The First Inquiry

What shall we say, then?
Regarding the questions of "how" and "when,"
How can we speak of
When there was no "when"?

These twin constraints
of space and time
(if twins they are,
and not one-and-the-same),...
Which is the elder?

Or did God speak before Creation?
Did the Word have need of words?
I assume the angels sang.
Could they sing without words?
What music that'd be.

But then, perhaps, when God first
opened His Mouth,
that "first" was the first "first."

Did the spatial act of God speaking,
"Let there be Light,"
"there" after "Let" and "Light" after "be,"
One word, then another,
First one word, then another
word after the one before--

Was that the beginning
of both time and space?

The Demon Who Blushed

"It has been," he said,
"some time since I
made my way up there.
Does that seem right?"

The angel (fallen) paused
to consider...
"What demon," he said,
"makes not his presence known?

"What demon does not disturb
the earth? What demon,
by his negligence,
allows the human race some peace?

"Leave the hiding places
to the bean-sidhe and
the will'-o'-wisps.
Tonight, I fly."

Then, wings spread
(feathers molting),
he left his country behind.

On earth, the malefactor
turned this way and that,
watching the parade of flesh
below him.

"What pain can I cause,"
he said, "what darkness might
I bring tonight?" He rubbed his
hands together in Ovidian glee.

"In a heart, I'll
cause evil to be found
where before, there was none."
He chose his target and swooped down.

The demon pushed his way past
the skin, the hair, the blood, the bone
and penetrated to the heart,
entering in.

The demon almost drowned.
The sin of the heart was so vast.
On instinct, he tried to fly away,
but the heart was like an ocean

of sticky oil, coating the demon's feathers.
Such thoughts he saw there
in that mind, the likes of which
Hell had never heard of.

Faced, then, here at the turn
with sin so shameful
he could not have imagined it,
the demon blushed.

But the heart was so dark,
no one could have noticed.

A Midsummer Night's Blind Date

I only love her for her Shakespeare.
I sing a Sonnet, and she listens.
Her eyes reflect the playwright's light.
I like her for her wit; alas,
her wit is not her own.

Walking to Sutherland....

Sounds of ringing bells
can be heard as I pass by
six men, sitting down.

A Thought, Leading to an Experiment

I wonder ____ if
Silence ____ can be used as
A syllable? Hmmm...

Iron Realm

Steel-encased city.
I can't even recognize
The scent of the earth.

A Cinderella Wedding

Watching, waiting, enjoying the way

The white dress sways across your legs.

You look so lovely as you dance.

Your hand like a dream feels warm

In mine as I lead the dance,

My clumsy feet avoiding yours.

We are the life of this party.

The lights are dim as the dance goes on,

The lights are bright as I stand still,

Statue-still at the altar,

Watching, waiting, enjoying the way

The white dress sways across your legs.

You look so cheery as you approach.

Your face like a dream I see

Out of the corner of my eye

Stealing a glance

As we say our vows tonight,

Then go away to our second dance.

Us together, the perfect fit

Until the dance ends,

The moment we

Both have been so

Eagerly awaiting.

The dance ends, just like

The vows fade with the magic.

The clock strikes twelve

And, racing down empty streets

Each to our own home,

Our own personal

Happily

Ever afters,

We separate,

Leaving the glass slippers behind.

When Hell Sings

What is this---I weep?
I did not feel the one death.
Why feel the other?

Haiku

I shall take the earth
and force it into these short,
short lines, grouped in threes.

From the Author(s)

Do you know my mind?
I defy you, speed-reader.
Read these words again.

Do you know my heart?
I defy you, speed-reader.
Read these lines again.

Or perhaps my soul?
I defy you, speed-reader.
Read my words again.