Lightning can strike twice

Lightning can strike twice

Pealing thunder growled

with the rumble of a runaway flash

booming lightning bolts

fling billion volt mortars helter-skelter

glare ricocheting illuminated verve

ominous tolling crashes

oblivious to gravity

throw reverberated reflection

startling charcoal grey billowing nimbus

blackened rolling storm clouds ignite cannons

fire cloud to ground bolts

hotter than sun’s mantle

drenching rain shards

shattering the silence of the dawn

roaring through the awakening quietude

holding on for life

singer of high poems resonates

echoed litanies upon the impearled threshold of the dawn

coyote running naked in the rain; bearing witness ,…

God’s natural gifts bestowed

mitigate man’s visions of grandeur

© Harlon Rivers ... 2014

Standing Barefoot on Rocky Ground ..... a long journey's reprise

Standing Barefoot on Rocky Ground .....
a long journey's reprise

Come walk with me a mile ...
Walk on without our burden’s weighty shoes ,
warily trudging over the long rocky
pathway of a lifetime in my soul ;
a final edifying voyage to freedom .
The winds of change are blowing briskly
as we walk charily over the long
rock-strewn passageway.

I shed these boots and skin, no longer fitting
my scared, blistered and callused soles .
As time slowly passes ,
this craggy terrain has evolved
from a two-way passageway,
into one-way jagged forage …

Standing barefooted and naked on rocky ground ,
dark sunken sleepless eyes scan
the rolling vista as the wind blows star dust
from the halo around the sun ,
blurring the delicate wispy cirrus clouds .

The sun’s radiance paints a frozen ice crystal azure
into a vivid aura of prisms’ glittering corona.
Kaleidoscope rainbows adorn the closest of solar stars .
There's something in the ethereal air
that leaves my soul unsettled ,
grasping for an allusive stability
as rumors of gold elude me ...

The pain and suffering has vanished
as if the body and soul have separated ,
numbness from the ache , severed nerves
sharp reflection on serrated rocky edges ,
deadened useless flesh cut to the bone
by misjudged obstacles encountered enduringly.

The barefooted spirit travels on ,
suffused in the solar spectrum’s dust ;
yearning , longing to saunter
above and beyond the bloated feathery pillows ;
cumulus clouds finally resting at peace .
Dipping these benumbed toes ,
heart’s weeping lesions
into a healing bath from the bowers of bliss ...

An unfinished life
of an open ended dream ,
reluctantly waking to take the last
surrendering steps beyond the threshold ...
A long and winding rocky journey’s destiny
draws near

The halo around the sallow moon
illuminates an understanding firmament ;
the gloaming celestial sphere’s
pending imminent soulful rain awaits
the metamorphosis at the brink of dawn .

A shower of heaven's teardrops shall mourn
the loss of form as the spirit of soul lives on ,
barefooted ,
naked and free
like the dust in the wind
absorbed eternally...


Harlon Rivers

note: memories of the future... 

Hope is like Faith, 

believing in something you can't see, 

but knowing in your heart it’s real.

We all have faith in something...

"Never deprive someone of hope ~

it may be all they have"....Anonymous

June 2014 

...let this humble remembrance of journey's writ

be a lasting memory of this simple being ...

Homage to a Brimful Poet

Homage to a Brimful Poet

A message heart delivered by a musing troubadour

left footprints upon
a well weathered rivers’ rocky shoal

the lazy days of the summer’s

simmering ethereal breezes
lazily waft astir

Unknown distance ‘tween yonder skies azure;

thoughts of nebulous distances
fearlessly ignored 

Connectedness sown and deference’s
soar from high above,

yet beyond vast breadth
afar the great divide

His brimful heart in hand fulfills passersby thirst

needing love here, hearts on sleeves sincere,

wellspring sensibilities handed out willingly here

voids filled by word of quill …

right now is the known needed time

Glasses half empty suffused to their half full brims;

do unto others you will reap just what ye sow

A poet beyond the bounds of his own demure,

 bearing immense understanding

The quintessential essence of family love 

drips from heart like havens rain,

testifies the heart's purpose for being

A poet’s voice speaks in soul’s timeless tongues

unknown breaths
from another understanding realm 

too deep for words;

yet the word sayer struggles to see his forest ‘s poetic beauty for to see beyond the pendant beauty 

within the magnificent grandeur

his own gifted heart’s nurtured trees.

Harlon Rivers . . .©August 21st, 2013

You never know how many rings a tree's trunk 

while it is still standing rooted deeply in the bedrock of mother earth...

long may ye stand tall 

as thy poetic tree's 

ever reaching limbs 

touch heavens azure ...

Respectfully sincerely,

Harlon Rivers

Mending Unraveled Threads

... a poem about the times when we struggle to see things clearly ... Like the moments when it can feel like the mind can become a twisted and tangled mess ...Everybody has turbulent Monday's now and then ... Just some more often than others ...

Mending Unraveled Threads

From time to time the thoughts get so twisted

Lost in vague and muddled silent reverie

If only the silenced words could be spoken clearly

An untangled and redrawn picture

Seen in a new light’s shining glow

The silk threads spun get knotted and tousled

Where the web is blindly woven out of sight

Interlaced within the shadow’s darkness

Ensnarled loose skeins get harder to unravel

When the tangled mess is known by heart

When the trailing vines of the vineyard get twisted

Entwined in the forgotten moments of a time passed

The grapes of wrath craft a bitter sweet vintage

Gone astray within the jumbled maze unfurling

The crawling vines reaching for the radiant sunlight

A journey’s tapestry montage becomes unraveled

Tugging too hard at the past’s hanging strand

Unraveling and exposing every last stitch of thread

As the collage of snippets from the past

Comes unglued

Can you imagine looking up at the enlightening moment

As the mosaic of glistening stars

Assembled the enchanting sky ?

For that instant the universe seemed like crystal clear perfection

Far beyond the mystic illumination of the midnight sun

Do you remember you once held me tight as I trembled ?

You can’t see where you’re going in the pouring rain

You knew for an instant I was lost deep within my being

Until hope parted the clouds

Letting love’s light shine right on through ...

© 2013 Harlon Rivers  … All Rights Reserved

... in the hands of the maker

These feet trodden , benumbed ,
enslaved by the weight of the load
loamy earth no longer soft , supple ,
forgiving of cold tender feet

the pang of crystalline frost heaves
beneath winter moss
ache as if walking barefoot
on frigid rocky ground

each step taken in effort to draw nearer ,
apportion the distance between a place once so closely embraced,
                      and yet ,
                      now the distance appears so wide

the gravity of the metaphysical makes

me weak in the knees
                     I drop down and kiss the wintry ground
                     knowing all my cares 

                                   lie frozen far below ...

the scent of burning sage
                      and
                    sweetgrass permeates the chill ,
                    smoke rising like mist 

                    into the mystic

a healing smudge carefully brushed with reverence ,
an abounding LOVE cleansing in this earth ,
                  the atmosphere stirs ,

                  I feel the muted words'                           silence emanating in the air

... knowing I’m not a stranger

    in the hands of the maker

© Harlon Rivers ...December 9th, 2013

Kayak...the karma of rivers' flow

Kayak...the karma of rivers flow

wild waters call out their names
an ancient spirit within souls beckons
subtle utterance only heard
by the muse of adventure within
scholars of the poetic minutiae
wild water’s flow

cadence imbibes the river
the artisan glides
inertia of motion
dances with water
aplomb reader
of untamed water’s nuances

yin and yang
natural cause and effect
rollicks with the intricacies of flow
understanding beneath the turbulent surface
spontaneity with the gifts of naturalness
riding gravity's pull

go with the flow mantra
as water seeks its own level
springs from mountain high peaks
cascades, plummets, falls
the long journey back home
all at sea

Harlon Rivers

October 13, 2013

Note: big believer in do unto mantra, so this poem was written for and mused by a friend... and our unlikely moment with this simple photograph ... maybe you will help me read the water better...Stands Proud with Heart on Sleeve