OUTSIDER

At night in silence with no remedy

Alone like Earth within the infinite

Empty beneath this boredom’s heavy plea

The voice that wants to speak, or scream a bit

Able to wake someone within the spree

To bring the light I need to stay lit

Because I feel so, oh so very tired

Of driving on the wrong side, uninspired.

TWO LOVERS

If love for you should not be quite enough,

Then let the kindness be a pleasant thing.

The body vibrates, yielding to the rough,

Warmed up by me and what the wine may bring.

To the question: what has happened to us both?

What can be said amidst the unraveling?

We are no longer just two lovers here;

Nor are we both as lonely as the fear.

HEART OF STONE

A heart of stone it could have been indeed

So as not to surrender to this flame;

It’s too much madness, such a wanting greed

For someone who hides within reason's name.

You only want to play so you succeed,

You never want to share the bread or shame;

It’s always good if... it is for your need,

And for the others, solitude’s the game.

It’s not worth loving this way, in the end,

It makes no sense, my pain and my distress;

That’s why I'll leave before the break, my friend.

That’s why I'll seek a new love, I confess,

And you will think that I was bad to bend,

But you’re the one who freed me from this mess.

REBIRTH

When sun begins to slowly lose its light,

And follows the life that I have led,

May all be intense, beautiful, instead;

Passage of matter, reborn and bright.

Brief struggle where the body lost its might.

Silence of a discourse, ever unsaid.

And night with its dark mantle will be spread,

And bring new illusions in the night.

Perhaps I'll cross the moving space on high,

Anonymous or dressed as a comet’s spark;

Metaphor of pain, wonder in the sky;

And let the verses that I wrote remain,

Like letters sleeping in a drawer so dark,

Or photos in a frame, free from the rain.

HEARD IN THE SLUM

Just 'cause I live there on the hill's steep climb,

These petty people want to put me down;

They say I'm a bandit, wasting all my town,

I’m a rogue, a rascal; worse than a dog in time.

Through streets I go, I dribble, jump and rhyme,

I make my way, without return or frown;

I’m like a little bird, in feathers brown,

If I fail, I'm alone, with a silent chime.

I sniff glue in the streets, I’m thin and plain,

I quit the school, I'm chasing for a cent,

I live on park benches, in a place of pain.

When the rope breaks, it’s always on my side

Because it’s easier, less punishment,

To judge the sinner than the sin provided.

UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS

Are we beings: subjects or objects?

We travel on the same avenues

Between perennial voices, forgotten dues...

And we feel fragile, filled with defects.

We have — in different alphabets —

Questions that were never resolved;

We sublimate our dreams with bites involved

And cheat our hunger with projects.

If we could read between the lines today

How many tiny things govern our soul:

Minor works, petty logics in the way...

It is time to think of new proposals.

To carry a lantern and take control,

And to propose questions and their disclosures.

JESUS AND CHRISTMAS

The day has dawned

Full of the light

For in it, Lord,

Was born the Christ.

The son of God,

Of people too,

Among his own,

From Bethlehem's view.

The boy suffered

Oppression’s hand,

But never lost

His heart so grand.

And knew to play,

And knew to learn,

To share the love

For which we yearn.

Then he sowed

Words of his faith,

Fished for the man,

Helped woman's wraith.

Preached that no one

Alone shall be,

In Jerusalem,

Or by the sea.

And brought us hope,

Speaking of peace,

Of love for the child,

Of glory's lease.

In sacred supper

Of wine and bread,

The new union

Was there to be read.

And did not bow

To masters of law,

Even forgave

Judas’s flaw.

Praying he asked

Pardon from God,

For the feverish hate

Of the Pharisees' rod.

They wanted the cross

To silence his word,

But behold, Jesus

Reborn, as we heard.

Every morning,

Every Christmas day,

In Christian prayer,

The eternal way.