Like I Do

Every once in a while
I sit and smile at her
When she looks up and catches
Me staring and says "what?"
Not knowing like I do
How beautiful she is
Not knowing like I do

...Daddy

When the marriage ceased to matter

And the family unit shattered

the girls remained with me

....Daddy

But now the girls have grown 

And moving on their own

Beautiful and strong

No place left for me

....Daddy

I guess I could have guessed

My girls would leave the nest

If not this soon,

Eventually

As I watch them gather steam

As they each chase down their dream

I hope they don't forget

...Daddy

I did the best I could

I loved and understood

Best gig in the world,

...Daddy

As the family scatters

It doesn't cease to matter

Always here or there for them

...Daddy

Jeff's Song

I can't hear the birds any more

waiting it out

up here on the ninth floor

and I can't smell flowers either

so far away

from day to day

everything I touch

was made by

someone

I'm too far away from nature
way up here

everything I feel

filtered through

returning thoughts of you

when it clears

at least I

have a view

Tulips

Two lips parting

to kiss the sun

and the run

of life

Miss Duke

Miss Duke had my back

Back in the day

When not much

Went my way

She stood up for me

When it counted

A teacher, a mentor

who really cared

She laughed at my 

confounding questions

and deflected my

Angry Young  Man

Into words and

Self-esteem.

Protected me 

From the suits

And the jokers

who spat,

who never understood

She got me.

She had my back.

I wrote.

She wrote back.

Even now,

When fallow years

And other roads

Diverge,

She has my back

Still

Everyone should

Have a hero like

My Miss Duke.

I hope she knows.

Laid Bare, But For Rain

Ill-preparedness

and nonchalance

Not my song

Not my dance

Tossing dreams

of others

Laid bare

But for rain

Where do all the

unfulfilled dreams

of lives curtailed

End up?

Primal

My love is primary,

My music too,

So are my children,

Who I am,

And what I do

These things are primal

They're not some time-al

Equally Necessary 

None of them Ancillary

Integral parts of whole

Some days it may not 

seem that way 

When near, I seem so far

When words consume

I leave the room or 

disappear into my guitar

Like head or heart,

The breath of life

May not be at the fore

But Which of these 

could we do without

Essential to our core