Legacy (For Michael Jackson)

Start music to "I Want You Back (Jackson 5)"

Starling child, standing tall,
Center of attention,
You who moved more hearts and minds
Than most would care to mention

As a boy you gave your voice
And smiled for all to see
Bringing beats and rhythmic choice
Easy as ABC.

Then you grew from boy to man,
You stormed the music biz,
Showed the world a bolder plan,
A charismatic wiz.

Then when Thriller topped the charts,
We really came around,
You found those places in our hearts
And to them music bound.

Now you're just a legacy,
A legend gone too soon.
Linger in supremacy--
You walked upon the moon.

You're the one who showed us dance,
How souls that rock will move
Though you're now beyond all chance,
We won't forget the groove.

And when the groove is dead and gone, yeah
You know that love survives
So we can rock forever
On . . . (Rock With You, Michael Jackson)

Steam

A turn of smile, a passing glance,
Eternity in instants
Souls that merged when had their chance
Are never slaves to distance

Satisfaction wears a smile
And picks its teeth with ardor
A want that never finds its fill
Each day apart gets harder.

But days apart are just a dream
When nights together burning
Dissipate the days as steam
For fire stokes the yearning

Mental Paroxsym

I ran amok amongst the dreams and the gardens
Chasing vap’rous butterflies winging pantomime
Winking at me with their antennae

I chased them through the daisies while a cartoon mouse
Pulled out a shotgun that blew bubbles
And said in his high, high voice
“Reach for the sky!”

“I always do,” was my reply.

I ran by Alice and her madcap entourage
The Rabbit was the only one who spoke
“What’s his hurry? It’s not like he can catch them anyway. . . “

As if in response, the butterflies stopped
I ran right through them
Their forms wavered then reconstituted shapes

I stopped to ponder this charade
Just in time to see a groundhog parade
Led by a Centaur throwing azaleas left and right
Rhodentia marching maddening on a rhododendron carpet

I had to sit and lean against a tree to steady my mind
“Tea?” inquired the rabbit, emerging from behind
To sit on my left side.
Pulling out his watch, he glimpsed the time then cast the piece aloft, aside
“Pull!” squeaked a voice on my right, and the cartoon mouse
Now adorned with wizard’s robe (and hat, askew) did fire his beastly bubble-gun

He missed the watch, but caught the butterflies
In bubbles—
And there we sat, Rabbit, Mouse, and I,
To play the remains of the day aside
Describing bubbles
With phantom butterflies playing charades inside--

Ignoring the Centaur of Attention.

Absolute Resolution

Perspective sings these shaded grays awake--
Long not for the surety of your youth
When absolutes were easy ground to stake:
Resolute positions absent of proof.

Maturity brings those faded days to fore,
Introspection births new philosophies,
Incredulity that I was so sure,
Now aware of my mind’s monstrosities.

Black
Black hats in westerns, bad luck from black cats,
Evil easily defined in pictures--
Such simple immemorial combat,
Basing bias on some scripture’s strictures

Shine the light of nuance on certitude:
Social stains once paid such veneration
Often spring from absolute platitudes—
Witness: American segregation.

White
Was a time when polite society
Cherished this immoral privilege.
Racially defining society,
Which is, by any measure, sacrilege

More than race, age, sex, division of creed,
We fall prey to baseless supposition
Showing certitude to justify deed
Seldom contrite of our own volition.

Life presents itself in the subtlest shades:
Chords of certainty birth arpeggios
Trailing our fervent youthful escapades
As certainty fades diminuendo.

Independent thought, born to make contrasts
Examines not just what but also why,
Begging youth's expectations be surpassed,
Asking what purpose Black and White belie

Resolve to witness your remaining days
Examining everything astutely--
Give consideration to all the grays,
Measure the minutia resolutely.

Voyager, Be Still

Early on, ‘neath starlight with a blanket wrapped around,
We talked and cuddled softly in the night.
Making plans ensuring that our future would be sound
Taking time to look up toward the light.

“See how many stars there are that shine above your head?”
I asked you as I took your hand in mine.
“Those are all the chances we will have in years ahead,
Years to let our growing love to shine.”

Then I watched a wry smile curve the corner of your lips,
Gazed into your eyes as my pulse worried.
Reaching out, you took my chin with tender fingertips;
Told me that our love need not be hurried:

“Ah, my love, though there’s not time to do all that we’ll wish,
As long as I’m with you the world is ours.
Heaven sent this sky tonight so I could see with bliss—
So don’t ask for the moon. We have the stars.”

--“Don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." –Bette Davis, Now Voyager