the omniscient sound
July 15, 2014 § 1 Comment
it’s the song for the wandering man
lost somewhere south of France
for the one who believes in madness
and lives in a starlit trance
it’s the song for those who can’t decide
if time is worth the wait
it’s for those who live in the valley
to hide from mountains of hate
it’s the song for those who chase
but can never reach the edge
the song about that forgotten match
flicked from the 8th story ledge
it’s the song that was sung by odysseus
as he sailed the immortal sea
the one that was sung by the crowds
as they lifted the gates and ran free
be it heroes or dreamers, those who fly
and the ones who have simply joined hands
it’s a song for those who can see eternity
in carvings in the sand
it’s the song that reminds us that even though
we stand dispersed beneath our sun
there’s a force that tethers us all to its words
and has turned our souls into one
such is life
June 24, 2014 § Leave a comment
do you know the feeling?
like the entire forest is filled
with the strum of heartbeats
ten thousand souls alive
and your skin can feel their hum
like the call of a something far away
that speaks of the familiar
hearts that can’t stay away
and the glow of possibility
that lingers whenever we touch
i can’t describe it
the sound of a chorus in open air
the joy of running, tearing through space
and watching the horizon forever unravel
just out of your reach, but always close
will we ever know the feeling
ever truly let ourselves be
where we really want to be
The Effulgent Ballad
June 2, 2014 § Leave a comment
The night before
we parted ways,
I lay on my side
the world singing soft carols,
a luminous and constant hymn.
Or maybe it was just you.
A glowing beacon stands
tall and fir green,
growing out of the mahogany wood beneath.
It wouldn’t belong at another time or place,
like we don’t belong in this sweeping valley
engulfed in a veil of night.
But of course it’s here,
and so are we.
Your voice, still pressed to my damp ear,
comes in choppy blurs,
like over a short wave radio.
It breaks and breaks and breaks–
the lights are everywhere,
but especially in the memories of you, or us?
They come in scorching rays. Bright blissful rays
that hurt. We don’t belong,
but here we are.
My eyelids fall in a watery glaze
that convolutes the shining scene
and with each blink the light bends
and the fiery kaleidoscope of reds and golds
morphs. First a mournful face,
then a spinning carousel,
a pulsing, burning, beaming, starburst,
a lonely sailboat in an aqueous field.
The scent of luminosity; of pine.
The lights hanging and crossing make your voice
a dizzying spell.
It chants, radiating
words that fall and hurt
and break. The mournful face tries to smile
and wish the world goodnight.
“Listen,” you say.
But the light is all I hear.
from Sun Dance 2012
you
May 29, 2014 § 2 Comments
you asked the other night
why I smile so much,
why my eyes remain open
beneath gravity’s touch
and it’s really all because
of wispy clouds in the sky,
and how birds sing out
to their friends passing by
it’s because of my sister
who sings as much as the birds,
it’s the simplicity of letters
turning into words
it’s pressing keys and humming
to a tune unheard before,
it’s a letter from the past
and taking time to explore
it’s the magic that happens
when you’re up at four a.m.,
it’s the winding path we wander
in search of something grand
it’s pie and how the ocean tastes
all the things we’ll never know,
it’s oblivion, it’s wonder
and aimless footprints in the snow
and it has to be the stars
and how they’re never from view,
the way the sun always rises
or perhaps, it’s only you.
the blithely biker
May 25, 2014 § 2 Comments
when he pedals past my house every Sunday,
with Bob Marley strumming
from his portable jerry-rigged boom-box,
I can’t decide who’s happier:
he, in all his melodic cycling glory,
or the birds, who cheerfully and loyally chirp along to his song.
Tune
May 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
the same song
every time, a familiar sound
pushing me swiftly through
a tunnel of light on runaway pavement
turning time into traveled miles
and wind, sharp and cold and alive
making hair dance and lifting
hands skyward, that same song
we played that nervous night
in the rain, I always hear it when
I see superheroes and blue dice
and parking lots at night, a road ahead
and stars
Song Bird
March 7, 2014 § Leave a comment
the sweetest
song of a single bird
was heard one day in passing
a distant toon cascading softly
a melody pouring into the ear
of a wanderer, who heard
the ups and downs
of a familiar hymn
a soul, perhaps lost, but still
walking, who caught the song
as it passed through the air
and smiled
as he sang
along
Kitchen Dance
February 9, 2014 § Leave a comment
hot air spirals upward
toward haligen lights
a spinning, circling
steam of buttery garlic
and charred tomatoes
shines heavenly, a spotlight
framing four popping pans
of grease and glitter
that sing a bubble melody
of syncopated sizzle
circling and bouncing
across the very atmosphere
of that silvery room
then a punctuated ring
ends the glistening dance
a stir, a pinch, a lick, a whisk
three, two, one
and dinner is served
Song
January 24, 2014 § 2 Comments
A melody singing
again and again
a sweet, faint tune
that rings between ears
but sounds different
each time it plays, perhaps
the very same notes
but melancholy
at times
or gloriously ecstatic
perhaps
red with anger
at moments
and painful sadness
in others
and then blind passion
flooding emotion
or just
perfect peace,
all fantastically interesting,
though.
A melody that speaks
everything
you cannot say,
a tune that plays
between your ears
day-in, day-out
a hymn that sings a prayer
when words don’t suffice,
the melody of a spirit
that wonders
how life is any different
than a song.
rosepoems 