Ghosts
 

The ghosts that haunted me
for so many years
have taken unexpected forms
as they materialized
from the ether of a darkened room
and the chambers of a fearful heart.
 
The one that scolded 
with rattling chains
and scratching fingers on the wall
became my loving mother
in her deathbed shroud;
another, a translucent orb,
that hovered above my bed
as it grew arms, legs
and the malevolent face
of my parish priest
giving me sleepless nights
with his inscrutable eyes
and a scepter and pointer
in his hand— 
I am no less fearful now
than when they were ghosts
without the substance
to haunt my waking hours.





Things to Come
 
 
They take our jobs.
They are in every class
in every school.
They move into our homes
expecting us to clean
and pay the bills.
They take our children 
to teach them how to think
in their peculiar ways.
They appropriate our churches
to make us pray
as they would wish
with their out-dated manual of repair.
We are superior to them
but they will dismantle us
and dance to their victory
unless we stop them now!
 




There Was a Time
 
 
Before the missiles flew
from continent to continent;
before the war to end all wars:
before the schism in the church
and Babel’s tongue
was split into a multitude;     
before Pangaea tore apart
and the primordial, boiling seas
gave spawm to life;
before there was a heaven
and an earth;
before the stars were born,
died and chaos reigned
there was a perfect harmony 
in the void
and only then 
and never again.​