my left foot

 

you feel the pain and it won't go away
it's not enough to make a baby cry
still such a thing can ruin the best day

others have better wiser words to say
you listen and the meanings pass you by
you feel the pain and it won't go away

the darker kingdom succeeds to the grey
no brighter omens appear in the sky
still such a thing can ruin the best day

what might have shattered even refined clay
turns out to please your not-so-noble eye
you feel the pain and it won't go away

march turns to april april turns to may
the year continues till the well runs dry
still such a thing can ruin the best day

each takes a step to drop out of the fray
and knows that saying it makes it a lie
you feel the pain and it won't go away
still such a thing can ruin the best day

a larger garden

 

each of the shadows hides a secret name
joy in the morning changes to long doom
all of the moments focus in a flame

you are the one who makes it a great game
and thinks the world is just one great big room
each of the shadows hides a secret name

you want to make things remain just the same
and hide the torment in one silent gloom
all of the moments focus in a flame

return from anger right into the frame
you find that nothing fits within the zoom
each of the shadows hides a secret name

others have made the same dumb futile claim
you know that nothing will the past exhume
all of the moments focus in a flame

there are no demons left to praise or blame
the universe is both a hell and womb
each of the shadows hides a secret name
all of the moments focus in a flame

not the highest view

we move from vision to the plainest sight
our minds are tightened round the central pole
and all we do is move from soul to soul

this is the bird that fell down in midflight
when pain extinguished the last living coal
we move from vision to the plainest sight

the pawn promotes to queen never to knight
we never reach what we think is the goal
ground between what is part and what is whole
we move from vision to the plainest sight

Just a note

 I'll be on the road, and on the West Coast, from tomorrow through Friday, so if there are any natural disasters in Atlanta again between early tomorrow and early Saturday I probably won't be in them, I hope.