“Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.”
-- Albert Einstein
In a manner of speaking
This is the creation of energy
The capture of light, thought, emotion and memory
Preserved to inspire a future mind
Energy multiplied over through time
Eyes that stare forward from the past
A past that reflects a future shown
In the light that is yet to be captured
And I capture with a lens all of the light there is to see
A passing moment in time; a moment that will cease to be
Now a moment that will exist forever for you, and forever for me
Light made to art, by a spirit trapped but still so free
In this marvel of a jar, I can hold time tight
Everything that this moment is, by capturing the light
Time yielding its moments to an image, and halting its forward flight
To let us reflect on what was, and where we were, when the time is right
Call me a time traveler, and this box is my time machine
I am a merchant of memories; spending a currency of what is and what is unseen
What I gather and what I see in my world, and in my mind, and what has been
With love, and passion, and art and soul, I salvage your memories and dreams
So travel with me in this world, like the sands washing on to the shore
In waves always constant but never same; some in a whisper and some in a roar
Relive what once was; recapture the time, the youth, the feelings, and more
Created merely from light, to bring your memories to life, and let your imagination soar
They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul
Through my photography, I hope to show the world as I see it
My lens is an extension of my eyes
And therefore not just filled with the light I capture
But reflecting back to the world
My passions, and my soul
On Saturday I joined friends for an 18-mile bike tour that included stops at some local micro brewery sites.
Enjoy the images of this beautiful city!
You’re the glistening blade in the dark of the night
Slicing this flesh without the need for sight
You sharpen your knife
With the rough parts of my life
Deftly cutting away
The despair and dismay
Bleeding the thoughts that break and betray
Phantom fingers pull pieces free
The bricks from the mortar surrounding my very existence
With this flimsy film dividing air from blood
A passion trapping breath
Leaving it clear to see the inevitable death
Of thought and love and life and hope
Dismal despair at the end of my rope
These elements keep me locked away
Hidden from everything but the mind’s eye
The nightly torment of seeking my sight
Through thoughts that fill my mind with fears
And my days with blight
Hands tied tight
A torment to not hold and feel
What is not meant to be so real in life
Within hope I can dream
Breaking dawns of a new day
Where on the horizon I’m not blind, but granted sight
Where my mind can see beyond the light
Beyond the reality of this life
To the one that can make this real
To expose all that I can think and feel
To show the world what my mind’s eye can see
To open my prison and set me free
To be the muse that I need you to be
But alas, you will always be invisible to me
Built delicately
Within a vessel
Forged from the heat
And the force
Of the Earth’s living core
Piece by piece
I have been intricately placed
Within these glass walls
To sit upon your mantle
Untouched by your hands
Only to study
Your eyes behind my glass
The far away look
I see
Always with the light
Bent by this glass
But at my flawed perfection
Still you wonder
Yet keeping your distance
Afraid to destroy my little world
Afraid to let me sail in yours
My hull will never
Feel the kiss of your oceans
My sails will never unfurl
To catch your breath
And give me life
Alone I sit
In quiet observation
Waiting for the day
You break the glass
To set me free
Or leave me
Dashed upon your hearth
Only you can move
This worn and weary hull
Fill my sails
With words of hope
And carry me to the distant shore
Leaving these waters far behind
To drown in them no more
Tides that wash upon the sand
Crack and split the hardened land
Forced upon to prove its worth
Such as the time that wears my hand
Breaking body and spirit’s mirth
Crumbling which was strong and grand
Even mountains reduce to Earth
But the mountains always rise again
So give me rise
And give me hope
Take away my morning fears
Shone in the light of my younger years
And smooth my jagged edges bare
With breath, whispers and seductive sighs
With the grace of your touch
And the heat of your eyes
With all you give that means this much
And not by the flow of my tears
Your words become my feeling
Your touch becomes my sight
I hear your quiet breathing
End the wandering quiet night
I reach to find that in my mind
Memories and moments, never far behind
Like fingertips gracefully tracing signs
Seeing a feeling that will never grow blind
From footsteps on the floor
Coming to me silently
Dark and shapeless shadows
Begging me to give them more
Consuming me with visions
And stealing my eye
Feeling my way down this whitened road
The hard winds chill and sting with snow
Flesh and bones should never be so cold
When for you alone I would sell my soul
Just to keep this hope
The hope that in my heart I hold
Of warmth on cold nights
Passion beyond all my sight
Pouring love into my life
A wine too rich to drink it down
When the hull does crack
With salty brine in which I drown
And the heart does break
Sails lay limp on this windless lake
Your whispers won’t give guide for this trip
Nor save me from the icy grip
No life or love for life and love’s sake
Slippery rail now leaving from the living
Pulled under by the weight of lost and lonely days
The murky water of my past misgivings
This mind and soul, my final grave
From March 24, 2009
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Waving to me
From your good-bye window
I catch the scent
Of this last hurrah
A Fourth-of-July
Grand finale
Complete with the
Bombs bursting in air
Powder and energy
Heat and purpose
Destroyed in a flash
Clouded by the sulfur scent
Washing the air dirty
And you wave to me
Mouthing the words
I cannot hear
Words I don’t want to hear
From silent lips speaking
This final message
Ringing in my ears
Is this all?
All this is?
It is gone
My guiding mage: a book, and the cold tang from a glass. The elixir that slows time, and carves the words of this book into my mind, making the emotions last.
Originally written September 6, 2010
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Paper lies cover tight
Unfolded skin
Taken light
Where gaping wounds cry
Lacking eyes for sight
Crying from their vein
Begging to hear your voice
Speak my name
To see the echoes
Gather in crowds
Inside my brain
Sweating, seething
Crazy or sane
You can feel the past
And recreate it
It’s just never the same
Incomplete and broken
Where you once stood
Your love my only token
Giving rise to this flood
This emotion, hope and love
We give in to sheltered dreams
Happily ever-after scripts
Played out on our own silver screens
Fortune for the few
Fame for even less
More of us live askew
Dreaming of false success
But we all have hope
To make each day new
A chance
A ray of light
That brings our dreams into view
While sins we fail to fear
Consequences?
I’m well aware
Revealed when the voice that said
They are more than just words read
From a book of stories told
Fables falling from the fold
The icy waters that rush over stones
Washing the sins that stain the bones
Left by the choices of days past
In hiding places unable to last
And it was here when the voice
The voice said to me
“These memories you hold
Won’t set you free,
And the bodies in your basement,
You must let them be.
Piles of silver, galleons of gold,
And creature comforts,
Truth be told,
Won’t fill your heart
As you grow old
Your world will grow cold
And then, where will you be?
This life is the one,
The only one you’ll get.
Will you live it in full,
Or die in regret?
If you want to live it
In your own human way
Then lift up your roots
And enjoy every day
Break free from what binds you
And seek distant lands
Never look behind you
At the fallen sands,
Live your life true
And life will reward you!”
Words so irresistible
I had never heard
From voices more tangible
Or the echoes they stirred
But this stranger’s voice
Deep in the dark of my head
Left me no choice
When I heard the words that it said
I listened deep
And I took it to heart
Not in wake nor in sleep
But where should I start?
To embrace this life
This proposal so sweet
Would end all the strife
And sweep me off my feet
It would close a chapter
Leaving the past behind
And bury another body
In the basement of my mind
What is there to lose?
I pondered over and over again
Life will always change and move
No matter when or where I begin
So it all starts here
With a decision
And worry
And hope
Set the wheels in motion
Something a little more reasonable
Break away the corrosion
And get to something more feasible
Close my eyes and take a step
Feel the oceans hidden depth
Feel the clouds move again
Feel the rain that they send
Feel the Earth move at my feet
Feel the Sun’s eternal heat
Feel the Moon and the gravity
Feel destruction without calamity
Feel what I feel when I feel
And I feel this wound finally heal