Early Days

modest home
neighbor friends
factory smoke
carefree days

backyard birds
burning leaves
trains and tools
love and trust

yellow bus
vicious nuns
early deaths
latin prayers

pools and sun
focused work
gender games
time to leave

Welcome Home

home from war
a joyous time
the family whole
a soldier blessed

old friends to see
old times relived
toasts are raised
a welcome home

suspicions rise
though not expressed
of subtle change
of darkness there

but all is well
until it's not
and then the war
erupts anew

for pain and fear
still burn within
and in a flash
more victims fall

but who's to blame
for what unfolds
the youth who left
or those he served

Refuge

there's a place
that I go
when the world
closes in

where the trees
and the grass
gently sway
in the breeze

where the noise
of humanity
fades
from the air

where my mind
is more clear
and peace
fills my soul

Memories

fragments of time
stored in life
from birth to death
events engraved

most lie buried
forever lost
others laid bare
by joy or pain

the most intense
invade our soul
there to haunt
remaining days

Frozen Lake

in frigid light
I walked its shore
through crunch of snow
and biting wind

its surface glazed
with snow and ice
a flock of gulls
its only rise

I stopped to scan
the distant shore
where barren trees
in silence stood

and there I saw
a coyote stroll
his muzzle raised
to sniff the air

in search of prey
he stalked the reeds
where voles and mice
endure the chill

his search in vain
he stopped to rest
and caught my scent
across the lake

no sense of threat
he met my gaze
a shared respect
in winter's realm