHING FOR SERENITY

Coming to an end
Where to begin.

Looking to the past
For something to last.

Finding stability
May be beyond my ability.

One must ask why
Continue to try.

Cause hope to find
A happiness that's mine.

WRITING UP COURAGE

Sometimes truth is easier to see
Written out before me.

Even when told again
Still better from my pen.

You may know what you know
And still not see the show,

Unless you write what is right
To summon the strength for the fight.

CHANCE CHOICES

Future fear
Already here.

Despite unknown
Hope shown.

Cause of present curse
What could be worse.

So in order to advance
Must take a chance.

For tomorrow to attain
Or misery remain?

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Gifts given but never used?
Obvious talents, ignored and abused.

Though success has many definitions
With riches gained from many expeditions.

Wisdom is worth more than any price
And even the wealthy seek advice

The question of living to afford?
Knowledge shared is its own reward.

LIFE IN A BLUR

The eyes see what they see
While the heart sees what be.

Sometimes each see the same
Except when someone is playing a game.

Always subject to a trick
Both can become sick.

Recovery requires coordinated
vision for real to be related.

MOVING ON DAY

Another ending means another beginning
The question is losing or winning.

Sometimes both it appears.
Either way change brings fears.

Over thought analysis
Leads to emotional paralysis.

PRESSURE POETRY

Writing can be
A release
Of bottled emotions.


A well timed venting
Of pent up
Emotions.


The release comes
From the process
Not the product.

LIKE A FINE WINE

Feelings can be
Like hidden treasure
Both can be buried
And uncovered later.


With values that
Have grown in measure.
Maturity puts beauty
In a whole new light.

A new goal of happiness now
Becomes the object of pleasure.
Old attractions
Yield new satisfactions.

REFLECTION DIRECTION

When reality becomes real
The present can lose appeal.

Facts when faced
Can cause perceptions replaced.

Still truths offer stability
Depending on abilty

To bring into focus
Life's hocus pocus.

PAST TIME

Not the same as before
Maybe less, maybe more.

Wounds not healed by time
Trying now to soothe with rhyme.

With only words to give
Trying once again to live

Guess now, only time will tell
If at last all goes well..

REPEAT OFFENDER

As I write to feel
I begin to feel what I write.

Questioning what is real
As the truth comes to light.

The mighty power of the pen
Showing the strength of the muse.

Raising forgotten emotions again
Once again my will to lose?

YOUR SIDE ON TIME

Practicing patience is no easy task
Necessary sometimes for the feelings to last.

For past to become present
The future must be meant.

In order for a common destiny to share
Sometimes requires waiting to dare,

Facts may make up history
But the future makes facts.

NO TRANSLATION NECESSARY

Words are riches
That money can not buy.
No matter how
Much you have to try.

Love is a language
That all want to hear.
The sounds of silence,
the greatest fear.

No need to translate
What you can feel.
Won't have to ask
Whenever it's real.

THE MAKING OF MAPS

Fearing the future only
To be saved by the past.
Moving forward powered
By memories that last.

Hopes from history
To dictate twists in tomorrow
Where you've went
Tells where to go.

SONGS SUNG TO SING

A life lived in between kisses
O the thing one misses.

Yet torn apart
By mistakes of the heart.

Reunited by chance,
The look of a glance

Warms the heart
With hope of a fresh start.

In order to last
History to move past.

CHANGING A LIFE

Moments of clarity
Often come out

Of depression turned
Into desperation.

After hitting rock bottom
One can only see up!

POETRY IS MY PASSPORT

I'm just a poet with no marketable skill.
Speaker of truth that no one else will.

This shits for real, life is not a drill.
For my services there's never a bill.

How would I charge for what you should know?
Still I'll take you places that no one else will go.

RAINBOW'S END

Making happiness should be life's goal
To ease the burdens of  its toll.

No greater riches or reward
Than that moving forward.

When laughter sings your life's tune
There is no greater fortune.

SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Through the powers of perception
One can see what can't be seen.

Feeling more than is felt
Living life in between.

When the parts are more than the sum
The laws of physics undone

Special has the bond become.
Into the fire begin to run.
.

MOMENTS TO BE SIEZED

What does one miss
About a memory?
Not only what's gone
But still could yet be.

Caught in the
Present only to
Be trapped by
The distant past.

The flow of the current
Determines the direction
Of tomorrow.

VALUE ADDED HISTORY

Old loves can be
like buried treasure.

More valuable when
finally uncovered again.

Time may increase
interest for good measure.

Especially when hearts not broken
Just have a little bend.

EMOTIONAL GARDENING

Blossoms were once buds
As every newborn flower can attest.

Some firecrackers are duds
A risk for an explosion from the rest.

In the end the wait's worthwhile
Trusting blindly in future's fate

Finding warmth in a loving smile
Makes it all worth the wait!

LESSONS OF HISTORY

Sometimes moving forward

Requires going backwards.

Building on established stability

Can provide precious direction..

Old can be new again

Transforming the past

To write future’s history

A new chapter with old words.

BAGGAGE UNCLAIMED

The mystery of shared history
Is not really one at all.

Common experiences often
Yield uncommon attractions.

Obstacles are more easily
Overcome when the efforts

Are made in unison. Patience
Needs no practice, only desire.

TIME TRAVEL

Yesterday has a way of
Shaping today's tomorrow.

Future is a slave to history
Because now is always

Captured by the past
Made relevant by the present.

NIGHTMARES OF NAVIGATION

Parallel paths don't always
Go in the same direction.

An intersection can be
Both a completion and a continuation,

Never to be lost the starting points
Are the same and

Endings can become beginnings
And losses found never really were.

PENETRATION ILLUMINATION

Eyes that can be felt
Pierce through an armor

Of protected history
Surrounding hearts held hostage

By the bondage
Of history uncontrolled.

RECOLLECTION RENOVATION

Some old memories never die
Only to be recycled  as new found joys.

Letting go of the past
By controlled amnesia

Allows one to be open
To enjoy the future's possibilities.

FRACTURED SELF

Haunted by awkward memories

Of failures to please

That rely on what the perception sees.

Visions of forests, pictures of trees.

Living with ghosts

About what matters most?

An open heart will surely roast

Imprisoned by a tortured host!

A RECIPE FOR SURVIVAL

Waiting for the return of life
Hoping to escape a living death
Where emotions are calculated
And feelings unfelt.

Surviving apocalypses means paying the price.
Avoiding death's dance required
silencing of the music.

Somehow the blood flows
Without the beating of my heart.
Alone in a crowd or suffering by myself,
The journey does not always end

Where the traveling stops. Maps
May be illegible but the destination
Gains a new focus requiring an
Appreciation  of arrival.

UP WITH TREES

Hands-on education at Connery tree planting

AMERICAN ROMANCE

Golden becomes gray
As time fades away.

What was the encore
Becomes the hope for something more.

Years long have passed
Still somehow the feelings last.

The show's never really over
As long as there's another song to sing.

HISTORY'S ODE

Fool for a day
When she went away.
Never again
Back where I've been.

Attempts to capture
That elusive rapture
Have all ended badly
Leaving me empty, sadly..

No longer do I feel
Never knowing what is real.
Playing the part
Of giving my heart.

Yet now always holding back
To survive the next attack.
Love on pretense,
A duty of sense.

It is what it not was
Again never because
The reflection of me
Hides wounds you can not see.

A PURPOSE GREATER

A lumpy couch and a laundry bag
Circumstances enough to make the spirit sag.

But where to start is not always where to begin
Unintentional outcomes often the price of the end.

Current events remain the distraction.
History's consequences the ultimate satisfaction.