Looking Back At 40

What a year of extremes, many mirrors have reflected clearly

my strengths and vulnerabilities

there has been a distinct quickening

in the lessons put before me

the years of preparation are now past

the work has been done

now is the season for patience

peppered with constant reminders

that deeper living, is rarely easy living

Is this emergence from

obscurity so wise?

success will never be caught by chase

you can only awaken and grow to meet it

throughout, life remains as it always has been,

a beautiful opportunity

harmony and balance is my savior

both the reward and the key

that winds this Alarm Clock Dawn

I stand ready.

One Last Long Look

one last long look an over-the-shoulder glance, lingering

and a sigh as I try

to take it all in

before I close the door

and say goodbye

memories,

once you were vibrant,

so full of our life

a shelter from the storms

you once housed our hopes

as we watched the world

in its seasons through

your window panes

one last long look

has now left you bare

revealed for what you are

an empty shell, awaiting

the next souls who

will breathe some new and

different life into you

the door now forever

closes with a click

the time has come

to move forward

as our hearts eagerly find

some brand new home.

Truth

Everything fliesaway eventually

a finite succession of crystalline moments in time are all that we really have here

choices allow us to shape each of them before they are frozen in form

In this moment I choose to be grateful, happy and to be kind to you

I will never understand your struggles and mine you can never know

not hollow kindness born of pity from some bleeding heart

but honest kindness that comes from a place of solemn respect for a fellow traveler whose twisted path will eventually lead them to the fringe of same Truth.

This Precipitous Place

Twenty years of faithhave led me here to this precipitous place right at the edge of my dream

If the wind shifts rightly I can close my eyes and savor its perfume

This dream of mine, a writer's life I was born to live but have yet to attain so I walk here as a ghost in the burning daylight one foot in each world, yet not fully an inhabitant of either

My refusal to relent is sheer stubbornness bred in me from generations of those who did it the hard way those who, I pray, in some way walked their hope with them, all the way to the grave.

Dream Ultimate

A tangled webof brilliant lies, those insidious white lines that allow us to keep our swagger and artfully dodge the dull daggers of discontent all have walked this road before breathed in its dust, kicked the stones and in the end have found the journey isn’t what it seemed but just some gloriously forgiving dream always kind enough to give us one more chance.

From The Land of the Lost

This life is a freefalling dreamin which time is the only gravity reach out, but there's nothing to cling to until you awaken and discover your wings these wayward wanderings will bring may a lonesome stings but your soul is a phoenix and a most faithful guide make your journey to the peaks and take comfort in the sunrise of each day born anew taste the wine and know in time that you will make your way from the land of the lost.

Be

Be still, coax your soul from the shadows know when the madness is quieted you already possess all you've ever desired

Be still, see that there is subtle beauty in each breath, in each second of life when you are attuned

Be still, melt into the center of yourself and see that what you once considered reality will fade away as though you have awoken from a dream.

Crescendo

This is life’s crescendo

constantly on the cusp,

close as a shadow, my best friend

sadness comes only

when I forget that

it is forever with me

this portable bliss

no one can capture

however hard they may try

it lives in the wings of the bird,

the crackle of the fire,

and the kindness of strangers

its beauty surrounds

to remind us who we are

and will cradle us in its arms

until our last breath.

Meditation

how lucid is your soul tonightas guards are put to rest? When not one is stirring ‘round you and the sun is setting west,

your true being is emerging as facades yield one by one as you long to merge with oneness and to greet the golden sun,

free from inhibitions imposed by the mind you call your own freedom from the past mistakes that haunts your Earthly home,

cross-legged, in the lotus you begin to clear your wearied mind wishing for a sliver of a moment to leave the struggle far behind

your pulse begins to slow as the void becomes your breath your heart begins to soothe you ever-beating in your chest,

dancing somewhere in the stillness breaking shadows far and near where a worry’s no longer a worry and a tear is not a tear,

a wave is all consuming a bright beam breaks clouds above you reach your precious goal and for a moment become Love.

Nothing Else

As the sun's raysilluminate your being and warm your face pause… to take a nice long drink of life, close your eyes and smile.know that this moment in time is real and all there is, really all there ever was and will be

Nothing else matters.

People will feel how they feel and will believe what they want to believe it is our only job to be

Fall leaves will continue to dance in the crisp wind, the squirrels will continue to play and the wood smoke will wisp long after we are gone.

But now, there is the sun and the earth beneath our feet and our breath time is still and nothing else matters.

A Just Pause

Standing hereon the precipice of nowhere in particular

feeling open, ready for whatever’s next

now, paying attention to nothing but my breath

expectations of anyone nor anything seem desperately naive

understanding, the true nature of how lucky I am to perceive such beauty and bliss

my soul is strong and these shoes are still comfortable because I’ve taken these million humbling steps.

Spark!

Desire, draw us ever deeper to the keeper of our heartswe seek but a glimpse of timeless twilight in this long day's night the Peace we seek begins within and ripples forth in silent waves bathing each and every soul with light "the powers that be" wish us to continue our slothful slumber but our numbers are too great for our hunger to be quelled put your ear to the tracks and hear the low rumble of our humble awakenings take this, your first gasp of pure Truth utter your first cry, then a long cleansing sigh as we say goodbye to the darkness of this world

The Greatest of Secrets

You languish, awash in worrythat time is slipping by and all that once was has long gone down the road never to pass your way again

they tell you you’re a sinner and you remember when your innocence wouldn’t allow you to believe but time and their wicked words have so deliberately whittled you away

it is they who tell you to keep coming back, dangling the hope of salvation just beyond your fervor’s grasp.

But there are a few things that they have failed to tell you you are miraculous, you are divinity’s spark the power of your soul is a sleeping giant, long exiled

if you only knew the power that you possess your eyes would stream tears of joy as if awakened from a terrible nightmare to realize the greatest of secrets, that you are an emperor in beggar's clothes indeed.

Confluence

When the Truth stands before youall else melts into solemn nothingness an easy calm settles down upon your soul and wraps you tightly in the beauty of each moment what once seemed all-important can never again regain its luster you will not only believe in miracles but you will know them to be true for at long last, you once again found you

The Long Road Home

Suspended in sweet lucidityeyes opened in this dream as relativity ebbs away from me life is no longer what it seems within these walls of alabaster time is ticking ever faster subjectivity breeds delusion this lesson will take how long to learn? as we stumble in confusion it's for the same thing we all yearn within these walls of alabaster time is ticking ever faster to find release from caged trinity escape once from familiar shores we're all our own worst enemies I am mine and you are yours.

State of the Union

I’ve seen struggleknow what it’s like To be broken It’s not just a token Of this imagination So counterintuitive to get up again

But I walk the grey mile force a smile for a while Basking in the same fluorescent glow you know

From sea to shining sea I see girls and boys so willing to sell Their souls for a bankroll what happened to clean and tidy God almighty now this is democracy?

Let the beige-ness Of our existence leave its creamy foam on your lips like a scarlet letter

you’ll feel better the morning after mocha latte tips warm sips sway those voluptuous hips to get you through it all hip-hop to trip-hop to flip-flop and waffle

so easy to grow thin and angry when the deck is stacked or fat and dumb look out psyche here it comes,

four more years.

Wander Lost

When the routines of lifeshroud my peace and cause me to wander lost

I long to be a small fish in a big pond,

to lose myself in the bright spot of the next road’s vanishing and to be born again in foreign eyes

I then awaken in remembrance that happiness isn’t meant to be rationed out like thin grey gruel

each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music my dreams will have to die another day.

W.A. Frost

Within these walls we

lose our blahs

and escape the blasé

this place of quiet confidence,

is timeless but echoes of days long past

when life was lived more deliberately

Tommy serves up wisdom and

whimsy in equal shares, always ready

with the perfect pour and a wind-up toy

to usher away the cares of the day

here people from all walks of life converge,

bound together by the love of true quality

and the realization that the essence

of what is wonderful about life

can sometimes be so easily lost

in the fast and the new.

Memories of the Sun

smothered in this deep winter bleaknessas the sun walks away from us an ancient journey to be traveled once again

but I will hold fast in my memory the days when it seemed close enough to pull from the sky and whisper to

I remember each moment it warmed us and the wondrous twilight when we squinted as it danced broad along the water's edge

these memories of the sun, they will offer me solace through the gathering darkness as we patiently await the lushness of the equinox with a certain feigned indifference that fools no one.