Romantic Period 1

A Thought Woke Me Early This Morning            1967

You're the air I breathe, the ground that
Bears me up, everything beautiful I see.
You're the song I hear, the food I eat,
Every thought that comes to me.

You're the fire that warms,
The cooling breeze,
The bed that holds me--
All of these.

You're the dream I dream,
The hope I keep
In those cherished moments
Before I sleep.


Sounds of Wisdom                      circa 1968

Listen to the sound of your star,
Breathing down from afar.
Climb up its beam;
Aspire to that dream
Of your quest.

Harken to the wisdom of your heart;
Believe it not only in part.
For he that so lives
And lovingly gives
Is most blest.


Game of Life                      circa 1969

Oh, Great Jacks Player for the World,
I saw Your great red ball through morning haze
Bounce from the horizon, and wondered
If this could be the game of life:
Are little lives cast down upon this plane
And later picked, 'neath orbits of Your sun,
By some mysterious rule of choice?


Time to Hope                       circa 1969

Autumn's red-orange dress has disappeared
   Around Time's season-circle.
Schizophrenic Winter--graybeard, cherub--
   Cries and laughs around us.
Foggy, melancholy days are come again
   And time for thinking hope thoughts.


Click!                             circa 1969

Since yesterday I have the yen,
When clicks my mind, to click my pen.
But, sad to say, it does not work
The other way--I cannot ken!

Romantic Period 2

I Remember a Mountain              December, 1977

Brown winding road that jarred us
Halfway to the top,
To the stone house where stayed
My Grandmother's love:
Laughter, hugs, and baby loaves of bread
Baked specially for me.

Every window, I recall, could see the lake,
Whose coolness beckoned far below
And lapped the mountain's feet.

No path led down from house to lake.
Erratic gorges through dense woods
Tumbled us, instead of water,
'Round boulders, over fallen logs.
Crashing through brush and winter's store of leaves,
We reached--the sky?--Surprise!
Our lake so well displayed her distant brother.

But my fondest thoughts are of the top,
When I would go alone.
See the groundhog and his mate?
Above the pasture there, the coldest spring
Escapes from deep inside the mountain
And hurries away.
Beside an ancient piece of road,
Two scarabs toil with their ball of manure
As though it were a treasure.
Farther up, an old sheep pen,
Long deserted, whose sagging walls
Still hold the sounds.
There, at the very top, the field
Of gently flowing, blowing grass.

Sit down against this tree and listen--
Meadowlarks, and gentle wind, and peace.


Spectrum of Loving                 1978

I love you
As the quiet softness of candlelight,
As the recurring faith in sunrise,
As the busy up and down of daily experience,
As the eagerness of a child's Christmas morning;
And sometimes--
As an overwhelming, dizzying, symphonic crescendo.


Two Equals Three                   1979

We are actually three people: you, I, and we--each equally
important.  Lose respect for one and the other two suffer; but
respecting all will ensure that each is given time to develop
independently, at his own rate.  The development of any one
should improve the quality of life for all three.


My Love                            1979

You're the warming sun,
The soothing breeze,
The sound of gentle rain;
A perfect rose,
A rainbow,
A midnight hurricane.


Dawn                               11 January 1979

I see a new day dawning;
Old Pete is back again!
Controlling emotions,
Not drowning in oceans
Of self inflicted pain.