Untitled Ballad

Here in madness, lost in marvel
dark, silence, now alone
from my pitfall, my revival
Knowledge from the unknown

Some can’t see beyond their darkness
the light, the love divine
unblemished in their heart’s abyss.
But I can see. I shine!

Join together. Come and follow!
pursue a heart’s decree.
Only here I lose my sorrow
Now I’m me, wild, free.

~R. Harder

Sunglasses

these glasses see the future
put them on and you’ll see tomorrow
put them on and then you’ll see today

in the summer of our waiting
the sun shades them lightly
into gray.

put them on and you’ll
see what’s waiting
looking out the eyes of yesterday.

~R. Harder

the Wintery Wave

the rain in the ocean
the tears in the sea
the sand on the beach
and you here with me

the cold wind falters
it stings with the salt
the taste on my lips
like lemon and malt

the rain in my eyes
brings tears down my face
it weaves down my hair
in platinum lace

and you here with me
we wander like waves
we flow in and out,
with this tide we are slaves

~R. Harder

Untitled 5

tomorrow is another day
somewhere
my tomorrow is waiting

it waits for me to come
with Past
broken on my brow

tomorrow is another day
I see
but find so far away

I walk a broken path
in hopes
that tomorrow will follow

I am waiting for tomorrow
without
a thought for today

~R. Harder

The West of My Dreams

out in the pine
and Juniper leaves
amid the desert
stands the twisting trees

the Rimrock is red
the tumble weeds flow
out here where
the hidden things grow

the people work
their lives are hard
but joy in life
is writ in scars

and though time has changed it
the strong live there still
where dreams of the west
thrive in Prineville

~ R. Harder

Outside the Branches

with a cheep
and a cheerio
the magpie calls

out my window
the sunlight falls

and in his black
and white
and green
he prances merrily
as he preens
he spurts and sputters
he squeaks and squawks
all through the day
he talks and talks

the branches are
his perching posts
as I, inside,
am his gracious host

as he yabbers the day away
always convincing me
to come out and play.

~R. Harder

the Speckled Plover

the sun a speckled plover
that roves through the trees
a dance of light
that flits around
peeking through the leaves

the million fans that flutter
shifting with the breeze
a blind caress
at random chance
takes me off my knees

to dance in the frozen shade
sun my welcome tease
to quit the dark,
my bower’s bark,
and this lone reprieve

~ R. Harder

Untitled 4

where will I go
in the soft fallen snow
when the past is easy
and the future unknown?

where I’ve been before
is laid out on the floor
in steps depth-measured
over the forested shore

and to look ahead
there is none to be said
to find a path to follow
where no feet have been led

so where to go?
the fast or the slow
where I’ve been
or what I don’t know?

~R. Harder

Untitled 3

I am bound
an arm
a leg
where I step
I am not found
as I’m pulled away

and where I search
I do not seek
in eyes that see
the host and meek
for when I turn
I turn again
and in a circle,
I find a rend
where I had torn
through and tear again
I fall, I pull
I push and frown.
lost in one
lost, not found
where I go
I do not go
with step or foot
or sight or sound.

I lose. I lost.
Bound to go
where
I
am
tossed

~R. Harder

Untitled 1

the dance
the dancer on her lines
a twist, a turn
now alive

the puppet
the master
the hand on the strings
who makes us dance
who makes us sing

our word
one word
in treachery lies

this word
my word
in strings is tied

a pull
a tug
and I am gone

I dance
I leap
for far too long

~R. Harder

Untitled 2

I dance
I sing
I’m many things
I am dark
I am light
I’m the stars
in the night
I am dawn
I am dusk
I am all

in my husk

~R. Harder

Dreams in Cream

we sang, we sang
we chimed
and rang

in lofty towers
we found those
who in rhyme, in prose
pledged in simple shows
a heart, a dream
with wishes in cream
in gowns that flow
like milky snow

and sing, we sing
we chime
we ring

as those that gather
in the morning hour
to see away
the decadent display
the toss of the
bouquet
the final wedding day.

~R. Harder

Porcelain

the petals
in pink
lie in the sink
where petals
in white
deny the night
and upon them falls
the flickering scrawl
of candle light

in the dusky mirror
where shorn and shear
a face hovers near
in a shadow
gone fallow
above the petals so pink
which lie on the brink
neither white nor red
neither alive nor dead
a rose blush
blooms a flush
such a decadent touch

~R. Harder