Mandi

Thunder boomed,

Lightening flashed,

Rain came down,

Winds lashed.

So very loud,

Oh, so bright,

Both storm and you,

Flash in the night.

A mighty storm,

Yells the sky,

Loud and clear,

Was your goodbye.

TLA 7/30/14-1/9/15

Sonnet 1 (Closure) 6/2/14

The years go by without ever seeing,

And never knowing what happened that night,

Were you watching me as I was fleeing?

Or turn away as I ran out of sight?

It wasn’t my choice to turn and run out,

That decision made completely by you.

Whatever the reason; love, hate or doubt,

The answer was something I never knew.

I’ve come to realize after all these years,

The truth is something I’ll never know.

It’s time to put away sadness and tears,

And bring all those memories to a close.

The time has come to pack away the pain,

Leaving memories before that night came.

6/2/14 TLA

Autumn (Rondeau) 6/1/14

Waiting for autumn to show its face,

The heat of the summer it will replace.

The changing leaves they sit atop,

Multi-colored before they drop,

To float to the ground with grace.

The air gets crisp with just a trace,

Of the heat of the summer in this place,

And very soon they will make the swap,

Waiting for autumn to show its face.

For the Earth is ready to slow its pace,

Slowing down from summer’s warm embrace,

Readying itself for the first raindrop,

Knowing it’s time for the heat to stop.

The poor scorched Earth it will erase,

Waiting for autumn to show its face.

6/1/14 TLA

*First attempt at Rondeau poem

Goodbye (Villanelle) 6/1/14

Sometimes you have to say goodbye,

To those you meet along the way,

Then they’re gone and we never learn why.

Some are gone in the blink of an eye,

They’re here and then they go away,

Sometimes you have to say goodbye.

We rage, we cry, we try to deny,

We get on our knees and pray,

Then they’re gone and we never learn why.

Others linger, they will defy,

They do all they can to stay,

Sometimes you have to say goodbye.

But, no matter how hard they try,

They eventually fade away,

Then they’re gone and we never learn why.

Some walk away, others die,

There are things you never get to say,

Sometimes you have to say goodbye,

Then they’re gone and we never learn why.

6/1/14 TLA

*First attempt at Villanelle poem.

Reflection 6/1/14

That reflection that I see each day,

The one that always stares my way.

Why can’t I accept the one who stares,

Why must I continue to always compare?

Why can’t I change it; the one that I see?

Why can’t I accept the one that is me?

6/1/14 TLA

Decisions 6/1/14

If I could only have one wish,

Would I go back and change the past?

Would I change the mistakes that I have made,

Or leave the die as cast?

Would I choose another path,

And start is all anew?

Or would I own up to all my mistakes,

Of which there are more than a few.

Would I keep the love as is,

All the love and pain and sorrow?

Or would I give it all away,

To have a new tomorrow?

But all I am and all I’ll be

Is based on what I’ve sown.

So I think I’ll leave it all intact,

Everything that I have known.

6/1/14 TLA

For A Brother

I almost accidentally
Swallowed your poison pill
Every word soaked
In toxic ill will
Mellifluous monotony
Slowly strangles
While the rotten carrot
Quickly dangles
To be your family hurts
Like a deep stab wound
But severed nerves
Stop the pain
So soon
As I choose not to swallow
Whilst you play ever the victim
And wretch and wallow
While I fade into the pale hallow
Of life's most difficult choices
Ignoring phantom voices
To live or to die
To give up
Or continue to try
To understand your constant
Need for drama
And chaos and lack
No. This time I walk
Away
And never look back.