The sun is setting
long shadows down empty halls
all the doors are closed.
Green grass overgrown
lifeless leaves lounging about
a rusted rake reclined
Motes of dust falling
through soft light from streaked glass
curtains drawn and tied
A nail for hanging
white lace over furniture
they remain unused
What hands have built and maintained
now lie empty and lifeless.
The mountain exposed
bleeds the rain in tears
slowly a river forms.
The sky reflected
carried above as below
wind and water break
Green leaves shimmering
holding tightly to branches
while time pulls them free
Dragonflies prancing
will find no rest in the breeze
they find each other
The sun weighs heavy
the evening lies far away.
Look off into the stoic mountains
the stubborn, biting and cold mountains
There they’ve stood for centuries unmoved
as if born already old mountains
Cutting through the landscape like trauma
the earth exposed by these bold mountains
history stretched past the horizon
tales of violence that molds mountains
that humbled all life to fire and ash.
Let the next species behold mountains
ours spent their lives trying to break them
but only aeons can fold mountains.
When her eyes light up like fire
it warms me to the core
to see her mind contract and expand
embracing all that’s in store.
To find and explore new thoughts
that she wants to understand
to give more than she ever got
with an energy that will never tire.
If you ever met her before
she’s likely left you inspired
with her offer of a helping hand-
a trait I’ve always admired.
She’ll feed you the food off her plate
and give you advice to contemplate
she retains all the lessons she was taught
and is the first to suit up as your mascot
A master of wit and satire
because laughter is one of her few desires
I couldn’t ask for anything more
the person she is I truly adore.
What fortune to live a life with her in it!
That brilliant, brave and beautiful misfit.
Samuel Riley Behlke
is always there to help me
with a heart that’s exposed and raw
he fights his way out the worlds maw
In this strange and changing place
Samuel finds his own pace
focusing on the things he loves
and what he doesn’t, he’ll rise above
Because above all Samuel has tenacity
and a love for others in great capacity
he wants always to be part of a team
and to be held in great esteem
Which isn’t hard at all to do
because Sam is genuine, through and through.
His honesty will catch you off guard
while all subtlety he will discard.
We have shared some fascinating talks
and gone on some amazing walks
ever raged against each other as foes
but there are a few things I hope he knows
I love Samuel very much
and he may be my only son as such
but in that son I’ve gained a friend
a hero, a scholar and a mentorship that never ends.
The rope is tethered but thread bare
holding on to something while
becoming nothing
a sound is born
in the mind
but…
let’s not hear that for now,
let it hide as it is wont to do.
listen…
You can hear the horizon thinning in the light.
Bouncing flames create life
shadows brought to the dance floor
lock step absolutes
with what is not quite light
but not dark anymore.
A box of flesh and cloth
all dressed with flames on top
like a denim cake
lit up to celebrate
diamonds be where they stop.
Stone stained historic with earthen ribbons
tufts of vegetation
small caves of dark questions
Take from me like marrow from a soup bone, held aloft and alone in raging roiled waters desperate to pull me apart and harvest the flavor inside; a hurried whisper of the fevered soliloquy I once was. Add what you want, reduce me/heat, serve.
Steam coils above
rising from the bowl below
no one is eating.
My insides are on fire
almost dead on the surface
but secrets still live within my depths.
those too will die soon
and I will be left raging alone against the shore
Grow Gray With Me 