If you leave your heart open

If you leave your heart open

You’ll never know what you will find

Another open door to enter

An opportunity to leave another closed door behind

I know I am not perfect

But I always strive to be

Please forgive me when I trespass

I may not always see

The mistakes that I make

Are ones that I must own

Trust must be earned

In the deeds that I have shown

I sense a reservation

For those with a broken heart

Maybe an elusive past

Not ready for a new start

I respect those in solitude

I respect those who share

A life without another

I think is harder to bare

DCG

For whom will the bell toll?

In childhood we become enamored with fairy tales

As adults we create our own

Still enamored by this fiction we make

Asking the right questions allows the truth to be shown

In misplaced trust

The gullible will fail

Some children learn life lessons

Some adults will simply just wail

Imagination turns corporeal

When fantasy becomes real

The measure of our reality

Is the only hope for an appeal

Human behavior is vexing

We stop looking at what we see

We invent alternate scenarios

Becoming an obedient and deserving trustee

The cynic disposes of reciprocity

The hysterical will lose control

The hedonist is driven by pleasure

For whom will the bell toll?

DCG

Life is too precious

I embrace the joy

When I see the things line up in place

Time spent together

Sharing the world as I look upon your face

Knowing there is no expectation

Knowing only these feelings that stand

Part of the uncertainty

Is built into the hand

I don’t rely on criticisms

They only detract from the moment

One can spend a lifetime

To that which is unspoken

That which is meaningful

Is better when it is said

Never leave the heart unopened

Never leave it only in your head

Life is too precious

Rejoice in what life can offer

Too many of us never act

We leave it in an unused coffer

DCG

When the damage is Done

We make choices

You can’t redo what has been done

Whether you lose the trust

Or whether you’ve won

We all have challenges

Some are better off than me

They don’t feel the pain like I do

Somethings they won’t ever have to see

Some will never get it

Some may never take into account

The failures of their inaction

The pendulum swings from surmount to discount

I know this is a hard conversation

In family one must work through blame

Get beyond the emotion

Get beyond the shame

What strikes me hardest

Is an unwillingness to directly address

Ones own personal connections

Why we deny and why we do not profess

This takes courage

This takes nerve

Some may learn to overcome their weaknesses

Some will just only serve

DCG

The endless division to reconcile

The foundation of trust

Lies in our honesty

Not only on the personal level

But in all of society

Truth permeates culture

Despite all of our reasons to lie

If you never ask the questions

You will never know why

The laws of man

Were meant to be applied

Equally for everyone

But only a free moral people can decide

The problem with the laws of man

The endless division to reconcile

The minds of men are compromised

The same minds that are used in the trial

DCG

 

 

The Balance of our Temperament

Be honest with your feelings

You must decide how to engage

Use reason with emotion

Don’t act as if all the world is a stage

If you are not authentic

You hide the truth and thus deceive

The worst is not in deceiving others

But rather it is when you deceive yourself I believe

One can argue

They are both forms of the same deceit

In any case one must have a moral compass

For one to take a receipt

Be true to the heart

It is best to feel deeply

That is to say

You will embrace your values completely

To be authentic

Is to be free

Escape from a double standard

Escape from hypocrisy

If you are ever wrong

Your logic and reason are put to test

No matter how strong the feeling was

Your course will change to settle the unrest

There is no contradiction

Be true to heart and feeling – let your conscience be your guide

One to balance the other

So that the truth should never hide

I have been hurt deeply

My heart left open to enjoy

But feelings aren’t always mutual

And so the story of a heart used as a toy

Yet I would do it again

Given lessons that I have learned

The balance of our temperament

Is now what is yearned

DCG

 

 

My Poetry is my X-Ray

The universe is mysterious

Connecting to messages we send and receive

Responding to what is positive

Or that to which we grieve

Somebody living in Boise

Relates to someone in San Diego

Somehow a connection through the ether

Slips out of the shadow

I know you’ve experienced loss

But in loss we can also find our way

There is a purpose in our healing

Pain is a teacher but it does not have to stay

Even 953 miles

Does not seem far away

Something I can’t really explain

So my poetry is my X-Ray

DCG

dedicated to Julie Roberson

Thanks Jules

The Archer and the Crab

I wasn’t looking

But then you came upon me

I didn’t expect what would happen

Somehow my heart is now full of glee

Maybe I was receptive?

Maybe I was under a spell?

But unlike anyone before

It was only you that I fell

You the Sagittarius

Shot me with Cupid’s arrow

The Archer and the Crab

What-do-ya-know?

I don’t think I’m crazy

What’s a poor boy to do?

I found love

I found it with you

I care deeply

Listen to what the heart will say

Having you in my life

I know now God has listened to me pray

I want only to make you happy

I’ll work hard to show you everyday

The passion we bring to each other

The passion that won’t fade away

DCG