The night shift
Was made to break you
To tell you
You were not made
For the dark

The hours alone
Hardly sleeping
You only wished
That you were actually
Dreaming

Panicked
And manic it made you
Wondering if you had
Ever done less
Or desperately wanted
More?

The night shift
Was made to break you
To tell you
You couldn't have been
Made in the dark

It was made to release you
To free you
And ultimately
Defeat you

For precisely how else
Could He
Have reached you

In your fancy white coat
And your posse
Of me too's

Forgetting about faith
And the miracle
Within you

The armor so tight
That nothing
Could bleed through

Until one day
The night
Came to meet you

And break through the
Cracks
That only She
Could have seen through

To awaken the heart
That only wanted
To see you

Forget the word hate
And start living
As if you

Had always known love
Was how
They would greet you

And give you the truth
That from all dark
​You will wake too

Resting in the calm
Of the day's first light
We are blessed with the
Choice
To live with the peace
Passing into our being
Or to go with the storm,
Calling out from the cliffs
To hear nature's silence
Ringing out through the
Forest
Or to listen to that voice,
Doubting all that we are
To walk with two feet,
Upright and unwavering
Or to wander the ways far
From our right path
So take a deep breath
As you watch the sun wake
Born new once again after
Its night of dark slumber
And allow your heart to 
Realize it's own true potential 
As the chrysalis for a soul
Now ready to love
Having chosen the calm
Of the day's first light 

Calling back
In the only way they know
The stars are always
Speaking
No matter the silence you
May perceive
For it is in their light
That dreams are born
Seeds of hope 
Planted in the open hearts
Willing to listen
The ones simply being with
The night
Its mystery unfolding
A story of faith
Science will always struggle
To understand
So lay with me now
Sharing in their splendor
Their song bringing strength
To those fearing the divide
For the miles apart
Are just another reason
To shine a little brighter
Listening to the stars
In the only way we know

Love poems
They say
Are cheesy 
Cliche
Full of roses
And violets
And little men
Frolicking about
With arrows
And diapers

Love poems
They say 
Are meant
For the angsty
The teenage disaster
Cascading
Until you ask her 
Out to prom
​
Love poems
They say
Can only be written on 
Napkins
And half done homework
Stained by Coca Cola
And skittles
And whatever that was
Your mom packed 
For lunch

So judge away
If you will
For the love poems
Will never care
Sappy and salty
Crappy and faulty
Always destined 
To get a little bit naughty

For they are all we have 
To fight the shadow of hate
That could never possibly 
Know
What it's really like
To write 
What could not be said
Without a gel pen
And a heart willing
To ask
Will you try to love
With me?

Between stimulus and response
There is a space
A choice
A reality
That Viktor Frankl lived
And shared
So eloquently

Even amidst
The most egregious of atrocities
Exists this space
No matter the oppression
The suffering
Or unbelievable disarray
It cannot be destroyed

The space
Ineffable
Waits for you to see it
To feel it
To know it's alive

You will be hurt
You will be hit
You will be stomped into the dirt

You will be forgotten
You will be misunderstood
You will be left to wonder
Why

You will be belittled
You will be attacked
You will be made to feel like
You don't exist

But by the breath in your lungs
You do
By the soul traversing the
Veins to your heart
You are
By the mystery who made it alll so
You will forever be

Anger you see is an emotion
Not a dictum to scream
To Maim
To Hurt

Anger, frustration, sorrow, resentment
Cannot be choices
Because they are not the space

Living in it and being it
Are not the same you see
My house I have to hold my joy
But how could it be me?

The space cannot begin to judge
Does not keep a lock and key
It simply offers us all the choice
To think of what could be

If we choose instead to sheath the sword
And forget an eye for eye
Stopping the path that hurt had walked
So love could ask us why

We think we need to say such things
To get away from pain
Tossing them into another's life
So we can feel the gain

The up, the lift when it's not us
That carries the hurt inside
The burden become the other's yoke
Their problems to deny

The space you see is here to help
So we don't have to throw
The hurt we feel when other's speak
And seek to break us so

The space can melt and transform the hurt
If you believe in love
If you believe in other's joy
If you know what's above

So thank you sir for this beeautiful space
That at first I could not see
Thank you for knowing there was a choice
For us to know we're free