First Poem of the New Year

Belief does not bring peace of
mind. Depression
digs its fingers in
to man of cloth & child of sin
alike; & in the tumbled heart
where tangled tubes & vessels burn
we break apart & shatter in
the knowledge that we will not learn:
humanity is flawed; but lo! –
we linger on; we will not go.

Despair does not unravel hope.
The measure where the mind gives way
to madness in (the
echo found); the day
today, the curling ground below
the satin sway of sky; the pearling
blue & vaulted black beyond the reach
of human eye, which seeks (unseen)
for what we lack:
life weeps; but in the silver rain
we wash our hearts, and loving
will remain.