Xanadu Lost

 Rivers without names, oceans unchecked
rushing from under ground, wild, untamed purity
carrying to stand in Pleasure Dome,
drunk on milk of Paradise, sated on honey-dew.
It was once mine, inside of me. My home.
From beyond an echo stirs, ancestral voices crying out for war
I did not ask for, enemy I never wronged.
I'm not leader, singer, minstrel, poet. My words are poison to the soul.  Honey bitter, sour milk, my lost Xanadu haunting once pleasant dreams.
Nothing left to hold, shadows faking light. "No reality, nothing here to see"--words spoken without substance or form. Caves of ice melt into stone.  Trapped inside my mind, prisoner of Paradise.
How did poetry go so wrong? When did the tune leave the song?
What's it all about? Did we misplace our faith hoping for too much?
Drunk on the milk of Paradise, sated by honey-dew,
prisoner of dreams lost in Xanadu.


author's note:  see also Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan and Rush's song Xanadu

Introspection

I’m Inclined to be
Inspired by Intellect
and Imagination.
I find Innovation to be Interesting.
I've Inferred from Instruction
It's the Inside that's Important,
Indicating Indifference to
an Impressive portfolio.
But Indigo eyes and Inky curls,
are always Intriguing,
the hint of Safari Intoxicating,
and a cute derriere
doesn't alway Imply Indecency

 

 

Dandelions

Cold, weary,
hardened by winter snows, 
I longed for  
sweet, fragrant healing
when you bloomed in spring. 
Blinded by April sun
I blinked.
When my eyes opened
you'd blown away.

Afraid

Are you afraid of the dark? 
Afraid of what lurks behind the door?
Afraid of what the doctor might say? 
Does that stranger make you afraid? 
The Boogeyman has nothing on me.  
I eat the monster in the closet for breakfast
and still hunt in the pantry to see what's there. 
I make Stephen King cry like a baby
and Neil Gaimen tremble--
they both come back for more.
I'm the difference between a settling house
and phantom footsteps in the hall.
I'm the almost heard whisper and
the barely glanced shadow.
I'm Imagination. 
I wander sometimes, but
don't leave me to my own devices.
I'm what makes you truly afraid.