Human Valentine

The body of rhythm

And the soul of rhyme

Conspire a riddle

In the spirit of time

To move the world forward

An inch a day an inch a night

Find the fulcrum

In yourself the earth somewhere

Assess your emptiness

That fights to persuade you

You are helpless as you are

As if your origin wasn't a star

As if the journey wasn't far

And didn't include us all

Captured Valentine

If you go too far wandering

Into the history of the woods

Beware the naked trillium

Lest they surround you

Don't put up a fight

With your lengthy speculations

When your breath is taken

Try to remain calm

As at the grave of peace

While their liturgy of light

Turns rosy and transparent

Lest you get struck dumb

With something too exalted

In your throat to speak

Such joy and purity

Blinding those eyes of yours

Where I'm From Valentine

Frank and Bridget came over

On a steamer in the teens

Of the last century from Ireland

I don't know if they were married

Or had yet to meet or even if

They were romantic or just practical

Did you know the earthquakes

Are destroying the churches in Mexico

And I worry about those

Who are swallowed up

Who remembered Mozart at the end

Thrown into a pit 

I stayed a summer month with them

When I  was fifteen and we

Barely uttered a word

Me too awkward them too old

Awareness of the questions

Comes too late I think

Of all I could have learned

From Frank and Bridget

And built an inner-Ireland for them

Memorial Valentine

The old soul of this brilliant continent

Has always been of two persuasions

First a new Eden to which all the world's

Rejected could flee scattering the ancient

Languages destroying the sacred places

Keeping slaves for freedom's sake

Time's last chance to overcome

Its self-destructive inclinations

For which an earthly paradise

Had been prepared a cheltered

Garden where an orchard hung

Gleaming apples in the sun

In hopes new lovers come

A Love Song of Ascents Valentine

Delicate seahorse clouds fly

Above the stranded bay

A man on his phone jogs by

But mostly the beach is deserted

Just a few hardcore supplicants

Like us come down to pray

To our great mother the sea 

Today might be a day

She lifts a city from her depths

Far out there where the sun

Incites a silver radiance

Of something rippling to the surface

Or is it something that descends

A fiery momentary peace

Not even silence understands

My Crows Valentine

If it weren't for the crows in California

There would be no one to scold me

If it weren't for the arms in California

There would be no one to hold me

If I weren't so perfectly old

I would scamper up over these roof-tops

Like in the good young days

But even back then in Toronto's snows

There were beautiful black crows

When everything was clearer larger

And they were minding their own business

Cruising alone above the crystal cove

Little pieces of night that gather

Around me now their California

Returning Valentine

Their old work of trees and mountains

Their lakes and rivers left behind

Their deserts where they ran out

Of things to say surviving

Their flowers animals and birds

But didn't we have a part in it

When they put supper on the table

And let us play out all night

How can we still be children

Flooding the streets like stars

As if the cosmos put us here

Motherless fatherless fathomless

As if after all this

They could abandon us

To our toys and cries

Meeting Valentine

Often I try to meet up with you in dreams

To break through the dream barrier

And share the same dream

Almost as simple as flying

And often in that little park

Above the town and beach

For a few conscious moments

We see our souls are real

And the secret of seeing is revealed

To be the child of dreams

This changes everything when we wake up

Tucked back into our skins

To bring back something undying

Into our mortal dreams

At Lake Pergusa Valentine

I'm scanning the horizon for the words

The little words I know must be there

Hanging by threads unsure they

Really want to leap into the world

Like souls into waiting bodies

Or like that kind philosopher who

Having experienced everything

Could trustingly plunge

Into the volcano down through

Every layer to the heart of the earth

Where the words are kept

Of course he was not even a cinder

Nothing was left of him to give

But the volcano was never the same again

Ascension Valentine

As if it had some mission on the roof

I watched a bug crawl up the wall

With sure determined steps

But almost there it fell

I felt it hit the ground

We lay there stunned

But soon it was up and dashing

Across the walk to the opposite wall

A straight path upward 

With its steady grip it climbed

But reaching the same height 

As before it fell again

We lay there stunned

It was only then I noticed

We had wings and wondered

Whatever they were for

I Am Taking You With Me Valentine

I have found my mind

Must be some kind of cyclone

Counterclockwise spinning

Feeling its way into and out of

A kind of balanced chaos

A desert dust-devil at heart I guess

Right now its circling above Milan

As far as our story's come

But Lake Como trembles out there

Still to be discovered from your side

Of the ocean and from mine

At the same time our two pairs of eyes

Must still wake up in Florence

And have our renaissance

And supper on the terrace

Somewhere in this chaos

At Last Valentine

What book can I bring to the beach

While the rollicking sea is still writing

Our laid-down lives in the sand

And the sun-beaten waves

Call out to the lifeguard far away

Their false alarms and laughter

That we're all drowning here

For lack of something to read 

But must listen to their pleading

The gulls I mean not the waves

Until at last the brave pelicans

Calmly draw a perfect line for us 

Between peace and chaos

Between that white sail speeding out there

And our naked bodies sleeping here

The sun undecided between us

Negotiated Settlement Valentine

If the gods take half the blame

I'll take the other half

If they confess they placed us

In a certain universal situation

When we were just a child

And then ran off to hide

If they admit they abandoned us

In a forest of our own creation

Like some kind of cruel experiment

If they will sit down at the table

Now we have seen their vast armies

And must plea for peace

If they return to us

The best one we rejected

They hold as hostage now

Then I'll sit down with them

And bring my gifts of grief

Emailed Valentine

I followed the full moon  

To LAX at 3am it's such 

A nice time to drive

The road all to yourself

I listened to music and heard

The song 'The Rose' what

A goodie I'd forgotten all about it 

That would have been one to play

At Mom's memorial I'll keep you 

Posted boarding soon for JFK

Here's my flight number

If you want to track me

I have always loved you

Sending hugs from far away

The Heart Is A Requirement Valentine

What does my heart demand of me today

The same answer as yesterday

Not just to ask the question

But to feel the answer's pain

I will have to put suspenders

On my pygamas and walk out

Into the cold night rain

To think it through

My thoughts hold up my heart

I sweat and my teeth are ice

An owl my age stares calmly back at me

Slowing my pulse to cloudy

What I can only call love surrounds me

Or it's only the moon and me

Arms full-spread to embrace

Yes you must be the sun

Only a heart can see

Crisis Valentine

What makes us sullen weary unwise

What wants to keep us in a zoo

Of our own arranging like gorillas

Weeping as they watch their soul's love

Carried off waiting for them

To come back for you

I'll take half the blame but

What tricks us into such hysteria

And then persuades us not to think

Too much about let it go

When to be inconsolable and joyful

At the same time when to let

Our courage down or pick it up

When the gun goes off offstage

Standing peacefully in the corner

Up till now up till now

Bon Voyage Valentine

Of course you'll see and miss

Many splendid things and people

On your whirlwind two-week trip

And want to take a thousand pictures

And bring back several souvenirs

But try to take the time

To look closely at a few things

Time left behind in odd places

That perhaps only you would notice

Because they stir something in you

And remind you of some forgotten life

Aren't we always traveling searching

For the missing pieces of ourselves

Finding in the foreign the familiar

Some beautiful stone waiting to be held

For Granted Valentine

Today I have an important meeting

With my mind long overdue

Her memo said you take

Yourself too much for granted

It worries me we need to talk

Come to my office at three o'clock

So I'm rehearsing my excuses

Not finding a single one she'll buy

I know she watches me like a hawk

Caught up high in the circling light

Above the field where I am scurrying

Mouse-like in the lovely grass

I know she'll just sing to me

When I arrive and smile

And death will be forgotten

Unbelievable Valentine

What do I do when they lie

As we say right to my face

But I feel it in my whole body

When I show them the proof

And they stare across at me

Blazing refusal in their eyes

And I step back for a moment

With something that approaches awe

That this can really be happening

As when my friend's mother

Slapped me hard across the face

For telling her to stop hitting

Her children I was only seven

And it was my first encounter

With evil in the world

And what could I do but weep

I Wouldn't Miss It For The World Valentine

A few last minute chores

Water the plants feed the cat

Before I'm rushing out the door

To meet you at our favorite spot

In the 12th century they called you

The Plaint of Nature or Persephone

But these days you're just my narrow yard

With a few white phlox and my desert rose

Waiting to be overheard

Discuss their practical philosophy

Of bloom and die 

Die and become

While I sit silently by

Hanging on their every word

Missing You Valentine

Whether I lead with my I

Or speak of myself in the third person

I still come back to you

When you appears in 

A sentence it's like

A riddle has been solved

About him and me

We who stand on the outskirts

But have a chance to look in

When you open yourself

To our sky-like shaking gaze

And see that we've been missing

The point of you perhaps

When you are all we are

From An Embryo's Lost Journal Valentine

I half-slept half-cried on the plane

All the long way here

The Buddhi plane they said

Could take me anywhere

I need to go and the fare

Reasonable this time of year

I remember we circled the earth

Several times the cosmic route

Cruising low over ocean light

So we could peer into the depths

And one night we stopped in mid-air

Above a tiny Ukrainian town

For some smiling princess to retrieve

The buried luggage of her soul

She'd left there years ago

And I knew we'd meet again

At some departure or arrival gate

Whether by chance or fate

Neither Happy Nor Sad Valentine

When you reach the goal

In triumph and dismay

You find it was just a set-up

For yet another mountain

When you get inside the mountain

It settles into level ground

So you never know for sure

If you're climbing up or down

Or if you're a moon or a sun

In retrograde or forward motion

Something says you're just walking home

In a peaceful landscape two alone

Where waits another doom

Your love must overcome

The Mystery of Parents Valentine

I would like to have known

My mother when we were seventeen

And my father when we were

Eight or nine when we still

Had a chance to be friends

Or at least in the same class together

The mystery of parents

Is that we owe them everything

But when my daughter was born

I felt it was the other way around

And when her mother died

It was for myself I cried

I saw it was never about me

That I could be so honored

Continuing Valentine

Nearing her third birthday

Into the invisible worlds

Of my dead dear friend

I called her to catch up

On her whereabouts and health

If she'd found a place to live

What books was she reading

Did she still like to go for walks

By the sea at twilight and at dawn

Until she interrupted my

Silly questions with a laugh

I could almost hear her voice

Don't worry it's not like that at all

To live inside your soul

And know love is enough

Long Distance Valentine

Sleep shut down restart

Promise not to be a robot

Dream go deep begin

Graffittied words on freight cars

Scrolling in the morning

On their way to heaven or to Tucson

Where they hope to be

Welcomed and unpacked

Distributed among the people

But how many will be looking up

When the screen goes blank

And the caboose rolls by

Into the torrid desert

And only deeds can save us

Captive Valentine

Who struck you on the head

Did you fall or stand up

Too quickly hitting the wall

Was this really required

Even if done on purpose

As you lie bleeding on the floor

Did they tie your back to a chair

And continue with the questions

You've been asking yourself for years

Why did you come back here

What are you looking for

Why don't they believe you

When you confess it was for them

And yes for a few horses to ride

On a few fall days

Novalis Valentine

And to know this all

Is just a reflection in the mirror

Before which another you is standing

The first great trial

To remove the veil

And feel yourself as world

As multiple discreet

Particles of light

Looking back across

The dark ravine

At that other self

You left behind

Who waits for you

His eyes straining

Into the void searching

For your star to stir