Time-Killing

Burning hope and spoiled cream,
Silly pleasures win, it seems,
Scripture, prayer, joyful smiles
fall to little, empty whiles.

De Nutriendo Consultationis: The Academaniacs

Of the raising of questions,
a hermit can tell
that upended tables
don't end quite so well.
Monastics would mention,
and scholars the same
that tenured professors
often learn their own shame.

The inquiry of inquiries
has got to subside
and make way for progress
from the in to outside.
When all the best teachers
aren't let to teach.
And all the best creatures
are put out of reach.
The studies are old
and the practice forgotten
of trades true and honest
and dinners well-gotten.

Pain in Parting with Myself

Far away, my love, so far away,
undercooked, untried, and underpaid.
Do not my heart untie by force
or worse, unbind by reckless play.

My heart, my love, so far away.

Amor Aprilis Babulos Suos Contingit

Why does the world go round and round
once right up now upside down?
Why do I have my glass of wine
and fall in love for moment's time?
Why does her smile and dress so sweet
and pain so honestly effortless brief?
Her love her April's Fools meets.

Odi et Amo, Me Odi ut Melius Me Amem.

Make me humble and yet meek,
simply honest, simply weak,
getting slowly to my feet.

Make me fearful, unafraid.
Give me faith still unbetrayed.
Let me
Doubt my eyes, believe the world,
hold my heart and love my girl.

Torment still torment must be
to live by death, by blindness see,
be filled by fasting, by deadbolts freed.

Ocelli Neonati Genitus Sunt

I have a sister with a baby;
she has brand new eyes
with no cover and no fear
but to hurt and to die.

I have a niece gazing wildly
at the sky and at the sea,
at the breaking of the waves,
she's still gazing up at me.

I have a Friend with a foundry
making bullets out of blood.
He breaks over boundaries,
making dirt, pouring mud.

My sister's husband's child
seems to love every sight,
casting wildly for the world,
casting wildly for light.

My brother's sister's daughter
has never seen this before;
this moment she won't remember
teaches her to grip the shore.