IF I KNEW

If I Knew


If I knew the word
Would I say it?
If I knew the prayer
Would I pray it?

If I thought the thought
Would I think it?
If I had the drink
Would I drink it?

If I had the feast 
Would I dine?
And lose my inhibitions
In wine?

If love was a gift
Would I take it?
And hold it so tight
I would break it.

If I had a heart
Would I feel?
And know the untruth
And the real?

I do not know
Just what I think
When all my life
Is on the brink.

But I am hoping
That you see
And will answer
All these things for me.


©by Voo
April 8. 2017
2:07 a.m.

ON THE EDGE OF NIGHT

On The Edge of Night



I spotted you on the edge of night
Like a waking dream on a morning that will not rise
Your hand waved gently but your eyes held mine with a grip of iron
And across the chasm, our souls touched.

A wolf stood by your side but it whimpered at your word
A raven, nodding with mournful face, cried out a voiceless song
It was a yearning that cannot be spoken
And a darkness that breaks out in sun, and a coming home.

Wonder filled me as I stood dying and rising up again
A rapture and a terror like an ancient thing made new
The moon lay silently about your shoulders
Then fell at your feet, as the shadows passed by, along with my trembling heart.

The chasm beckoned with an unfulfilled hunger
Engulfed me in abandon and a never known joy
And as you watched and waited, in that endless, endless longing
My feet with wings of innocence, found the bridge that was not there.

©By Voo

July 23, 09

11:30 p.m.    

THE LIGHT ALWAYS COMES

The Light Always Comes


The light is low here at the end of day
And soon these hours will have died
Their little deaths and gone to where
All good hours go: To memory.

Then tomorrow will be born
Out of space and time
And we will march through that new day
With weary, though grateful feet.

You and I, my friend, we are so different
Yet so much the same
You came from there, I came from here
And where we'll end up, is known only to God.

So let us not fear the night
With it's darkness and shadow
For on the eastern horizon shines
The promise of sun, of hope, of continual day break.

It always comes. It always comes
And if it does not, for some of us
We will sleep in peaceful dreams
And wake in a land where there is no night.


©by Voo
Aug 25, 07 

A DOZEN RUBIES

A Dozen Rubies

A dozen rubies fell to my feet
Scattered by your hand
You'd come to ask me for my love
And proclaim yours for me and
A thousand diamonds promised me
When promise I had made
While the topaz sun high in the sky
Burned us in the shade.

The grass, an emerald shade of green
Lay below your feet and mine
From crystal cup we two did sup
The aged garnet wine
Grapes in clustered amethyst 
You fed me from your fingers
And kissed the residue away
While afternoon did linger.

With silver tongue you spoke the words
My sweet heart to seduce
Like opals changing in the light
The outcome to deduce
Your turquoise eyes lit up with joy
Every time I smiled
I teased you with my pearl white hands
And we waltzed a little while.

The blue sky turned to jasper
Then agate, then sapphire
We lay and watched the end of day
As the sunset turned to fire
The dozen rubies crushed beneath
My onyx colored hair
Then I saw the black lies in your eyes
Carefully hidden there.

You did not know that I could see
The truth there in the man
(No precious jewel can buy my heart
From yours or any hand)
In twilight's hue I turned to you
At the sun's last golden glow
Your jaded eyes full of surprise
As I softly told you....... no.

©by Voo
Jan 22, 2005

BIRDS IN CAGES

Birds In Cages


Like birds in cages, poets, we
Feel the constriction
Feel the confined allocation
Feel the terror of the bars
Be they gilded or gold.

Like birds in cages, poets, we
The thought writers
The thought readers
The thought muses
Write until we can write no more.

Like birds in cages,  poets, we
The loving but skillfully living unloved
Souls, divided yet fuller than most
Compose our sonnets, find our voices
And in our cages, from broken hearts, we sing.


©by Voo
July 14, 07