He follows phantom shadows
Like a child at play
Hiding among  the shadows
Avoiding life as he may

He chases after shadows
Phantoms of delight
An internal struggle
To keep from the light

Living in Shadows
Listening to echoes
Drawing the shade
Where blind darkness abodes
Never letting light into the
Dark corners of his mind

Staying in character
Not a word to say
Behind the curtain
A shadow play

Walking in shadows
Never to  know
Why he stays close to
Forever incessant
To hug the shadows
*********************

There is no shadow without reality

Yesterday’s a shadow
Tomorrow’s forever
Today’s a standstill

Life is but a day
When day is gone
I cannot hold the future
Try as I may
Yet
Life is but a compass
Directing my days
My conscience
My pilot
Leads the way

When the light of my youth
The spark of my being reminds me
That life is ever fleeing
The years quietly slip away
They never last
Leaving me to reflect on memories
From my past

Although life may escape me
Placing my soul at rest
I attempt to catch a vision
Of the future
I try my best to foresee
But I cannot fathom eternity
**************************
“Eternity is said not to be an extension of time
But an absence of time”

Graham Greene

Don’t tell me you wish me well
Don’t tell me things will work out
Don’t tell me good luck
Don’t tell me there are better days ahead

Keep your magical solutions
Keep your superstitious acts
Those leave me helpless and powerless
Keep your
Charms
Rituals
Omens
Spells
Where fear and ignorance always dwell

I know
That my faith and my hope will join
That my life is not left to chance
That my life is worth a lot more
Then just a flip of a coin
*********************
“What is faith? It is the confident assurance
that what we hope for is going to happen.
It is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews (11:1)

I have yet to reveal
The whispers in my heart
Never revealed
Forever concealed
Private thoughts I have hidden from sight
Reflections of my life yet to come to light
Never to disclose
Only if I chose
If they were to be exposed
It would tear me apart
Only to betray my secret heart
******************************
“Every man has his secret sorrows
Which the world knows not”
Longfellow

To be told
Your poems don’t rhyme
To hear it said
There is no pattern
They ask
What’s a poem
Without a rhyme?
What’s a story
Without a plot?
What’s a writer
Without a word?
But
Who’s to judge?
Who’s to criticize?
Who’s to blame?
Who’s to censure?
For
They will never understand
That a good poet’s thoughts always rhyme
********************************
“A poem is true if it hangs together
Information points to something else
A poem points to nothing but itself”

E.M. Forster

See me
On the screen
Growing in the hidden place
Nurturing my many dreams

See me
When I see the light
When the darkness disappears
And I have you in my sight

See me
As I begin my talk
Guide me
As I begin my walk

See me
As you hold my hand
Leaving me
To learn and understand

See me
During those trying years
When puberty
Tests my many fears

See me
When I leave the nest
Knowing that
You’ve done your best

See me
When two become one
Knowing that
Your work is done

See me
As you smile
To welcome
Your first grandchild

See me
When my hair turns gray
And my life just
Slips away

See us
Together again
Counting the years
Remembering when
******************************************
“My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place”
“When I was woven together in the depths of the earth
your eyes SAW my unformed body”
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be” PS:(139:15-16)