At the River Valentine (for Claudia)

The dove is what the rose became

A metamorphosis of light and color

After the eagle had been tamed

Before the sparrows could intervene

So the dove could be the composite

Of all earthly birds

The Ur-bird

The Christ bird

To rest above his head

In the beginning there was

This peace of the dove

When the sun was highest in the sky

Linger there for a while

If you can and tell me

What you see

If it not be love 

How Magic Comes Into The World Valentine

Like the old flowers and stones

We stand in a circle 

Feeling the weight of the world

As the first light weaves around us

And we can see our angels

Standing behind us lifting

Us slowly into the air

Where a great being above us

Has formed a cloud into a chalice

And placed us there somehow

While an even greater being

Hovering above us all

Places a single drop

Of light that grows

And overflows the cup

And sends us forth

To do some good today 

Something Valentine

That something can be

Both perfectly legal

And deeply immoral 

There's the rub where

Logic meets conscience

It is not love at first sight

Love won't listen to reason

Too long so things grow more

And more allegorical

When you step aside and see

What you stand for

What you truly represent

Your idea of a human being

How far you've traveled 

In Mortal Combat Valentine

What's really wrong can be hard

To figure out what's right

Can be even harder

Wrong requires you

To do nothing 

While right is up in arms

Did wrong lose its way

Always wanting to be right

What's wrong with you

Begotten of the stars

One great wrong has made

Everything right

The rest is just

The building of the temple 

After Valentine

Her companion bird

Was the red-tail hawk

So it makes a certain sense

After she passed she would

Reappear as one often

Sited circling the house 

We would call to her

And she would come

Perch in some tree

And let us take her picture

Or she would be soaring

In and out of the third heaven

Stretching our necks to partake

Of her glorious flight 

Just As Valentine

If our intention 

Was to love

Then we cannot

Have trespassed

If it was done

In love's name

Then something intended

Was completed 

That needed being done

Whether a hook or a hand 

We're offered a way up

By bowing down

To kiss the earth and you

Just as the stars intended 

Connoisseur of the Sun Valentine

I have come to the desert

To study the sun

Where it likes to luxuriate

And turn flowers into flames

Where it creeps over rocks 

One foot after the other

A great beast 

Sipping the darkness

Until there is none 

Is the desert what's left

After the heart was cast

That first one I mean

And we stood still for a while

O sun have mercy on our souls 

Getting It Right Valentine

I overlooked my elbow

So it plunged into the soup 

It look several minutes

Of my life to clean it up

All over the place

And then go hungry 

But all through the wiping up

Splatters everywhere

I tried to go slowly

Tried not to laugh out loud

Tried not to curse the waste 

But went to work on that mess

Till the kitchen shines

And I can stand back

Happy and exhausted  

That at least one thing

Got done right 

How Not Valentine

I will do things today

I have never done before

Things that will surprise me

I didn't know I had in me

Things will get done

Even if I never finish

My assigned tasks 

I have a list and my 

Parchment map 

Of the first true stars

I'll be able to remember

How not to forget things

Your names and faces

Everything I love 

Who Speaks Valentine

One friend says

The brain is a bubble

Easily tossed about

Merging with other bubbles

But still nothing inside

Nothing that abides

Another friend says no

The brain is a radio receiver

Voices come from far and wide

We dial in what we want to hear

But only when we turn it off 

And put ourselves aside

Can the heart be heard 

Sometimes Valentine

Sometimes in corresponding

With the dead it feels like

We are both in different

Kinds of prisons a glass wall

Between us you tell me

About your classes the concerts

The friends you're making

I never met my mother's mother

But she came to me in a dream

She was just sixteen

We talked for hours

But I don't remember a thing

Except the jade earrings she wore

How they answered her eyes 

That smile passed down

Where Valentine

Where do the gods

Actually touch down

Do you feel it in your shoulders

Disguised as pain or strength

Remember they don't

See matter anymore

So when you reach out

Your hand it's more like

A bright redness spreads

Don't the gods share

Their sufferings with us

As if we have the cure

They search among us

For some fallen substance

That yet could heal us all 

Whether Valentine

These warm nights of summer

Take us the farthest out

Into that dark forest

Where we can camp

On the edge of things

Peering through the trees

Out there where we can look 

Back on things calmly

And dither whether

To return given all

Our shortcomings

All of us under the burden

Of so many stars to become 

 

Come Summer Valentine

The gardener only shows up

When he feels like it anymore 

The cook has given notice 

Leaving a few recipes behind

And the cleaning lady vanished

Never to be seen again last year

Somewhere behind the books

But putting all of that aside

I yearn to know how

You are managing

On the other side can you

Come spend the summer with me

Or must I come to you

On waves of warmth

These summer nights

Searching for your star 

 

Real Estate Valentine

Let's take a little walk

My friend death said

Around the old neighborhood

Let's have a look at what

Is gone and yet somewhere

Gets recorded transcribed

And stored for future reference

Our first stop is Hell 

We've just opened a new level

And then of course there's

Our more contemporary Purgatory

Suburban locked estates 

And finally feast your eyes

On Heaven a little patch of grass 

Where you can rest 

Held Valentine

Sipping in one more dose

Of reality it's so elusive

Multifaceted and obvious

If we have any sense

Acquired thus far

It's all so cumulative

Our cloudy sunny lives

All so intermingling

It's not this

And then it is

This swaying

We call dancing 

For the moment

All we know 

That Word Valentine

For that one word

That would change 

Everything in the world

I searched through

All the languages I could

Or has it been already spoken

Edens ago and then forgotten

And we are left living

In its echo the one

Delicate subtle tender word

You whispered to me

We were standing in the dark 

Waiting for the sun you rose

I know I heard it 

Lord Wait Up Valentine

You knocked

But I sat waiting

For the second knock

Which would mean

You meant it

Bit it never came

Which meant 

You really meant it

Once and for all

And would still be

Standing there knowing

I had heard them

Those three sharp raps

And had better hurry up 

Quick Quiz Valentine

Would you be a simple shepherd

Or a Queen who keeps sheep

Would you have fields 

Carved into labyrinths 

And a glittering fountain

Or sleep alone under

Flowering stars

Waiting for the wolf

Would you prefer

Long journeys or a few

Valleys and hills

When you take them to market

Do you celebrate with wine 

Or weep with them farewell 

Nuance Over Numbers Valentine

You know how

Some people just aren't

Good at Math

At adding things up

They follow their feelings

Down some darker roads

They know what's clever

Doesn't always matter

What is beautiful for them

Is not to sit in a cage

Counting their money

Rich or poor

They hear the footsteps

Of their father coming home

Running to meet him

To give him one more chance 

Homesick Valentine

The voices of the dead

Ramble through my head

Hearing without ears

Seeing without eyes

I think heaven is no vacation

From what they tell me

Those first years of hardship 

Getting settled in

Long hours in the fields

Rest but no sleep

Working our way back

It's strange we feel better

In heaven but still

Long for the earth

Where we were born 

Your Summer Is My Winter Valentine

When I can't move forward

I go back tracing my steps

To where I lost my mind

To where I left my glasses

 

My soul is still waiting for me

At the corner in the blazing heat

It must be summer somewhere

And I haven't even left the house 

 

When Valentine

When the man with no hands

Played the first notes of winter

It was a blizzard of joy 

That followed locked

Away in some cabin

Even Vivaldi applauded

Rushing toward the stage

Let the snow bury us

His flute repeats

Let the lightning do battle

With the livid rainbow 

Nothing can stifle this joy

That carries us away

So far so deep the snow

We fly over

In a few beats