Part 1.

I tossed the day away
Yeaton’s farm a memory
of waving corn
soft hill grasses 
the bent barn
red in a gold sun
but, it is your eyes
that still live in me

I see them blink
as the river bleeds
one slow turn at a time
as the fog lifts
giving way to a new day
as the clock ticks
me towards a dreamy midnight

I am still drunk
with love for you
the soft curves of your frame
the tilted-head raccoon look
when I questioned your honesty
the way you moved to the music
the whispers of your soul
long after you have
faded from my sight.

Part II.

High cubes reflecting particles
sand-washed thoughts—– frayed

over and over
thoughts of city streets

caught in the grout lines
of aging bricks, swaying
two feet on top
whining down below

it’s all dying ——-a little more each day
except for new creations
they live until their soul-spin slows

these sun-lit dreams that find me
a mind willing to sacrifice
to chase it, rather than bury it
in sad excuses—— salt-spilt
later from tear-drop eyes

these hills are MINE

I chose to climb the small ones first
to keep the sun in sight
I learned,

the sun itself is not enough

I need the darkness now
to appreciate the light

I need the challenge
to appreciate the journey

I need to know satisfaction
is temporary

that the evidence of life
is in the effort and communion
it takes to birth
a rising sun

then,
to find a smile on a strangers face

I travel,

over the small hills,
to pouched valleys

that lead to great mountains
before they slide down
towards a roaring sea

the sea itself leads
to another land
it rises slowly
towards another mountain

there is no flatland
that remains flat forever
there is no mountain
standing still

we are all in motion,

RISE UP!

Part III.

I sung in time to space
and space in time to me
outstretched hands
some water bath
in the dryness of an
August Sun
I was drenched with love
enough to think
dancing Raisins were funny

“Bang a Gong-Or Spill the Wine”

“Dig that Girl”

………………………and the band played on!

But now I want to play your cymbals
ring your midnights in
with the soft caress of my hand

Before I become primitive again
and take you
only where you want to go
but, could never ask

It’s not a pardon I am here for
I am guilty of too many celebrations

When I feel pain
when I surrender to a loss
I remind myself of you
dancing naked in my dreams

I saw your hips dance
then took you on the Ferris Wheel
on the top I slipped a hand
you turned and looked into my eyes
I knew that you were living
not dying a little more each day

I will take you tonight
before the dawn arrives
you will know how much
one gaze into your eyes
has meant to my life

in the sweet sauce of a great dream
I will deliver your blue moons
to the doorstep of tomorrow
as our midnight palette
paints a brand new memory
on the canvas of our longings.

Part IV.

Once when the light was bright
when the sea-winds whispered “Love”
when the silver moon hung low
in a painted azure sky
I held you in my frail cocoon

Your chestnut hair with highlights
left from the beach day suns
your skin tanned and bronzed
like a magnet pulling me in
until your sweet gaze hypnotized me
held me captive as I wore
a crooked smile

how I longed to strip you naked
let the animal in me take over
but your intention was to tease me
to hold on to something
that was screaming “set me free”

a young man must feed his hunger
or it will own him every waking day
I looked beyond your shoulder
to the sweet lips of the young girls
all of them inviting me in for a taste

today I fight for that same feeling
that love that somehow slipped away
sometimes I can see it riding down a river
or hanging in some summer sky

I have learned that it is all around me
that feeling of bliss that brings on its own high
I can see it in the eyes of my daughters or,
the faces of the children walking by

Here on the beach 
as the sun lifts, the ocean roars
the shorebirds land 
the clouds split the light
until the rays divide 
then, in the divinity
of a single moment
I see you free
dancing in the
dawning sky

Part V.

I am not a hurricane
my tornado tongue
has been at rest

today I sung to a red sun
dipping behind the ancient bay
blue, forever defying death

soon the Black-eyed Susan’s
will paint the hill in yellow
I will walk the same path
that leads me to the river
where my heart bleeds
enough to free my soul
enough to set me free again
so that I may dance below
the summer moons
and chase my dreams
into a peaceful night

when the morning comes
I shall think of you again
remembering the hunger
in your forever eyes

My blood beats to a cadence
as the earth spins its way
towards our destiny
I smile now despite the loss
sure that I have had more
than any man deserves

I cannot be chained
or boxed inside your cage
as the bird flies
so does my spirit
forever free
always moving on

Part V1.

I see you there beyond my dream
in some vague and hazy space
you are dressed in gabardine
your eyes the color of blue moons

I have danced upon your table
stole you heart and walked away
without warning you embraced me
as warm as the summer rain

On this higher ground I call to you
sweet woman of the Eastern Shore
your beauty has been your beast
it was my refuge for some time

This price I pay for leaving love behind
this solemn trade off that weights my soul
is where I keep you so unattended
like a favorite movie that repeats itself
in my mind throughout the years

I studied you as a scholar would his subject
each detail etched into my memory
the way you walk with your head down in the cold
the way your hands move when you speak
the inflection in your voice when you are anxious
the soft curls of your hair resting on prized shoulders

I have lusted for you and never told you
I walked away before you saw my tears
I am a man who takes his own time
before I am forced by nature to come clean

so dance with me one more time
upon this dream-lit energy
kiss me softly before I sigh
then in the forever-winds
I will call your name
as clouds roll by
in my silence I will
call my life complete.

ajs