Long Pavane Poems

"The Pavane" 

Autumn leaves
whistle nonchalantly
along the left-behind

paths of serendipity
hesitantly touch fingers
lightly for a while, tipping

lost in the wastelands
winter beckons 
love unconditionally

magic listens
and arrives
in the laps go-lightly

of racing hares
tossed salad years
and marshmallow dreams

of servile tortoise
pleasantville sown...

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I came along with high expectation
And hopes of grandeur, instead defacement
A ruined mass of fallen structure
Displaced gray stones in random stature

A mist alighted like a screen
A passing shroud that blurred the scene
And when it lifted...

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Shall we dance

Shall we dance, Mystery Woman, shall we dance?

Shall we tango with words, slowly, to learn
Each other ‘s rhythms of wit and being?

Shall we dance a pavane of polite conversation,
In orderly procession of statement...

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2. Aria

Twain kindred souls start slow and reunite,
Same as lovers who split and then made up,
Though, twas a mere slow dance, a Pavane,
Taming a dance floor with their passive feet,
As Faure's piece fades, delayed music...

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Light makes lustrous the green of the leaves above;
Waving forest hands, calming gestures, luminous
Antidotes to stress. 
The movement of the air is no more than a cool breath,
Down here, amongst the ferns and boulders, 
Grey...

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on crenshaw 
carousing in cavernous cafes 
slicing into earthen skin
the meat dancers bring it to a boil
they murder the rug
they scrounge for earth worms
the fish head girls bob like sea birds
telephoning purple mermaids for a...

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they change the sheets 
once a week
the blue men pass in pairs			
marking the hour
matching cadence smartly 			
staring at vacant eyes		
in four-square cells			
passing as if no one was there
but if eyes could grasp
there would be fingerprints
around...

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they change the sheets 
once a week
the blue men pass in pairs			
matching cadence 
marking the hour		
staring into vacant eyes		
in four-square cells			
passing as if no one was there
but if eyes could grasp
there would be finger marks
around...

Read More

Shall we dance

Shall we dance, Mystery Woman, shall we dance?
Shall we tango with words, slowly, to gently build
Some common understanding of each other’s
Rhythms of thought and being?

Shall we dance a pavane of polite conversation,
In orderly...

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Pavane for my dead daughter
 
So Innocent
So Chaste
So young
Unfulfilled
 
She died in my arms in the courtyard
The courtyard of my villa in Spain
What had she done to deserve this?
What had I done?
 
Is there nothing...

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Music of life, she alone, chooses.
Though a host others, think, she loses?


She tourjettes high, above life’s discords,
Leaps to Ravel’s melodious chords.


Loss and pain are her greatest gain.
Gratitude, raises her high above pain.


“Pavane for a Dead...

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Swinging in the pavane of love
Doves doze where ravens nest
And bells toll for sick and poor
For drifters and muggers
Jokers and jugglers
And ones who spot a dirty floor
They fly away eventually
Rejoice by chance they may
Maybe they’ll...

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