She bobbed there in the gentle swell,
The little boat I knew so well.
The sail wrapped tight along the boom
Gave me a feeling of dark doom.
I saw no anchor chain hung down
To stop her, lest she run aground.
No one sat in her empty bow.
No hand controlled her keel just now.
A gentle breeze set her to rock.
How did she get loose from the dock?
As the breeze caused her to turn,
I spotted paint along her stern.
Rough letters where my name had been -
The words now looked like "Mortal Sin."

You’ve left pieces of your heart around the planet.
Did you know at the start this life would demand it?
Your heart set your course to protect, to defend.
You joined an armed force. They give orders and send
You to places so far from all those you hold dear.
But you do it, because when the need is so clear,
You must go and respond, you must meet duty's call.
So you leave those you love and you stand up tall.
Like a flag, your heart's banner waves all unfurled
O'er the pieces of you left around the whole world.

The Couple
They sit together in the amber glow of a heavenly Mississippi sunset,
Gray heads moving back in forth in unison.
Sixty plus years of rocking have worn subtle grooves in the wood of the old porch.
Gnarled hands touch in the gap between the white-painted oak rockers,
Barely clasping as stiffened finger joints protest.
She smiles at him, her eyelids downcast, the shy smile of old.
He winks a rheumy eye in response, as he did when first they met.
Hearts communicating, they stop rocking and lean to a kiss,

In search of truth, I ask the question,
Have you ever seen your God?
Does the flame burn bright, suggestion,
Or pierce your heart as lightning rod?

My flicker of intention cries in shame,
With cowardly request, I ask for more,
As I am forgotten in my fame,
My answers fall as death to shore.

Shall we stroll ‘neath darkened skies,
On streets anaesthetised, in drink and dope.
Our lust undone with frenzied cries,
To live a moment of impassioned hope.