People do not know the reasons
Why they give their lives away
To fair strangers in foul seasons
With disdain or recherché
Love’s exotic forms before us
Shape our dreams in dreams of shapes
One performs as in a circus
While another sits and gapes
Written in a codicil is
Everything we never say
Where our heart is, there our will is
Secrets in a faraway
Sitting down to Sunday meeting
Settling for less than needs
Pastures new where sheep are bleating
Feet uncovered bruising bleeds
I’ve not mentioned what is rarer
Love with hope or hope with love
Alcohol makes lust seem fairer
Or makes hawks out of a dove
People do not know the answers
Why they give their lives in vain
Bankers dream of being dancers
Desert dwellers dream of rain
Where the many go, we follow
Into caverns of the heart
Darkened caves with echoes hollow
Placing neither horse nor cart
Send the message to the mountains
Happiness is here for all
Cool your feet in pools and fountains
Hug the big and lift the small
Our abandoned wishes bring us
To a place beside the sea
Teachers check and often ding us
For our plain hypocrisy
I was once a café hidden
For the few who found me there
Anxious, daft and anger-ridden
Breathing in my sulky air
But my love came in and asked me
If I chose to leave or stay
Called me to the front and tasked me
With the order of the day
People do not know what’s habit
Why the same paths they will tread
And the same tombs they’ll inhabit
Loving long when love is dead
(“People Do Not Know” – 9-30-2015)