The closed hand

As in the schoolyard game,
He mocks
By his words,
"Guess what I have!"
Is this 

Just an attitude?
Or a devious inclination?

Alas, I go on wanting--
I'm quite unaware

What is happening

Til he shows

The closed hand--daring,

Provoking--

If it were loosened

I'd behold

Desire granted-- or so I

Think, and torment

Grows--it's surprising my hopes

Do not go up in flames!

I wonder if this

Illusion lasts?

I stare at the

Closed hand.

The evil one dictates the laugh--

Or weeps, screams, cries--
His nature erratic--

The hand opens...
Is empty!

2018

The Neapolitan Man

Love touched him,

The sea called--

And he threw himself 

With wide-open arms into

The wave and swam a mile.

And then he stood still in the 

Shallow, cold water 

Like a stature of strength.

What great force moved him!

2018

Who separated me from my friends

"...cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection." (Science and Health, p. 97)-----

What separates me from
My faithful friends?
All my thoughts make life
And its own proof of harmony
Denying error's verity.
I wander along the banks of a river,
Fresh-flowing, lively and deep.
Nothing is lost and I find
A place to rest.
Little songs arouse flowers!--
In the shady meadows and the dark forests,
Sky all stars. The finite gives place
To the infinite, on earth as in heaven---
Sets oneself right!

2018