'I'll love you forever'

"I'll love you forever"                                                            timothy r gates, 7/27/2014

"I'll love you forever,"
we both declared,
well spent by amorous embraces,
our first intimacy
beyond our hands' imagination.
"Why, that's not true love.,
you were only in lust,"
no matter if somewhat true,
the same tell younger people,
"You're only in puppy love."
Perhaps people lost,
no longer knowing love,
people still claiming to know
what is distant at best,
maybe this is their
funeral dirge,
maybe trying to save others
from love's disappointments?
Love is love, even if
disenchanted
or incontinent by the allurement
Love is love, even if
lust bedded
or fantasy visualized, realized
Love is love, even if
a teen's infatuation
or at a hoary headed recline.
"I'll love you forever,"
whether a religious sentiment
or poetic refrain,
whether a country song
or hip-hop, r&b refrain,
children's nursery rhyme
or bedtime story's song,
a crying heart
or funeral hymn -
Love is still love.
Two six year olds,
gazing into each other's eyes,
offer,
"We're best friends forever."

'i arise, even as i fell asleep'

'I arise, even as I fell asleep'                       timothy r gates, 7/13/2014


I arise, even as I fell asleep
buried in dark's stillness
awakened in light's day song,
their union, palatable
in the moonlit expanse
in the sunlit resurrection,
I behold through my blindness
something like the man born blind,
healed by Yeshua,
without context to see, saying,
"I behold trees walking."

'EEYORE'

'Eeyore, '                                 timothy r gates, 7/10/2014

Eeyore,
a gift from Pooh
Calvin,
a gift from Hobbs
Gargoyles,
a gift from Angels
Huey,
a gift from Boondocks
Linus,
a gift from Charlie Brown.
Linus had a blanket, he never imagined life without it, that is until he learned to fold it up and put it aside, only to be pulled out in special, or necessary circumstances.
Darkness,
"Hello, my old friend,"
a gift from fear
a gift from regret
a gift from blinders.
"...and darkness was upon the face of the deep;
and there was light.

'294, PLUS OR MINUS, SHOT DOWN'

‘295, plus or minus, shot down’                                   timothy r gates7/19/2014
Memory eternal. Mercy. Namaste. Love.

295, plus or minus, shot down.
someone thought they should die
someone thought they should shoot
someone thought they should murder -
Oops, the someone probably uses the word, “kill,"
like this means shit to those left to mourn.
Ukraine and Russia?
same shit.
Israel and Palestine?
more of the same shit.
"Let's get the bad guys/gals!"
so we are rallied by Governments and media pools.
What do they all forget to mention?
the "good guys/gals" and "bad ones" do the same thing:
"KILL THE ENEMY AT ALL COSTS!"
children, and innocents in the way, matters not.
......pause.....stop.....listen......
behind the safety of our homes,
nearly behind dead silence,
in a few large metropolitan cities,
still through various coy euphemisms
still through clouded eyes
still through "enter at your own risk" ripped signs -
also hidden behind well-crafted growth --
at least 295 people were killed, again_____________________________
Lord have mercy. Love's memory. Blessings.

july 4th 2014 collection

I thank all who have paved the way for the freedom in the U.S. of A.,
you who gave up lands, you who left lands for a new one, you who continue to help us evolve and be better than any one person, or many at our worst., or best. Blessings. Namaste. Love. Thank you.


'4th of July - again'                   timothy r gates, 7/4/2014


4th of July - again.
red, white & blue.
flying free, stars reminding
some are blessed,
others? not so much.
past due,
fly these colours
upside down,
Lady Liberty's in distress.
many heroes and heroines
have fought in our place,
i say, "thank you."
our leaders tell our
heroes and heroines,
stripping away the euphemisms,
"screw off, we've got our raises,
health care, and retirement."
I will work this day,
facilitating the primary American b-day,
the right to shop,
no matter the day.
4th of July, again.


'Star spangled banner'       timothy r gates, 9/28/2012


Heroes,
rockets red glare -
dammit, this is metaphor
for
people killed by people,
like
collateral damage-
blessed, euphemism
for
presidential cowards.
a little honesty,
genuflecting more tiresome -
like
"We the people" -
job is done,
we tear up
knowing few Heroes
giving the red in
"The flag was still there."
'Flags'      timothy r gates, 5/28/2012
Veterans wear them
patches on chests - biceps
Hippies wore them
Pants - shirts - capes
burned holes in the stars.
shared in common,
Flags
always mean something.
Way too many wear them
shoes - shirts - jackets
tattoos with Eagle's expanded wings
not new
but on your ass?
Flag burners
believe they should matter.
Flag wearers
merely are gaudy.


Death toll                            timothy r gates, 6/24/2013
ignored
Presidents, despots and emperors
speak of
heroes and heroines,
not remembering the dead,
the little ones in the way
of heroes and heroines
following orders.
Mourning murdered children,
empathy for psychopaths,
awakens legislators,
while
other little girls and boys,
daily abducted
daily beat
daily raped,
ignored, do not find a
home
on the amber alerts.
Borrowing Tom Waits,
"Why wasn't God watching?"
the Psalmist is echoed,
"Where have you gone,...
you have forgotten to be gracious."
hands over ears
hands over eyes
hands over lips,
icons of divinity -
voices are smothered
iconoclastic leaders of nations
wipe away their, own, tears.
Another death toll is planned,
not beholding mothers and fathers praying,
"How long will our children be spurned?"
Then all stand and sing their
National Anthems.