(Repost of a former poem, “If I Could Change The Past,” written 2016)
September eleven, two-thousand-one-
dark age of homeland terror had begun.
If only I could change this horrid past-
alleviate deep pain from grief at last.
Three thousand souls were lost forever, then:
three hundred forty-three were brave firemen,
so many whom I'd come to know before,
when they'd stop by our fire equipment store.
Our County is just sixty miles away
from New York City, South of us, and they
would often live up North in New York State,
commute each shift- but many met their fate.
One family resided on our street.
That morning, he left home- for death to meet.
So many others we will never see
who purchased goods from us so faithfully.
For those who died, whose bodies were not found,
we gifted presentation helmets bound
to loved ones for the funerals they held.
Such awful, somber days, unparalleled.
If I could change the past and turn back time,
erase that day of tragedy and crime,
my heart, with all the others, would rejoice
that these poor souls could live a life of choice.
Foul tempest wind dost beset thy slumber,
its rain doth drain and dampen to stupor.
I rithe at thy great agony's bequest,
haunted by frightening reminiscence.
'Still the torrid pleas of thy soul!', I cry.
Thunder does naught to distill the shrill screams.
Lightning drenches me in thick vulgar sweat;
heart racing, mind pacing, fervent unrest.
'Will I e'er see a brighter morn than this?';
for foul tempest has consumed most my years.
But just then, when all seemed undone, foregone;
rain culls, clouds lift, and a rainbow now dawns.
09.02.2026
('Resist the devil, and he shall flee')
('I have set my rainbow in the clouds...')
Hear the cry of begging stop
The evil silence out for blood
A haunted shadow stains our walls
Fear unleashed with hellish force
The crows address their common lord
A hungry feast if the righteous fall.
Say a prayer for your soul
Before the wicked takes it toll.
Unholy Serpent Dark and wild
I know that Terror wants a bride tonight
Ashes to Ashes
what a kiss of sin
Panic is free: the curse of innocence
I have a serpent painted on my ear,
It always tells the truth I want to hear;
“O, how much you have suffered,” it will say,
“To become so beautiful on this day.”
Upon a time I learned to listen well,
To all the stories it has learned to tell,
“You were born beautiful within your laughter,”
Although I wonder what it is after?
I have a serpent painted on my ear,
It has spoken truths I have come to fear,
Upon a time I learned to listen well,
To all the stories it has learned to sell.
As zephyrs tousle thro’ his hair,
He walks along the dappling shade of trees
With a flaming lily behind his ear,
With scent of pine wood and lingering rain
On the horizon, warm oak on his breath,
He wanders freely upon a midsummer.
To be a cloud as it wanders the lull
Expanse of day, as the warmth of Sol’s breath
Scatters against the skin of dark vapour —
He is a cloud.
And on and on and on and then
He stops —
Captured by a hand that wasn't there;
The grass remembered arches after gone
And dew clung in the shape of being watched,
He could hear it clearing its throat to speak.
It passed him by as a cloud.
Though I am but an ember in the wind,
my life so fleeting - to the Lord Most High.
He still sees me, He surely is El Roi,
and grants me both his mercy and reprieve.
Though Alpha and Omega, Jehovah,
my sins, He bore, upon a rugged Cross.
For His Son, Christ Jesus, paid price in full,
and trampled grave and serpent underfoot.
So may I never boast in naught but Christ,
or folly, or groan, with God's living breath.
No! Let the Prince of Peace, good Shepherd me,
for all that I am, is through Christ alone.
So temper now my head to a new song,
where you're e'er with me, and e'er will belong.
Poem of the day
05/16/2026.
'Blessed be the Name of the Lord'
Though it may get me labeled a traitor
And it surely won’t make me rich
In the face of all those who hate them
I announce: I love the French.
For De Tocqueville and Voltaire
For L’Enfant who designed DC
For the fact that without their
Aid this country would never have come to be
For Dumas, Joan of Arc, Exupery
Doctors without Borders, and
For a civilized society,
Low crime rates and beautiful land
For their gorgeous, passionate women
For Cezanne and for Gaughin
For wine valleys, chateux – earth heaven -
For Riviera, Paris, Sorbonne
For their foreign aid to the poor
And diplomatic outreach -
There is one thing I know for sure:
Hear me saying: I love the French.
To the tune of "Russians" by Sting
In America and Australia there's a growing hysteria
Comparing those who see global warming threat
To the North Koreans and the Soviets.
Mr. Inhofe said scientists lied to you,
I don't subscribe to that point of view
It's such an ignorant thing to tell
I hope deniers love their kids as well.
How can I save my little girl from the rule of Texas Oil?
We see misuses of common sense
By those the Right side of political fence
They don't care about biology
But only their false ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope deniers love their children too.
These people claim rationality as they deny planetary reality
And believe to be the soul of the nation as they practice prevarication
Freedom and wealth do not require
To burn oil or set rainforests on fire.
Mr. Limbaugh said it can't be true,
I don't subscribe to that point of view,
It's such an ignorant thing to tell
I hope deniers love their kids as well.
The facts of climatology
Are not dependent on ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if deniers love their children too.
Life is my power
Fire is my flesh
In every hour
Essences clash
Burn through the darkness
Into the dream -
Hear me and mark this,
Truth will not seem
Anything pure
Nor anything dark -
Truth will for sure
Be nothing like stark -
Over the ground
And around the lake
Truth coils around
And then stings like a snake.
There is a daylight
When things are true
And there is twilight
When all you knew
Vanishes, fades
And then blends into one -
Into the shades
And away from the sun:
Into oblivion
Into the void
Into obsidian
Chasms. Thus destroyed,
Truth yields to lies
And then soars like a lark
When people's eyes
Are tired of the dark.
I lost my mind today -
Oh boy -
and all the thoughts I had
just seemed to vanish
in the haze
surrounding my head
It seemed so wise -
so potent -
so infinitely dull -
complete with thought, effete with pomp
emblazoned on its skull.
An ounce of heart
a pound of spleen
a smattering of phlegm
A bit of code
a bunch of will
And a thick soup of memes:
All this was all mixed
and cut to bits
A chewy marble blend
From which I built
A vague relief
Of life that I intend:
Where has it gone, do tell me?
Where is my upscale mind?
I look without,
I look within,
But nothing can I find.
It seems the mind has melted
And I must build anew
Today's mind-melded structure
With but a quart of glue.
Project the mind - it resonates with thunder;
Reject the mind - around you it burns.
Intrepid joy - impassioned restless wonder -
The heart-suffused and life-rich way to learn -
Intrinsic conflaggrations, hard to pity
Or to respect, or even yet to see -
The nature's splendor reaching into city
To render its inhabitants half-free
Until joy drops, and out appears concept
And meaning - this, if only for some!
And from beneath the axioms, a rocket
Ballasts into the space, explodes and is gone
And then - another time, another meaning,
The meaning is constructed from all sides
And forms the structure that informs the seeming
Which then becomes the vision of mankind -
And then come other meanings and perceivings
Constructed like dynamic SQL…
The culture deepens, thickens as it's dreaming
And builds to levels more removed from hell.
Old as I Feel
Kevin Davis 2025
You say, “You’re only as old as you feel!”
Then why do my bones ache — is this pain real?
I know my true age, though I think I’m twenty,
Just can’t do the things that I once did aplenty.
I park in handicap spots now, roll on lidocaine,
Walk with a cane or umbrella — sunshine or rain.
Take more pills than Carter’s, wear glasses to see,
Even the largest print still looks tiny to me.
But none of this dims how I’m living my life;
I accept my limits and stay free of strife.
I rise every morning with smile and “Good day!”
Ready for whatever comes, come what may.
So if you’re like me, you believe what I think:
I’m only as old as I choose — and I don’t blink.
I won’t miss a moment or fear what’s to come;
I love this life and all in it — glad it’s not done.
I died for beauty – twas my choice
To end my life this way;
In every note of her voice
Was universe at play:
Twas sparkling, shining, shimmering,
Twas elegant and bright,
In it the world was glimmering
As I then held her tight.
I died for beauty – as I did
My lifeforce to her went
And from the shackles it her freed
To live by her intent:
She needed lifeforce to be strong
And then to carry on
With universe to get along
And sing again her song.
I died for beauty, so it lives,
Is by me fertilized,
Shimmers and glimmers and conceives
And is now realized,
And though I died, what it gave birth
Was better than was I,
And now is set upon her course
To grow and multiply.
Butterflies float
With petals and feathers
In every note
Of your voice. In its tenor -
Nectarine, white,
Full of light, full of sky -
There is delight -
And I will not ask why
Sometimes your voice
Shimmers like a bright star -
Sometimes it's close
Sometimes it's far
Sometimes I hear in it
Rivers and streams
Sometimes I see in it
Passions and dreams
Sometimes it crests
Like a wave in a sea
Sometimes it nests
Like a bird in a tree
Sometimes it rings
Like a vanishing bell
Sometimes it sings
As if casting a spell -
Sometimes it flings
Like a lasso, ensnares
Prey. Or grows wings
And then flies everywhere -
Sometimes it drops
Like a leaf from an oak
Sometimes it stops
Like a belltower clock
Sometimes it wafts
Like a sweet summer breeze
Or like a raft
It floats over the seas -
Sometimes I feel it
Caressing my ear
Holding me in it
Drawing me near.
Sometimes I glimpse
What your voice holds within
When it so seems,
I can fully glean
Its warmth and softness
Its passion and peace
Then I am lost in
The most perfect bliss.
Swivel
and Sparkle
and Splinter
passion will bear
Aghast
over serrated
STARSCAPES
blistering past
the past
AGONY
Scalds and
Stumbles
Destiny
flings
AJAR
seething
delirious
rumble
of a dismembered
S T A R -
Flushed in a Ream of Fire -
Redolent and
Untrue -
scorching the sky
ENTIRE
over remains of
YOU -
over charades of splendor -
over cascades of pain -
over a long-lost
Laughter
desolate and insane -
over volition
SHATTERED
into a silent scream -
over intention
SCATTERED
into a field
of seem -
over a lifeforce
blended
with a malignant lie
over a soul
upended
in an obverse reply -
Over my clutching wristbones -
over your lips of dew -
over two Haunted Heartforms
Blended and
Torn Anew - -
Vanishing passion
Clambered
Shriveled like drops
of doom
and Essence remained
Dismembered
In the Blistering light
of the moon.
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