Long Empathized Poems

There is nothing weaker than water
But none is superior to it in overcoming the hard,
For which there is no substitute.
(Laotse, "Nothing Weaker Than Water", Lin Yutang, trans.)

That weakness of mind and body overcomes strength
And uniting...

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Next few days August 2049

Early morning dawning everything 
Was wondrous wild flowers 
Sprawling. 10:35 am Polly called 
Molly just to shot the breeze so
It seemed. "Hey Molly. Um uh can I visit you
 Maybe for...

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Paris at 51

Bless me Father for I have sinned
it has been forty years since  my last confession.
My life Hell, I seek Heaven. I ran 
away from home at eleven. Sold my body.
Fell to drugs....

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Our children must not die
before their parents
or parental dreams die with them.

And, for those without children,
this is easily empathized
because our dreams must not die
before we do.

Without them
our best selves have already left
whatever misery and boredom...

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As my finger, triggers the sound
My heart ululates, in intoxication
Remembrance, is a gift in itself
Indescribable feelings, leading me forward
Being described, through each line I hear
Nostalgia, a joyous feat

The world's halt, is known
My feet, the only...

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I left the doctors office in a daze. His words would not compute. Cancer soon to ravish me-
Diagnosis Absolute. 
Utterly beside myself,  My mind so ill at ease,
I looked out my bedroom window, and...

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Waking up and I see the daylight.
A shining light through the window.
Winter's sad light, but still shines.
I open my eyes and think,
My thoughts are deep in my heart.
My heart beats fast, my breathing is faster.
I...

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I
Here lies a small brown man, maybe average, with heart, mixed
nationalities
Sounded and spelled AMERICAN, spoke always of Africa
nationalistically
Loved words, could not communicate career choices
realistically
Johns Hopkins Professors joined ones at Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!)
mercilessly
In noting his...

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Scarlett thought she was promised permanent security. 
Satchels of resilience bound her fragile wrists. 
Woodland deities hailed her.
Underworld demons feared her.
The curious townsfolk simply stood in contemplation - 
Inviting epee's gleamed in their eyes 
as...

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Forlorn, my treacherous heart has betrayed me.
Pricked my conscience and disobeyed my mind,
for it desired passion, and chose to set itself free,
seeking a love, it should've declined. Love is blind.
Feigning childhood innocence, it took control,
and...

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To: 

My best friend's new-born baby,

One day you'd grow up 

And I would tell you

That the hypothetical you were mentioned and empathized with as we teased your mother while we were in college

That I jumped...

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To many who read my story
This may not seem so strange
To witness an everyday glory
But for me, my life it changed.

Not every dad sees the birth
Of his brand new child
Some don’t appreciate its worth
Or perhaps...

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You paint me as the bad guy 
Colored in flaws from head to toe 
A priestess of dark magic
Inciting men to wrecking havoc
Though I'm not sure how this could be so 
For if I've authored...

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I
Fifty years ago - I was about ten -
My grandfather wept for a tree:
Blue Spruce, one in the township ...
I empathized, but didn't understand

II
This morning, in 40-hour rain, 
I wept for my three-year Neem ...
Boys...

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There were two Suitors 
Who loved otherwise
In their own ways
One loved because 
He desired to give
The other loved because
He sought to receive 
The one who gave
Sought the lover’s heart 
The one who received
Desired the lover’s...

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I spent an hour walking in your footsteps,
two days inside your tender heart,
a week beside you failing
and still I could not lift, impart:

You truly were forgiven.
Your guilt had traveled long ago
to parts unnamed and conquered
by...

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