LoveDoes

And in that moment

That very first moment

Upon rising from sleep

I am suddenly aware

That it is true

You are really here

Whether near or far

Whether outside or in

You are there prompting

Me to be better

Then than ever before

Leaf

I knew a leaf

Once a magnificent leaf

I watched him bud

And yawn and shiver

On my favorite tree

He whistled in spring

And sunned in summer

He took great pride

In keeping raindrops off

Of hiding children beneath

But then Autumn came

And he grew tired

He lost his looks

And his boyish verve

One day while walking

I heard him ask

What’s happening to me

I looked up saying

It’s time to go

But you’ll be back

In the hearts of

Those who remember you

GrowingUp

There comes a time

In every man’s life

When growing from sapling

To tree from trying

To doing and from

Student to teacher only

He knows when it’s

Time to push out

To bud then shade

And eventually fall only

To start over again

Until he becomes something

Else a door floor

Or even a memory

WhatIKnowNow

My forever is behind

Me having been spent

But never squandered what

Used to be a

Map is now a

Scrapbook it’s funny how

Fast things happen how

Quickly life fills in

The blanks and love

The colors now if

You are young and

Especially if old save

Only your pennies and

Spend absolutely everything else

Voice (to M. Espinosa)

After having just completed

My first good poem

I leapt to my

Feet in front of

My mentor and screamed

I found my voice

He grabbed my shoulder

And sat me down

Saying my dear boy

You’ve just begun to

Whisper and now forty

Years and thousands of

Poems I write with

The raspy voice of

Age preferring to whisper

Leaving the yelling to

The young and wondering

After all of this

Have I ever found

My voice at all