THE POINT IS JUST THAT I DON’T SEE THE POINT

The point is just that I don’t see the point:
However much one wants to be turned on,
Ecstasy can put things out of joint;
Yearning is for what will soon be gone.
Each can choose content or discontent;
All are happy, if they would be so.
Revelation isn’t Heaven sent;
Out of what you are comes what you know.
Forget, then, the pursuit of the sublime.
There is no thing that’s needed – all is here.
Happiness will settle in, in time,
Enduring, though the weather may turn drear.
One must plod to plow, and plow to plant.
X marks the heart, where lies all one could want.

A VALENTINE IS NOTHING LIKE

A Valentine is nothing like
A chocolate or a rose.
For in a week these shall be gone,
But Valentines remain.

If love were always sweet to tongue
Or fragrant to the nose,
Each day would be like Valentine’s,
And we would go insane.

A Valentine just hangs around
Waiting to be kissed
Long after special days have passed
And every days are here.

So one is wise to choose one well
And chocolates to resist.
For in the midst of mania
It’s nice to have one near.

LOVE IS NEVER EASY

Love is never easy, but
It turns life into song.
There is no bit of circumstance
That love cannot transform.

There is no weary moment
Of anger or despair
That love cannot convert to grace
And render whole and fair.

How passionate the paradise
That comes from knowing well
That someone in your happiness
Finds pleasure for himself.

How sweet the gift of giving to
Someone who gives to you,
A selflessness that gives to self
More self than self is due.

With all the searing madness of
The world from day to day,
And all the dreary sadness that
No joy can take away,

There is one truth more beautiful
Than anyone can bear:
That two can trust that when they turn
They’ll find the other there.

YOU HAD ME FOR A NIGHT, THEN TURNED AWAY

You had me for a night, then turned away,
Inspiring a love you didn’t want.
I was a fairy you might unenchant
To show yourself that you could have your way.

And now I’m left with all the shame of love
That unashamed took pleasure in your joy.
You used me as a fake, erotic toy,
Not caring much what I was thinking of.

The worst is that I long for your caress.
I know you’re just annoyed, which drives me mad!
But knowing how completely I’ve been had
Does not, alas, make me want you less.

ONE NIGHT I SAW AARON

One night I saw Aaron,
The next he was dead.
Now I can’t remember
The last thing he said.

There is no reason,
No reason at all,
Why this one last thing
I need to recall.

The last night I saw him,
He, Mark, and I,
I had no idea
He was going to die.

It was just the usual
Basketball game,
Joking and cheering,
All just the same.

The Earth should have screamed,
Some song should have played,
Some mark should have told us,
All gross and decayed.

But the game simply ended
And we left the gym.
And that was the last
I’ll see of him.

LEST YOU LEAVE YOUR OPTIONS IN THE SUNSHINE

Lest you leave your options in the sunshine
Unprotected from night’s bitter shade,
Now you may take them on the lunar wind,
Alive to phantoms vivid as your face
Reveling in front of reason’s door.
Nor could your own inventions offer more,
Even those transfigured from your race,
Which, privatized, seem downsized, somehow thinned.
Yet here is all the wealth the past has made,
Each relic dipped in age-old vintage wine,
A treasure-trove of comedy and grace
Resting where your faith must go forth blind.

COULD I BUT GIVE YOU COMFORT IN MY DEATH

Could I but give you comfort in my death,
How might I tell you what you meant to me?
All I did, both night and day, was love you,
Rulers of my kingdom and my heart.
Like gods, at last you claimed my painful breath,
Opening the door to mystery,
The final gift of all the gifts you gave me,
Taking what I could no longer give you
Even if I tried with all my art.