Don't Let Me Valentine

Lord don't let me

Linger too long

In arrogance and shame

Of arrogance

I do not blame you Lord

For showering me 

With just enough intelligence

To find you again 

Here on earth

Where you spent 

Your formative years

And went to your grave Lord

Give me too your resurrection

For it can only come from you 

All Along Valentine

Taking stock

I found out

I was just a gardener

All along I tried

Those other jobs

But they all ended

Which never happens

To gardens even ones

With nothing in them 

But bare ground

Prepared and ready 

Breathless to be born

Already flowering in my brain 

Should Have Valentine

Taking stock

I should have placed

The blue agave

In the front yard

Where it might have bloomed

Instead of here in this

Back corner without

Enough light

Forgive my greediness

I did covet your blue

Not of sea or sky

More a mood than a color

Glowing in the dark

When I look back at you 

At The Temple Of Aphaia Valentine

The sanguine in  me

Kisses the melancholic in you

On the side of the head

The fiery one

Singes my phlegmatic 

What are you talking about

They say these are 

Our four parts the

Elements we embody

Water earth air and fire

The simple idea was to forge

A whole new element

Out of these four pillars

Dissolving into one 

 

They Stand For Us Valentine

We go to the tree nursery

And pick out our children

As all parents do

An orange tree and a fig

You always wanted a fig

To look after in the yard

And we both love oranges

They said to water them

Every day for a week

But how can we be sure

They're not starving or drowning

They sleep so soundly

We're not even sure they're breathing

Except the wind stirs their leaves

With dreams of growing up

And being loved by us 

Though We Know Valentine

Though we know 

We are imperfect 

And have far to go

We can still feel perfectible

If we keep practicing

I practicing being me

You practicing being you 

But it turns out I love you

For your imperfections

How they perfectly dovetail

With my own not a wrong note 

When we sing off key

You perfecting me 

Even If Valentine

Even if each lifetime

Is just a single step forward

Wouldn't you still want 

To make the journey

Too late now to return

As far back again

As we have left to go

Somehow when we sleep

The mountain wakes up in us 

The spirit of climbing

Against our better judgment

Risking our lives as if

Keeping some promise we made

Remember me you said 

School Days Valentine

Sometimes I think of them

As my secret family

Body soul and spirit

Father spirit Mother soul

And me their needy bodkin

Sending me off to school

Through dripping winter mornings 

Where what I find about myself

Changes every day but what

Do our parents know

About us how we love

To hear their stories

And sing the old songs

About their plans for us 

Life's Valentine

Isn't life a little like

Falling off a cliff

The speed with which

The rocks go by

The suspense the thrill

Of trying to take it all in

So we lose track of falling

Drifting in and out of time

Like fish feeding offshore 

Life is so delicate

When you touch it 

It lets you pet its wings

It ponders you

With such sharp eyes 

Body's Valentine

Isn't the body already a lot

To take care of to love

Like having three dogs 

To feed and train and if

That wasn't enough

A soul barges in

Each dog with its own soul

One running at the mouth

About some dream one

Always begging for more

And more attention

And the smallest one asleep 

I call Heart

I say Heart come

But she just dozes on 

All Saints Valentine

There's something so feminine

About flowers so funereal

The shock of them in their stalls

When you walk into the store

Something so unreachable

You can't not reach for them

But beauty's price keeps

Going up and up

Not in the budget

So I just stare and stare

At all our future glories

I believe that we will look

Like this amazement

On the gardener's face

So like your lover's

Stunned by flowers 

Holy Family Valentine

Water brother

Father fire

Sister air so sweet

Leave only earth

To be our mother

To hold the family

Mostly together

But brother went to town 

And got polluted

And sister drowned

And father slowly 

Burned away

So mother took

Another lover

And birthed

Another naked day 

All Souls' Night Valentine

When did you first notice

How like an iceburg

So much of your soul 

Is hidden from you

It's the first clue

That here is a mystery

A murder you hadn't

Noticed over there

It must have been

When you were sleeping

And your soul comes to wake you

And you know who did it

Who the murderer is

But you'd already guessed it

How it all turns out

To be continued in the end 

Leaving Valentine

At intervals the rain

Throws itself down 

Hard like someone

Come a long way

Carrying such a load

Of grief and renunciation

And then just sauntering off

Placing little suns on every leaf

Some gods still keep

The old ways of bringing 

Sorrow into joy just

By giving themselves away 

Relinquishing everything

Drop by drop leaving

Such a glow behind 

 

Having Worked Valentine

Only the birds and us

Run on two legs

But they have better arms

For penetrating  

The vastness of things

They are not intimidated 

Like shards of courage 

Broken off having worked

Themselves up from dragons

On earth there are so many 

In heaven only one

He nestles there 

In the corner of my eye

He soars above 

Time To Time Valentine

Let us come back

To the babies in our world

Again and again

The ones we pass

In the grocery store

Strapped to their father's back

Or pushed along in a pram

Through crowded streets

Where we can catch their gaze

Their heads turning back

To see if we can make them smile

Take this two year grinning girl

Wearing a T-shirt that says

Her brother is already

Kicking in her mother's womb

Let us be babies again

Full of beginnings

From time to time

Let us bring heaven down 

Later Valentine

How will we know them

When they come

The new geniuses out of the blue

Supplementing the old lights

If we don't sometimes

Sit and listen for them

The better ideas out of the future

Mere pictures of what is happening

In heaven falling from the sky

To be sorted later 

Later and later it gets 

To be a true listener

To let the beauty of the world

Speak for itself

And be heard 

Out Of a Blue Sky Valentine

One dark cloud attached

To two shining puffy ones

On either side like ears

On a gray brain asking

What do you make of this

Random picture of your soul

Passing by dissolving

Gone before you can look

It in the eyes

By soul I mean

Everything and nothing

Yes it was nothing dear 

A god made a joke

I'll tell you later 

For You Valentine

It's for you hummer

We're planting this tree

Where you can rest

Your busy bones 

And consider a nest

Might be possible

Its branches the least

We can do in return

For giving us the gift

Or iridescence suddenly

As if an angel could be so small

Stopping our minds a minute

With invisible wings

On any passing afternoon 

Phoenix Valentine

If you think of yourself as a phoenix

That creature of many feathers

Who nests at the bottom

Of a now invisible sea

Whatever brings us to the desert

Must have some new religion 

In mind an early purgatory

A certain cleansing by the sun 

We are carried back to Egypt

To the springs of the Pharaohs

Wondering what to take with us 

From this whole panorama

And yes our temples

Gutted and forlorn waiting

Impatiently to be re-born 

Night Out Valentine

If I am the earth

And you are the stars

And we are having supper

At some restaurant on Mars

Filling and drinking

Our goblets of moon

And you reach

Across the table

Offering your hand

And say this whirling

Will never stop

In which I hold you still

Drunk with love

Let me fill your cup 

Lost Tragedies Valentine

Aren't we all

Approximately perfect

In our roles as humans

Forgetting our words sometimes 

Or drifting off script

Improvising riffing

Stunning the audience

With some new take

On the ancient speech 

The one about the sinking

Of all our tragedies in the sea

A few saved as always

To go on and perfect 

Teenage Valentine

Above all my mother

Hated phonies and liars

Which was a lot of people

In those days she thought

But it was her spontaneity

That taught me so much

About getting over myself

I so admired her pride 

Even when I hated her

Which happened with

Increasing frequency

As we got older

No it wasn't hate

More like fear

I didn't love her enough

As much as she did me 

Moving On Valentine (for Susan)

It's not the last beach

But it's been a long stretch

To linger in one place

Longing to leave it

When there are so many

not so oceanic forests

You could be climbing

Remember the stones you stole

Will have to be returned 

To sender before you

Close the door at last

Don't think the sea

Won't follow you

In all its splendor  

Heading Valentine

Time to gather

My thoughts together

Flocks of them heading

For better weather

Swirling skies of them

That cannot settle

Oceans below

And ice above

While some are left behind

Old now enough

To over-winter

And sit in barren trees

And sing and whimper 

If You Will It Valentine

Of the dark gods

And the gods of  light

Each of us

A little heaven

Come to earth

To make something

Never made before

That can't be done

In heaven each of us

Given a piece of bread

A portion of delicious fish

To go on and make 

Of it what we will

Something living still 

Newly-Weds Valentine

Still a lot of sun

To go around

And the migrant moon

To keep in touch

With our mad escapades 

And as many stars as we

Could possibly need

To stitch a life together

While we have these perfect bodies

And these perfect minds

While all we love

Passes before our eyes

And the world can still

Be sorted with a kiss 

Come Fall Valentine

Do you wonder more

About where things come from

Than where they're going

Is your soul deciduous

Like mine or evergreen

Do you prefer falling

Asleep or waking up

Do you take instruction

Leaving everything behind

Or do you travel blind 

I can't make up my mind 

Come fall and I believe

I'm just another leaf

I sweep and sweep 

Standing In Valentine

Is it possible

To care for flowers

More than a human being 

If you have a garden

While so many are starving

Your favorite rose

Just coming into bloom

Is it indifferent

As it opens to the sun

Just hovering there

In its complete perfection 

Impossible rose

Standing in for all the children

Dying in the world 

Walled Valentine

Over the top we go

Always a bit too much 

Of too little carriage

Of our thoughts to their

Inevitable conclusions 

When we are young

We only know one thing

That the old must go 

If something new can open

The next new glittering thing

Or something of true value

The construction of the future

What our lives are worth

If we break through its walls

Elemental Valentine

No matter how long

You pretend to be the plants

 Or curl up in the piled stones

Burying summer under

All the plans you made 

Or weaving through the air turn

Your flowers into thunderstorms 

Just to affirm your power 

Reaching into everything

Your proof of magic 

Now I see you

Now I don't

But don't think I don't

Touch you taste you near 

Joy's Valentine

Nothing penetrates like joy

Against all refusals to open the door

All of a sudden it can sweep 

Into your lungs out of nowhere

Beyond all reason your heart

Leaps for the few minutes

It can tolerate so great

Expansion but no matter

How much you want it

To dissolve you 

You can't contain it

It moves out to fill

The whole forest with light

Taking back its position

In the sun and stars  

Laughter To The Rescue Valentine

It was his fate and fortune

To make funny happen

To lift laughter

To an art form

Anyone could practice

To expose our inherent 

Capacity for silliness

In all our serious games

To tear us from our thrones

Our complacency and pride

The joker in the corner of our lives

Who never breaks a smile

But leaves us rolling

On the floor sometimes

Rescuing our lives 

If I Do Nothing Else Valentine

My purpose today

Is to cut my hair

And wash it and scrub

My body clean

While my soul

Can only stand

Out in the rain 

To simulate the same

Desire to be free

Newborn and fresh

To start again

Just give me a minute

To put on some clothes

And dry my dripping soul 

Arranged Valentine

After a long courtship

For better or for worse

If worse to make better

We marry the earth

Even as infant kings and queens

We are spoken for 

One way poverty

One way riches

Things work out

So uniquely for each of us

We can only celebrate

What's common between us

Love leads us to the marriage bed

How can we refuse 

Orange Wings Valentine

Come rain

Embrace the air

Don't be lonely anymore

 

Despite so many flowers

Orange wings stay only a minute

Not finding what they want

 

What is the connection

Between two lizards

Circling on the wall

 

I seemed content

With the eternal

Until love busted in 

 

Come rain

Start me up

All over again 

Not Too Late Valentine

I am informed 

By unimpeachable sources

That the monster 

I was sent to tame

Turns out is me

Like you I at first 

Wouldn't believe it

But after some research

Re-tracing my steps 

I had to admit

How much my monsters

Taught me and the debt

I owed them only saved

By my late regret 

Far From Home Valentine

In the end I find

Myself a little melted

Overwhelmed but purple

With joy by all the things

I find myself wanting

I pull over to the side

Of the road by an old tree

Out here in the countryside

The rolling hills of heaven

To see if they're still there

Which of course they are

And this dying pine destined

To become an archangelic being 

And today I get to behold it

We together far from home 

Already Valentine

I'm full of anxiety

I won't get to read

All the books I've saved

Too busy re-reading 

All the ones I've loved

I read to recall and forget

What I think and hear

What someone else

Has to say about 

This our adventure

Across time and space

What they think about

This moment or

Lose their way and I'm

Left waiting for the sequel

Re-tracing my steps

Already October 

Discovered Valentine

A prize is given

For the discovery

Of a nerve in a brain 

Where a fear is hidden 

Its location waiting

To be triggered 

But the fear itself

How did it get there

Except through some

Immaterial perception

In the mouse's mind

That placed it there

For whenever it was needed 

As it surely will 

Somehow Valentine

In my narrow yard

Suddenly appeared

A wild garden flowering 

Where my tree had been

An impenetrable forest

Of colors out of nowhere

Broke through in the part

I'd let go and never got to

Finish finished for me

Somehow it knew

I would be here amazed 

To behold it 

Fall on its way

The killing frost

The broken-hearted child

Come again to stay

Another Valentine

There must be a hundred

Purple flowers to choose from

So why do its yellow wings

Settle on just this one

Feeding there for a while

And then flying off

As if there were no others

And later in the evening

Coming back to the same one

Which having had its day

Is dying all folded up

In a white shroud

Their seed inside

Saved for another world

Another field of wings

And purple flowers 

Then Go Valentine

After the roadside asters and

The brazen mums in stores

After the leaves fly off 

Like fallen soldiers off to war

And the soul is the only

Bird left singing 

Far out on an island

Still be be discovered 

Then go and stand there 

Under the crooked tree 

Let the worst be done

Loss find its rest in love

In purple asters 

And in brazen mums

Fall Planting Valentine

My willful spring

My summer full

Of feelings

My thoughtful fall

All come to rest

In winter's gleaming

Ice that catches fire

In whatever seeds 

You buried

Farmer of my soul

I remember you striding

Though the bright fields 

Coming home exhausted

In the darkness full of hope 

Taking It Valentine

As I've been doing

For some time now

Every morning

I sit in the sun

Or the gray of clouds

And stare back

At the world

I try to keep a respectful

Expectant gaze 

As if I was talking

To a child or friend

Love can't be taught

But learned she teaches me

To sit in the sun these clouds

And take it all in gratefully 

If I Wait Valentine

If I wait upon a god

It's because a god

Waits on me

More and more I feel

Our hidden collaboration

Unseen becoming seen

I trust it because

Of its wry humor

Throwing walls up against me

Or coddling my woes 

The trick is to find

Your god before he

Finds you napping

And joins you in the bed 

Still Unfinished Valentine

The opera I wrote

Took 83 years so far

To assemble and rehearse

Involving millions

Of players over

Several continents

And a quilt-work of plots 

For its single performance

To an audience of one

Sitting in the darkness

I remember the inspiration

For the whole composition 

I was having breakfast

With my angel and thought

I have nothing better to do 

And an eternity to do it 

To My (Michaelmas) Friends Valentine

It took me long enough

To find out something definite

About my life and world

And though you all are shy 

About honors I want

To honor you my friends

It makes me feel I might

Have achieved something

Just to be in your company

We all suffer the delusion

Of aloneness in the struggle

To make something of ourselves

Something worthy

Of true friendship

Abidingly 

Left Behind Valentine

A little patch of moonlight

Fallen on some stones

In the shape of a cup

Or it could be a shield

A shadow like a sword

Falling across it 

When the moon

Divorced the earth

She took all her jewelry

With her but she left

This bracelet behind

Fallen on stones 

In her haste

Half out of her mind 

Debtor's Valentine

I omitted my sins of omission

In the audit of my soul 

My accountant sent me back

To the enormity of my debt

Hidden in the things

I did not do and now regret

Things I left unsaid

Out of indifference or shame

How make amends 

For what could have been

Fill back in the gaps

Where the light went missing

Still grateful for the debt

I struggle to repay 

September Valentine

The gospels these days

Are all about healing

The blind and the deaf one

Who calls out in the crowd

But what I don't understand

Is how they all didn't

Beg for mercy right then

When they had a chance 

To reach out to him

In the flesh which I

Would I have done

If I call out to him today

As it was in the future

And will be in the past

Only love will last 

Here Valentine

It is still Uriel who passes

The sword of summer

To Michael at the changing

Of the guard in late September

Here in the desert

Fall is the spring we live for

We plant tomatoes 

That will ripen by Christmas 

When all the fields turn

A sempiternal green 

And we can drive out 

To the hills to see 

Our wasteland blooming 

If I Stand Valentine

If I stand

Half in sunlight

Half in shadow 

With a line that passes

Cleaving me in two

Can I feel the balance-

Point for those few seconds

When the soul is still

And the body trembles

Time hovers there

Waiting to resume

A little eternity

Seeps through

Carried by the moon 

Worlds Valentine

The gods are painters

The gods are mechanics

The gods are physicists

The gods are architects

The gods are varied

The gods are invisible

The gods are inside us

And all around us

The gods are caretakers

The gods are story-tellers

 How much the gods 

Want us to be gods 

Worlds of them 

Hauling us in like fish 

Arranging us like stars 

On And On Valentine

We saw the hawk

Swallow the pike

Turn it in its talons

So the head was headed

Down its throat

That same hawk

Flying straight at us

Coming to rest on your arm

Behold your mother

In another form

Her precise eyes

Her head leaning on you

When you sleep

Her wings folding

On you holding on 

High School Valentine

I got a D in Greek

The speech not the stories

But an A in Horace

Sublimi seriam sidera vertice 

Nor men nor gods can lift me

Who appears in Limbo

In Dante's Comedy 

Though he was Virgil's

Close friend and rival 

If I remember Horace

Stayed on the farm and wrote

His own pagan comedy

In which he played all the parts

Master of the art 

For Dante to follow 

Mystery Valentine

We need to have

A detective's attitude 

Toward the world sometimes

Calm and observant

Following the clues

How things are set up

To amuse and confuse us

While the murders flourish

But we know they want

Desperately to be found

And hurry on

To the confessions

Of the last pages

Where all is resolved 

Called On Valentine

When I was a child

All my friends were saints

All my friends were devils

Inside I was convinced it was 

St Anne who saved me

At five years old 

Crossing the highway

Headed for the beach

In my youth we wanted war

A little more than peace 

Time and peace aren't found

In the same sentence

Yet it is my youth

That calls me on 

Not Knowledge But Forces Valentine

At the opposite ends of evil

Stand the too much

And the too little

From the beginning

We made statues of them

And honored their requests

While the good went on

In the world unnoticed

Quietly and without fanfare

What proves its goodness

In being harmed

Learns not to harm

We carved on stones

For future wanderers to find 

Making Up Valentine

Down under is to the earth

As the earth is to heaven 

Where they send all their criminals

And a few saints to save them

They both want to be caught

They want to be reassured

There's someone out there

More compassionate than them

They take us back

To the scene of the crime

Whether to commit it

Or absolve it 

We're still making up

Our minds 

Begotten Valentine

We are begotten not made

The way a machine is made

Out of a concept

That comes to us

Out of the air

In a blazing light

We are formed out of words

Magicians weave over us

To calm the spell

They keep trying to undo

Faced with the world we've made

We children of the gods

Begotten of their mercy

And their too much joy 

Kept Valentine

If you can read them right

You must have noticed

It's all hand-made

These stars at night 

Each word carefully placed

In the buzzing treasury

Where everything is kept

Where the eyes in the e's

Hold their gaze

And the o's form

A church choir

Singing between

The g's and the d's

Hoping to be saved 

Love Awaits Valentine

Love awaits us all

If we practice it enough

We get to play a tune

We get to stand up

And just start singing

In the grocery store

In another language

We get to keep love

Under-wraps  at length

And go home hungry

Love feeds us love

To feed on and grow strong

Love is full of surprises 

And aren't you one

As much as I 

When Valentine

What will you do

With your little life 

When you wake up

In the land of light 

Where everything's transparent

Clear abrupt I think

First I'll find a little

Motel on the edge

Of town considering

What's ahead they will be

Waiting I know

To embrace me

To take me in

But I'll just need

A few moments alone

To kiss the darkness goodbye

And hold you morning

In my arms 

Compelled Valentine

 My mission is missing today

The letter didn't come

Or it did and I've misplaced it

So I'm free to do whatever

And maybe a nap later

What compels me to report

My findings to you

Except another morning

With its lists of clouds

But today it's endless blue

As a baby's smile

A little wave

Moving out into

The world 

The Words Slip Away Valentine

What do you call it when

You toss four or five balls

In the air and try

To keep them there

What do you call it when

You struggle to recall

The word for something

You are always doing

Throwing a ball and catching

It and then another one

I'm up to three for now

What do you call it 

This skill this art

Forgetting and remembering

The words like lovers falling apart

Then getting back together again 

Morning Song Valenttine

A single leaf is moving

In the gray dark yard

Like an oboe tuning up

The yellow violins start to sway

Their green arms

Back and forth but only

Silence carries the song 

Enclosed like a seed inside

But look the conductor

Finally arrives

To make the whole yard

Shiver in that first

Lifting of the light

Singing the darkness out 

 

Since My Last Confession Valentine

You stink old man

It was a fly

Suggesting a shower

But I just sit here

Thinking how how many souls

Have occupied this body

Crusty now around the edges

In its slow dissolving

How many bodies

Have occupied this soul

In just one life-time

Never enough time

To make proper amends

Or hopefully shower 

Who Gives Valentine

We sense another revolution brewing

A line approaching that must be crossed 

We look back to the past 

To see what happens next

The destruction of the cities 

We have just rebuilt

These are the days before all that

When I can write to you calmly

Who make it to the other side

Whether in heaven or on earth

Keep going freedom awaits

Did you think our lives

Weren't worth it 

Given over and over again 

Two Journeys Valentine

You're off to Turkey

I'm off to bed

You encounter the mystery

I'm camping in some dream

You discover it in the food

I find it in the flames

It was the fire all along
That made these things

We creatures of light

And lovable darkness

Steal a small stone

From Nemrut in memory

Of what we once knew

And have yet to make known 

On Its Way Valentine

All the scopes are full

Of hope today

All the signs are dancing

At once or does that

Ever happen that the stars

Get together on the same night

To celebrate the creature

They have made and cared for

Is there one holiday in heaven

When there are parades

Fresh faces blowing horns

Human Beings' Day

When the Archetype

is carried through the streets

Ever on  its way 

Which God Valentine

It's clear isn't it yet

We need to be jolted

Our of our lethargy

From time to time

To make a little history

Out of an ordinary life

Then get folded back in

It's clear isn't it yet 

We all want to be gods

Whether in heaven or on earth

The Great Ideas present themselves 

And we are left to choose

Between thinking

And not thinking

And which god to pursue 

Shoreless World Valentine

Rain at last

Pounds down

Like anger

And forgiveness

Mixed together

The thunder of harsh words

Given and taken back

A curse and then a blessing 

The lightening gods

Still waiting to be believed

There are fields of them

The way the rain is coming down

Advancing in floods

There is no turning back

In this shoreless world 

Love Awaits Valentine

If anyone asks you

What you are doing here

In the middle of the world

Like someone lost and tired

In the middle of an airport

Stopped and standing still

The whole world 

Rushing past in both directions

Tell them you are just

Catching your breathe 

Looking into as many faces

As you can carry with you

Does it matter where you're going

As much as someone

Waiting for your return 

What's Next for Memory Valentine

If the evolution of memory so far

Falls into three long phases

Spatial musical temporal

Each of us given our own 

To sketch in the pictures 

Like footprints in the snow

We remember crossing our path

But don't let the future fool you

It says as it has done in the past

The future is buried

In a cemetery down the street 

From  us at any given time

The future comes like a tidal wave

And we are swept away 

Summer Ending Valentine

Let me presume to speak

For all the lives I've lived

When I say thank you

To all of you from all of us

Our annual summer reunion

Was brilliant even if

At times contentious 

Because because because

It went into the night

What life wants of us and

Would stars be enough 

Of an answer when we

Get back to earth

And our enormous lives 

No Pressure Valentine

I trust in the eternal fragments

Falling into my head like snow

Words I say falling asleep

I trust the darkness 

Will wind up comprehending

The light that wakes me

I think even in heaven

We need sleep no other

Way to dream this up

I trust you hear me

And already know

What's for supper

And have everything in hand

So it's all up to us 

Shoreward Valentine (for Dan)

Who hasn't succumbed yet

To something beautiful in their life

I mean completely taken with them 

Falling apart in a good way

Someone to behold 

Discarding our bearings

Prepared to risk it all

Who told you love

Isn't comical and frightening

Comical because you're in it

And frightening because

You sense its immensity

Swallowed and then coughed up

Over and over

Until you reach the shore 

By The Time Valentine

First you smell the rose

You try to take it all in

But it refuses to be summed up

Preferring to be painted

Then you turn away

And think about 

How it deals with time

The immense pressure

It's under to speak

Some comfort to us

Proof of what we once were

And promise of what

We promised to become

By the time the world is done 

What Did You Pay For It Valentine

On Antiques Roadshow

We saw the best watch

We have ever seen 

When you peer down 

Into its intimate workings

You can almost see

The cosmos whirling

The effect of the rubies

On the twenty-caret gold 

There are only a few of them

Left in existence

If we were to take it apart

To find out how it works

We would only destroy it

No matter how much you paid 

Held Valentine

If love is the true oxygen

By which we live and breath

As all our teachers say

Seems the only way

This can all make sense

There must be another world  

A door behind the mind

That opens on an abyss

Where life has a second life

Bodiless and keen with light

Vain philosophers like me

Just want to get it all down

To a simple equation

We can hold in our heads 

Paradise Garden Valentine

Unlike an herbaceous garden

With its winding blinding paths

The colors carrying you

A paradise garden

Reflecting heaven 

Is made of pools

Of shimmering water 

And the shade of trees

All of one species

Fierce granite lions

Guard the entrance

But the gate swings open

If you can stare them down

They only want to know

You're ready to be found 

 

On Your Assumption Valentine

Three rainbows appeared

 One in the lake one above

The mountains forming an eye

And one unnoticed at first

Just visible above us all

Except there is no one there

Unless you count the photographer

And the faces on the stones

Yellow along the shore

Would it be a sacrilege

To plunge into that water

To bathe in its colors

To disturb this peace 

With shouts of joy 

We Are All Atheists Now Valentine

There is joy in Joyce

And the dickens in Dickens

But I dream of atheists

Coming across the Bible

Overcome by the truth

Of its stories and styles

Overwhelming if true

We are all atheists now

Fierce for the truth we feel 

Better going it alone

As if we didn't 

Really need some god

To suffer for us

Caught in our denial

We will do it on our own 

Cain will be welcomed home 

What Life Wants Valentine

I think life at first

Is an equestrian sport

You're given a horse

To love and tame

Ride where it takes you

Round and round the track

Life makes us feel rebellious

Refusing to be ridden

It wants to take us back

When we want it to go on

But luckily death intervenes

To save us at the last moment

For a few moments

In another world 

Catching our breathe 

The Word Valentine

They say St. Francis

Kept a second Lent

From the night of the falling stars

To the feast of St. Michael

Every year they meet like this

To gaze out over the future

Francis loves to walk

And Michael can hardly

Keep up not saying a thing

Until wouldn't you notice

Snow of years is falling

A star is waiting to be followed

The great Now has come

Just as they said the word 

New Valentine

All the clocks in eternity

Go off at once 

But still the universe sleeps on

Dreaming of peace

Or peacefully dreaming

At least it feels that way

When I peer out into space

Who is not humbled

When the moon lays over

The sun a door opening

Then closing a key

Turned in the lock

A new era is entering

The atmosphere of the earth

It will take years to settle 

Summer Valentine

Why not expand out

Into the universe

Your secret self

After all it's summer

And we are called to witness

Showers of stars and see

They are as real 

As beauty gets

Light that is a being

Diving into the darkness

But this is all a set-up

For fall when the self

Can finally be left behind

That season where everything

Not forgotten is forgiven

You can see it in what leaves 

Book's Valentine

After all it was a book

That brought us together

Both searching for someone

Who had actually read it

To talk to about it

To humbly ask 

Can you explain it to me

I think I grasp it

But it slips away

So lost in allegory

I lose the thread

But look here's someone

Who understands it all

Or at least can share

My ignorance and awe 

No Stone Valentine

I follow my nose

Around the house

Playing cat and mouse

With myself we know

How that turns out

I seize on a few ideas

I tie myself in knots 

Then take a nap

The freedom of being old 

You can let go of time

Take long mental walks

Back and forth from childhood

And leave no stone unturned 

No day unwelcomed 

Angel's Valentine

Angel of the puddle

Left by the fountain

I am watching you evaporate

A matter of minutes

In this thirsty heat

Shrinking to a number

Of shapes a horse a dove

Now flown when

I wasn't looking

But I saw how you took up

Your invisibility again 

Hiding it in leaves 

Aiming to be a cloud

Or a stern blue one day 

Monsoon Valentine

The dust of despair

Is in the desert air 

Don't let me catch it

Except for a few seconds

Just to reassure myself

It leads us nowhere 

Hope is hope because

It's the only way through

To the other world

Where the explanations live

With their accompanying footnotes

A text you can finally read

Blowing off the dust 

Clouds and clouds 

Prayerful Valentine

Lord let me help myself today

To some ice cream for breakfast

And a stroll around my estates

Lord you have preserved me

Like a pickle in a jar

In the back of the frig

You have wrinkled me 

With worry I'm never enough 

Which keeps me fastened

To my body don't let me

Squander these last days

On a shoe-string budget 

Lord let me spend it all 

Elegaic Valentine

More a Platonist

Than I would plan

Less an Aristotelian

When I just want to sit

And talk with you

About totalitarianism

And the freedom of all beings

But in personal terms

To calm us down 

Only what passes between us

Is the really living thing

The few words I can speak

In honor of your passing

In honor of your arrival 

Higher Mathematics Valentine

Get it through your head

Two plus two equals five

The extra point the interest

Taken in retrospect 

But looking forward

We can see the dead

Coming to rescue us

With their proof of life

Their higher mathematics 

Which will clarify

What we're doing here

Still counting on our fingers

While a whole new world 

Rushes in to solve us 

My Loves Valentine

The torn nets of my brain

I cast out on the stream

Fishing for my true feelings

Out there somewhere

Drawn up from the depths

The beautiful trout of love

The salmon heart of love

Even the humble sunfish of love

I would catch and eat

I even rejoice in my

Empty nets knowing

They all got away

They all will be back

One wintry day 

Unvouched Valentine

A small cry intimate

In the quiet sunny air

I couldn't tell if it was

Bird or animal or child 

Or duck one pond over

My quiet nest

A new word being born

Searching for the mouths

To speak its holy name

It cannot be

I'm the only one

Who heard it

Will you vouch for me 

More Valentine

Don't think the stars

Are against us just because

They gather in some 

Strange combinations

What's here is a mirror

Of powerful forces 

Swirling above us

Think when there were no stars

Back to the warm nothing of you

When the first seed was planted

In the endless darkness

Yet here you are rising and falling

Or at least your star is

With so much more to become 

Pale Blue Valentine

Pale blue their purple fades to

Pale yellow their gold 

They almost fill the yard

A hedge-high forest of flowers

Completely volunteered

A few young trees among them

A few hummers who hover 

Is this what happens

When you leave things alone

When you let it all go

Something you didn't plan for

Some beauty you didn't

Even know you needed 

Where there was none before 

 

Dreamed Valentine

In my crowded dream

My angel passed me

My instructions for the day

I tried to remember her words

Before they slipped away 

Her speech was vapor

Something about knowing

What the moment needs

Or needing in the moment

What the moment knows 

Before the ocean of this world

Swept over us and we

Momentarily lost contact 

Her left waiting for me to wake 

Reaching Valentine

On a deeper level

We are left to imagine

The gods are always

Working on us

If we stand still 

For a moment

The god of air

The god of water

We can feel them

Weaving the earth

Into our bones

And what of the god of fire

Will she not burn in us

Reaching for our hearts forever 

Saved Valentine

In the middle of hell

After a good rain 

For a single day

Cool breezes fill the valley

You are working so

You might have missed it

How when the sun

Is muted to gray

The green in the yard

Lights up it glows 

For a few hours

But don't worry 

I've saved it for you

You who work do hard 

Also Valentine

Saturn stations

In your heart today

Stares at you

Looks you up and down 

So what is it you wanted

Calling me back

To those who lose

The thread of love

Trading it for power

Over others 

Don't you also have

Your secret plan

For the world a picture

That proves all

The prophecies true

When the sun comes home 

 

Karen's Valentine

I bow to you dear Karen

Such a great spirit 

Tucked inside a tiny space

A whole community

Your work brought together

Gives you its highest

Recommendation to heaven

For being a herald

Of great possibilities

Wider vistas for our souls

You've left us in your will

So we know you will be

Sending us your love

As much as you can 

Turning Valentine

Every two weeks or so

I pull a trick

On these four flowering pots 

And turn them around

With their backs to the sun 

So we can get a good look

At one another and picture

How our bodies are growing

Bowed over and yearning

To get back to the sun

It takes us three or four

Days to stand upright again

And bring you water

So our leaves can go on 

In Case Valentine

Do you keep always with you

A reservoir of tears

Stuffed in your pocket

Or a good belly laugh

Ready to leap out

Just in case the world

Goes sideways quickly

Tears and laughter 

Are my back-up plan

A kite would be nice

An asterisk in the air 

Leading to a footnote

Cross over if you dare

I will be waiting there 

These Days Valentine

If we keep good notes

We can see how the world's

Suicidal ideation fluctuates

Not unlike the seasons 

Not grasping the full gravity

Of its recurring situation

We either cherish life or we don't

Still making up our minds 

These early days

Of our redemption

Still so much to be

Forgiven for

So much kindness

Still to come 

Our Lady Of The Subway Valentine

I am not psychotic she said

That's good because I'm not

Psychotic either I replied

Then what are you doing

Her eyes demanded to know

In this overcrowded madhouse

Whirling around us

Holding on to a rope

Holding on to your friends

If you have any 

I can still love you I said

Even if I don't know you

That can be our banner

Our whisper in passing

Why would love

Shortchange itself

When it can go on forever 

Reaching Out Valentine

It was when Lucifer

Started feeling guilty

In my soul too intelligent 

Not to feel his own illogic

To see who he was hurting 

When he finally woke up 

To the light he was carrying

He could put his hands

In the wounds from which

The light was flowing

He could try

The one thing he hadn't

He could be forgiven

The lost brother come home 

On That Note Valentine

In the Ninth Symphony

Of the self

When the composer finds

That one lost note

To go out on 

It fades and fades

But then he finds

He's counted wrong

This was just the Eight

Or perhaps the Sixth

What happens to a true musician 

When he loses count

He puts his instrument down 

Stands up and sings

In glory I'm going out 

Overheard Hummingbird Valentine

Something I want to sing

Before we slip away

Gone just like that

Everything left behind

It happens every day 

There's still so little 

We know about 

Our true inner lives

Our sovereign secret selves 

But if you let me I would like

To follow you into the future

Whatever becomes of you

I know it will be grand

I know I will be there 

Overwritten Valentine

What if all this is just a novel

We can't stop reading 

Inescapably autobiographical

But still fiction still romantic

Its writer restricted to a few words

Per day so he has us all

Suspended in his grip

Second-guessing where the plot

Seems to follow more than lead

But who is the pursuer

And who the apercu 

Rushing toward the last page

Which will never come

In subsequent volumes 

St Margaret Painted Valentine

I think Raphael only painted

Mirrors of the human soul

As he could clearly see it

He knew we would need them

When we forgot what it looks like

If you have to give it color

And the slow turn of a face

How the soul sits quietly 

In a field of memories

Surrounded by a dragon

Who brings us knowledge

Of ourselves our power 

Which Margaret has already overcome

And we can clearly see

How it's done 

Just Valentine

There is also the possibility

That nothing will come

Of sitting here in the shade

Listening to birds watching clouds

Like last night's rain

That never came

Still hanging in the air

And yet the stiller I sit

Wanting nothing more

Or less than just to be

I feel a peace come over me

Then I'd surrender everything

If I could just hold your face

For a few moments sitting here