Memory

       

~ for my Mother,  Juanita Fay Austian Neighbors ~ You crossed the boundaries of life to sail in Heaven's sea and I was left to bridge the gap between the world and me. You left a child too young to see you didn't choose to go, a child who grew into a man before he came to know, that you left, too, a legacy … a memory of love that God himself would be content to be the owner of.  ~Dean Neighbors~

Pandora

       

Pandora dear, what have you there? Don't meddle with those fragile locks. Pandora dear please take a care, don't open that unopened box. The box is standing open now, the words from deep inside have fled. Pandora's left to wonder how to render spoken words unsaid. Your words are frozen thoughts defined as they were formed within your past, your prejudices unrefined ... the thoughts are gone, the words will last. Some words and thoughts we shouldn't show. Just ask Pandora, she would know.  ~Dean Neighbors~

Promise

Evicted from her garden for a knowledge never sought, was she villainess or victim in a play that time forgot? When tempted by an evil bearing legendary fruit did hunger conquer innocence? Can history refute this yarn of human weakness that has passed from ancient times? Is this a tale of simple truth or fodder for our rhymes? Is it myth or could it be a tapestry we weave to chronicle the promise ... or apocalypse of Eve?  ~Dean Neighbors~

First Kiss

        

I see a truth unfolding in my dreams, our love exists in interwoven time ... for love is not as simple as it seems, as basic as the meter in a rhyme. Our time together doesn't have to play into the universe as now defined, it's not a mere division of the day, to universal pendulums confined. Subliminal, conspicuous, all askew, arranged in any manner that may be, no matter how defined, my love for you exists in every moment granted me. And only God himself could grant us this ... the universe began with our first kiss.  ~Dean Neighbors~

In a hand basket

       

The bike is coasting down the lane, the wheels go round and round. Why am I in this basket and where is it that I’m bound? I take my chance, a leap of faith, then quickly to the farm to jump into her arms, again I’m safe from further harm. Then off to walk the yellow road, adventures are in store. I think it’s safe to say we aren’t in Kansas anymore.  ~Dean Neighbors~

This was inspired by a bumper sticker I saw one day ... it read, "Why am I in this hand basket, and where am I going?" … and it just wouldn't go away until I wrote it. "If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow, Why oh why can't I?"

Opaque

      

Opaque before the light of early dawn,  a window pane, a portal to my youth,  shows visions out of time. My eyes are drawn  to scenes within. An oracle of truth    embraces me, its chilly arms enfolding  my heart and all my dreams. She loves him yet,  she mourns the distant hand she could be holding,  the touch her mind and body can’t forget.    As dark as any moonless night I’ve known,  and darker still, my heart. What muse that’s left  is black as any crow that’s ever flown,  beyond despair and utterly bereft …    as if the eyes of God were unforgiving,  as if my soul had died and left me living.     ~Dean Neighbors~

Mildly Blue

 

On a mildly blue day in forever, in a slumber world born of a choice, past the mountains and molehills of never where the river meets ocean, a voice  is reciting an often told story of love, the definitive prize, of a boy in his whimsical glory., of a girl with her soul in her eyes. It's a study in secretive glances, it’s a ballad in hesitant rhyme, of do-over hearts and romances, unbound by the shackles of time. Then deep in the night or the morning, my, supposedly, untroubled soul … in league with my heart, sounds a warning that the lease on my life can't control. Am I mending a heart that was broken? Am I telling a tale out of school? Am I Shepherd to wishes unspoken, or a dreamer exposed as a fool?  ~Dean Neighbors~

Simply (for Jeanie)

I have scars on my knees and pain in my hips but words of endearment still fall from my lips. The skin’s a bit wrinkled, the hair turns to gray, yet naught comes to mind that the voice will not say. Life's easier said now and easier done, a stream will flow smoother the longer it's run. Simplicity matters, when push comes to shove, I'm older and wiser and simply in love.  ~Dean Neighbors~

Friend

 

I listen to your silence and try to understand. I occupy your vacant heart and hold your empty hand. I've known you whence and whither, from here to either end, my ever present, mostly real, imaginary friend.  ~Dean Neighbors~

Beauty in the beast

 

She might have seen the beauty in the beast who prayed for her affection for so long. She might have heard his pretty words, at least … If only he had written them in song. There lived a silent poet underneath the muted suit of Armour that he wore, but only near his death did love bequeath the nerve to write what wasn’t said before. A never-written poem is a waste, to hold the tongue of love is, clearly, sin. The sweetest words acquire the foulest taste when seasoned with a love that might have been. His poetry, his eloquence and light was wasted on the cold and lonely night. ~Dean Neighbors~

Dreamer

I balance on a pitching deck  between the sea and sky,  aboard my sturdy ship of life  and try to fathom why    the Lord would choose to make  a simple mariner like me,  my head lost in the distant stars,  my spirit in the sea.    As I set sail for shore and home  my  freedom I exalt..  I'll fill my sails with faith alone,  a dreamer by default.   ~Dean Neighbors~

When

When all our anger’s overturned and innocents are free at last from bloody sword and hellish burn, when wars are relics of the past, when Man’s uncertain enmity presents, in breach, from evil’s womb and love becomes our legacy as Mars is sealed in Satan’s tomb, a marble, gilded monument, inscription etched with golden rhyme, will sing the dirge, the grim lament to chronicle, to rue the time ... when eyes beheld what souls abhor, when children slept in arms of war. ~ Dean Neighbors ~