A lot we know and
So much we don’t
as it could be
about anyone, true.
The life was not
bad,
Mine, yours,
with laughing
at times, it missed
by inches, or days
Or other souls
being worse.
For very last
acts, after all
have been done
and
whether in words
or ideas
they will not
compare or preach,
or judge. Then
I won’t think
Of you with
Someone else
Skilled and knowing
Painful In dreams.
In denim, you
Move toward the
Water. Glimpses of
A suit in two
Pieces,
When a
plaid blouse
Slips from
the shoulder
and the sandy
wash returns to
the ocean.

RLB 02-6-2023

Some things that don’t
And some that matter
Your white sweater
Clinging, an oriental
Blanc de blanc
To you until unveiled
Or until the end
Of suffering by,
There is no way
To know how,
Among that which
Does not matter, by
His own hand.

There are times
And some without time.

Not watching
A newsreel
Because in watching,
Watching is something
That will not and wants
Not change.
Except, wanting parents,
That change, that now
They are gone.

Give me a gift.
Hold me when
You worry
Give me two gifts
Love me without
Feeling sorry.
I won’t ask for three
Though so many
There were to give.

RLB 01/30/2023

and an edit

Some things that don’t
And some that matter
Your white sweater
Clinging, a
Blanc de chine
To you until unveiled
Or until the end
Of suffering by,
There is no way
To know,
Among that which
Does not matter, by
His own hand, how.
There are times
And some without time.
Not watching
A newsreel
Because in watching,
Watching is something
That will not and wants
not change.
Except, wanting parents,
Only
that now
They are gone.
Give me a gift.
Hold me when
You worry
Give me two gifts
Love me without
Feeling sorry.
I won’t ask for three
Though so many
There were
Left to give.

I don’t need
To fall down
Or try and win
Then fail again.
Thinking of
You not thinking
of me is
all it takes
to release the
teardrops in me.

I don’t need
to wake up
scared in the
middle of the
night.
Or give up like
I might do
from the toll
of years that
anyone can see
and I feel.
Thinking of
how forever
ends apart
is all it takes
to release the
teardrops
from my heart.

If I’ve hoped
for something
and it was
good and lost.
Or happiness comes
at so much
cost. It won’t
make me feel
let down. Because
having your
last kiss is
all there is
and in
their release
no more
the time
will be when
sweet teardrops
forget
to fall.

RLB 11-29-2022

Song to a poem.

The barber pole
starts to slowly
spin.
Sky so dark
a fall downpour
has begun.
The owner staring
past the potted
plants, he’s
too weary
to arrange the comic
books.
Tapered comb,
in one chest pocket,
the scissor’s finger
rest, peaking from
the other. Seeing
through the drenched
window, black
witch, yellow moon,
school
kids painted for
Halloween.
Waiting for the
next crew cut
Its the watch
must
be that causes
time to have
become
so reluctant.

Pull open
the door to the
grammar school
in the morning.
And hear
the gray bell
warning of
the days’ beginning.
For you dwell
on hope the
girl in a plaid
dress is at your
group table.
And what was
learned today,
how once
recess and lunch
are over, is three
p.m. completes
a lasting trinity.
And eventually
a crooked
walk, before the
storefront Iglesias,
witnessing what
I do not. The
spring arrived,
the soft paper
pictures taken
from the walls
of the school
building hall.
Uncontemplated
in the dusty August
on the playground.
Romances and jousts
move
not an inch,
as they stall and
capture the flag
indifferent under
her eye
settling nothing for
the girl in plaid.

RLB 09-15-2022

And once the hours
Walking beside
The creek
Are complete,
I can read to you,
marquez
or dostoyevsky
In a fine light
I don’t care.
Then
can you read
to me
the little prince
in our winged chairs.
Stopping, not from
weariness or
boredom.
Except, better to
tend
the vines of
queen elizabeth,
tomorrow,
for needing
the quiet
rest of bed.
At another time
offering to
a mother,
a child,
the hope
someday, of
serenity’s nest.
And like you,
Saturday, the
night also’s
my
favorite as a
rain about us,
meaningful
and private
saying
we can be
absorbed
in safety, for all
danger is bowed
in place,
with schemes
confused until the
shielding rain
is done, unmindful,
in its soft
cleansing.

RLB 09-10-2022

We don’t need
anything new.
Like an undated picture,
you in my arms,
that dress passed on
to your sister.
And that you
would stay
is gone too.
We didn’t need
to talk further.
Stopping in china town
for dinner.
You on my arm,
the late bus
passed on by,
like clouds that
you made disappear.
We never grew older.
You had your arm
round me,
over my shoulder.
Heroes honored
this weekend.
There’s nothing
to change.
I just spend time
Reminding myself,
how the words
that I am yours
are a memory
that has left too.

RLB 09-06-2022

You better get a lesson
From up that hill
From up that hill (refrain)

It all came down
Came down on me
May still come down
On you too
Still come Down
on you too

refrain

Wrap your body up
Flake’s not cold but
Won’t be one alone
Look up that hill.
At a million coming
down

refrain

What someone wise said
Wise for sure
You better better
Take what happened
To me, see that
See all that
try to listen well

refrain

It can’t be easy
Whether you make
The bread or find
Yourself in line.
Its just the same
whether
a common
bramble vine or
a soul divine.

refrain repeated

RLB 08-09-2022

I’ve heard it said
What seems like
Good instruction
be not attached
To things. So
maybe three
times or maybe
four.
Passed it on to
Titan yet there,
throughout
all my lifetime,
it was, and is,
in orbit,
next
To Saturn.

I’ve heard it said,
And sensible it may
Be.
to forge your
Own trail cause
Convention will not
Become
The mother of
Invention. Passed it
On to my captain
Who drew new plots
And graphs found
Board our
ship discovered
somewhere
Lost at sea.

I’ve heard it said
And it seemed
The path
Of progression
to do things better,
as a gift
to the next
Generation.
And now
mostly done with
Looking I wish
I’d followed
footsteps
That connected
Me and you
much
Less to now
and
more
moored my
life to then.

RLB 7-31-2022

There is a pearly glow
On the fender fin.
You say you will fall in
love with me,
I wonder
when.
I think the equinox
is neither there or here.
You might wish to be
alone or
alone with me,
it’s never sure.

In a velvet
theatre,
I wonder as
the actors kiss
then part
if they look
into the dark
for two,
new in love,
and wish for
that too,
in their hearts.

Then you in
the gray screen
lifted from
time.
A ring or
me that wind
about your finger
which one it is
I don’t seem to mind.
Held, as I am
like
the rock, bearing
the sword until
you ride
a curve in space
to another whose
hope for your
true love,
ends in
place
he’ll find was
without
a promise

RLB (posted 07/01/2022)