Microcosm

life and death play out
on my coffee table day
by day petals fall

Wishes like dishes

empty wishes piled
high like empty dishes but
do they fulfill us

Unseen

a shade glimpsed from the
corner of my eyes turning
I find nothing there

Weary

weary to the bone
time that once lay before me
diminishes now

Comes all too soon

halls decked far too soon
man-made blooms, balls and lights grace
trees without meaning

Old Things

old familiar tales
told and retold I know them
well but listen still

familiar endings
yet I wait for the last word
as if never heard

comfort found in old
friends like old shoes broken in
harbor from the storm

Hazard Endangered Cut

hazard all cutting
away the extraneous
endangered spring hides

Summertime

a hot wind's blowing
stirring soupy southern air
distant fall teases

Allegedly?

the alleged shooter
captured smoking guns in hand
allegedly killed

12 injured many
a real child of 6 lay dead
at the alleged's hand

Where did it go?

the vision of could
should would once so clear dims
glow and aura gone

why and whither to
show me now that child’s eye view
someone put it out

I’ll take any clue
to reclaim that carelessly
lost gem from the wood

when the sun breaks through
its glimmer teases then clouds
hide my path again

Fallen

naught grows now in the
garden where he once flourished
sun sears fragile blooms

drinking rain quenches
those here but not I think there
what path does he walk

now what lessons learned
did he miscue leave too soon
or we stay too long

Stealth

death came softly then
it came loudly visiting
a friend this dark night

I was not there I
did not hear metal's whisper
dull against soft flesh

that yielded without
whimper winged soul in full flight
from the hopeless plight

did he know did he
care or despair or say ah
so that's the answer

Fade to Black

visions gone beacon
fades to just a sad refrain
from an old sad song
echoes only for
companion no fit lover
death waits in the wings

I Hate Summer

on the races age
it's hard not to be drawn in
hie the season's pace

the wheel timely turns
ranting changes not a thing
summer strolls stage left

Hurry

why desperate haste
at desperate enterprise
winter hurries not

I do not keep pace
with my companions hearing
different drummers

soldiers keep cadence
that civilians cannot force
spring's early entrance

E. L. E. - Act 5

for now we gather
what we can and await sun's
return warming soil

nurturing life when
the ice recedes and life's wheel
turns toward spring's rebirth

E. L. E. - Act 4

not this day nor next
would our second chance arrive
to begin again

and that new life would
bear only small resemblance
to what came before

E. L. E. - Act 3

we'd collected long
species plants animals seeds
prepared to reseed

earth when the ice passed
clouds parted and sun returned
abetting nature

E. L. E. - Act 2

assignment simple
as continents fell to ice
seek out the living

before the steady
march of ice destroyed all who'd
ignored our warnings

E.L.E. Act 1

the ice was creeping
down over the land we flew
across leaden skies

seeking signs of life
upon the barren landscape
nature yielded naught

Caught it

haiku's contagious
caught it awhile back alas
can't seem to shake it

Dual Nature

one by one they come
stepping cadence through dreams dark
mists hiding from day

we all aspire to
obi-wan's wisdom luke's light
but vader lurks deep

face the darkness own
its embrace that dark self the
balance of our self

Yin & Yang

fleeing fast as rays
of light half seen half felt half
heard wisps in flight from

that despoiled lessons
finally learned freedom light
beauty within sight

fleeing ominous
shafts of ecliptic darkness
half seen half felt half

heard pitiable
remnants racing below to
that despoiled lessons

still unlearned beauty
life deserted left behind
without a care

rays of light fleeing
up dark shafts racing downward
supreme encounter

imminent outcome
irrelevant life lost in
pursuit of life loses not

life lost in pursuit
of belial lost before
it ever began

Serendipity

on a day like any other
but running late - something I
never do - going by
plane instead of train - something
I could not afford to do - on a day
I really would have liked to stay
I met a man who missed
his plane and was in the line
next to mine
how very polite we were - each
of us to the other
discussing all the little
mundane, inane things as
strangers are want
to do - hiding the thoughts deep
in our minds - thoughts that
could turn an ocean to steam

Amidst Clouds

have you ever stared
at the moon till nothing else
existed and 'twas

so large and so near
you felt you could reach out and
touch her very face

have you ever gazed
up at the clouds
and felt as if you could cup
their soft whiteness

have you ever seen
stars on desert nights
felt like you could soar

surely there amidst
heavens' vast expanse find truths
not found here on earth

Candles

lit a myriad
of candles round the ladies
flames ate air without
a care or reason
solstice passed, Lammas beacons
summer yields to fall

Feast

I've feasted upon
sumptuous meals yet feel I've
eaten no full meal

no buffer (3-word wednesday)

Ever Shifting - by Perle (pen/pencil drawing)

Ever Shifting by Perle (pen/pencil drawing)

(3-word Wednesday - today's words: unity, transition, buffer)

No Buffer

unity keeps one’s

place that transition changes

ignoring buffers

(written for 3-word Wednesday)

Threads

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? Frodo

Threads

after the loss what
do we do when the thread breaks
part is cut away

mend it and begin
again the weave that is life
changes the pattern

yet as the fabric
grows it is less evident
time's balm blurs darns

see also:
http://perlesink.blogspot.com/2011/11/fridays-ponder-how-do-you-pick-up.html

Encore

Pygmalion, Pinnocchio,
Daneel, Data
Micro whirring chips
soulless memory speaks

the wind

sitting on the water’s edge – tossing pebbles
watching waves on a hazy summer afternoon
watch the sunset – then the moon
walk along the shore – barefoot on wet  sand
prints erased as if they never were
by the waves – the endless waves
the spray on my face – wind in my hair and
you on my mind.