A Question?

What's stronger than steel,
yet lighter than a feather?
Dedicated enough
to brave any weather.

Heals most wounds,
with only a little.
Yet under its pressure,
can make your heart brittle.

It lasts through the ages,
yet rarely tarnished.
An unending feast,
with every garnish.

Brings people to their knees,
an expression of beauty.
Can bring some to tears,
despite courage and duty.

© Copyright 2011 Brian Joseph Johns

Yonder

Yonder

None can you prepared be known,
for this thing not is just word sown,
Its nothing that ever can be sold,
Nor useful is it to be told.

Some embrace it, with return,
others neglect but do not learn,
To some this is just a pretense,
Keep reading and it will all make sense.

For travellers had their seeker's yield,
yet those who fear their feet are sealed,
minds lost inside to their own dark,
souls in mid-drift without their spark.

Do you taste tears when your soul seeks?
a mighty river dammed to creek,
all is lost just to forestall,
potential cost is none too small.

Is this not story for all who peer,
into the depths nought read by seer,
to wonder why won't fill a purse,
but not to fills the soul with curse.

Be here when here and there when there,
Don't strip your world, she's her own to bear.
Your dreams be yours and my dreams mine,
This journey's only friend is time.

Look all around and you'll see,
to venture forth that is to be.
Stride by stride our purpose found,
No longer by our shackles bound.

Each step closer takes us two,
toward that place just out of view.
Though keep your sight right by your sides,
for that's where every treasure hides.

We're here to sing, here to dance,
follow your bliss and take a chance.
Walk forward proudly, be your best,
Hosts we are as well as guest.

Arrived then have we at the door,
this voyage done, though I know there's more.
I turn the handle with a pause,
and open slowly, gazed to beyond.

For we all have laughed, all have cried,
We have smiled, and we have sighed.
To love but once is enough to know,
Into the yonder we will go...
© Copyright 2012 Brian Joseph Johns 

　

A Life Well Lived (Haiku)

A Life Well Lived

Crawling awkwardly,
hard to balance on two wheels
the first few years


Running with a stick,
too many to stop them all
he shoots he scores


Numbers too many,
drawing on the side of pages
homework is dull


The first windsor knot,
too much to do in one day
a busy graduation


Six comes early,
effort feels like a dead end
the rent gets paid


One hundred and ten,
nobody will know the difference
another speeding ticket


Untouched plates on the table,
its difficult to break the silence
our first date


A knock at the door,
She smiles through the curtain
a sleepless night


So many people,
hands through pockets searching
he lost the ring


She thinks I gave up,
feathers amidst the laughter
the pillow breaks


Hands clasped together,
a few moments in the years
we broke the kiss


In many pieces,
tears that sting those two eyes
a broken heart


As quick as it came
descending through the air,
a quiet sunset


Few have grasped,
it leaves before you know
a life well lived

© Copyright 2011 Brian Joseph Johns

Maker

To use words to make a shape but never make a sound.
To change the palette of the sky but never leave the ground.
This potential within us each but often never found.
A universal question to each spirit, body bound.

Most afraid to ask themselves: what is our real nature?
Is the world around us fixed to nomenclature?
Or can we create that which we've never known?
When we give it name has seed been `ready sown?

© Copyright 2011 Brian Joseph Johns