Sonnet: The Precious Few

My wand'ring often leads to Sacre-Coeur

When Fortune opts to place me in Paris

As if my aim though feckless and mission-free

Should hit the heart of the powdered dome so sure,

The satin ribbon of the Seine's a lure

And starting point for many a sight-see

Where I could rendezvous with french Marie

And maybe linger, kissing, pendant des heures,

Then later, hearts besotted, footsteps make

The well-worn lovers' trek to the wedding cake

On up the concrete stairs that suck the air

We climb onto La Butte from which we stare:

The streets and buildings fold beneath our view

The people, too, that leaves us the precious few.

16 April 2023

Sonnet: Open Cracks The Eye

When open cracks the eye to cloudy gray

 Outside like heaven or inside of sleep

I turn and close an hour more to stay

For dewy dreams to grow and so to reap,

When next I wake the sky is blue and bright

A nudge to imitate the risen sun

To work and sweat until the fall of night

Admits the possibility of fun,

But if sky frames them both, the need to choose

Excites emotion: guilt, ambition, lust

Desire to win and worry not to lose

A cause for action and, if not, disgust.

The Barroom Sage says though, "It's best to wait

To let the gods or nature settle Fate."

23 May 2023

Sonnet: Question

To the woman of the beat-up Subaru
Now absent from its gull-stained parking spot
My hopes and fears must I project on you
Each time I ponder where you are --- and are not,

Long days and nights along Pacific ledge
Whose brew of wind, fog, heat and cold
Distend the many months endured and edge
You near, perhaps, a better place to hold,

Imaginations sometime fail to rise
Above our circumstance, so Legacy
Takes root below the level of our eyes
But could address the higher mystery 
Of who you are; why choose the things you do
And what could change said course and what ensue.

Christmas Day 2023