BURIED TREASURE

BURIED TREASURE

(FOR KYLE, ON YOUR BIRTHDAY)

I found you in the nick of time,

Searched for you for years,

In the hills and in the valleys,

Up some dark and dank blind alleys,

Followed the vague scent I smelled,

Of rich Spice Bomb cologne,

My olfactory sense betrayed me,

And I trudged back home alone.

But God or perhaps the universe,

Took pity on my plight,

Gave me raw speech unrehearsed,

Blinded I was by your sight.

Back when illness was mild, infirmity still a child,

We traveled to Europe and saw the sights,

Ate gelato in Italy by the Trevi Fountain at night,

Saw the Eiffel Tower in its majesty,

Had coffee in the grand cafes of France,

Buckingham Palace in Britain.

In Ireland a joyful jig of a dance.

Then there was Prague and Amsterdam,

Quebec and Montreal,

The architecture sweeping,

The rise before my fall.

Then you followed me, shadowed me,

With the grip of a stalwart friend

Now you rise to steady me,

As the road buckles and bends.

And today it is your birthday,

I thank your parents I was privileged to know,

For creating you from the gene pool,

That glistened bright as winter snow.

And had I been on the open seas like a pirate or a Viking,

I could not have found a single man more to my liking.

My love for you is infinite, a joy that has no measure.

And I am yours to the end of time,

My sparkling buried treasure.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2023

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

INSTEAD

 INSTEAD

(FOR KYLE, ON OUR 20th ANNIVERSARY)

On our 20th anniversary,

I am laid up by a fall,

Cannot get out to buy a card,

Movement is an order tall.

With all the time that's hurried by,

I sit in awe and shake my head,

And pen a paean to the life

I have shared with you instead.

I write of travel, Paris, Rome, Quebec and Montreal.

Our myriad trips around the sun,

I have loved and savored all.

In my dreams I can revisit them,

Just cast my shells upon the sand,

I close my eyes and gladly go,

To Ireland or to Amsterdam.

Since my illness you have been,

My North Star ever bright,

Chasing down my walker,

Keeping me upright.

Praying I do not fall again, 

Harder for you than for me,

Putting up with the mockery and the tease,

Of this strange, savage disease

So in place of a card or a festive balloon,

How about years  of memories,

And a quiver of arrows to shoot out the moon?

I send to you a cavalcade,

Orchestrate a grand parade to get inside your head.

I will pen this paean to the love

I have shared with you instead.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2021

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ONE LAST MILE TO TRAVEL

ONE LAST MILE TO TRAVEL

One last mile to travel,
Then I will be no more
Gone will be be the packs of wolves
Groveling at my door.

When kindness it is quarantined
And charity is banished,
Annihilation's guaranteed,
As into the cracks we vanish.

Come to me, oh weary one,
I will lick you clean before I go
These are bare and desperate times,
Like none I've ever known.

When the plague it comes, this virus,
To spirit me away.
The last mile it will manifest,
Shimmer like an amethyst,
Lighting up the day.

Another chance, another sunrise,
Graces the horizon,
But I fear what we're becoming,
As we blithely plot our own demise
A not so eloquent surprise
These grim divided people.
Holed up behind computer screens
Those churches without steeples.

One last mile to travel
Then you can mark my words
Words that swarm toward the light.
Like desperate, hungry birds.

Words that flout convention,
A respite or a cure,
The vaccine we are seeking
To inoculate the world.

One last mile to travel,
It's up to you and me,
With all the best intentions
To live mindfully and free.

Come to me, protector one,
You have healed a weary soul,
Come and claim your medal,
Kiss me deep before I go.

One last mile to travel,
So leave me to rehearse,
Go softly, love, unto my door
And bid the wolves disperse.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2020
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BARRING SOMETHING UNFORESEEN

BARRING SOMETHING UNFORESEEN

You and I will sail the world, a thrilling, chilling odyssey,
And traipse across this earth serene, barring something unforeseen.

The islands and the coastal towns, the picturesque landscapes of summer,
Will emblazon on our memories their loud and livid thunder.

Love will echo through the forests, tender and so evergreen.
We will walk the beaches arm in arm, drink from the same canteen.

Hike the mountains hale and hearty, knapsacks perched upon our backs,
Sleep in peace in the cool green valleys, clothed in nightfall's solemn black.

See the sights our fathers dreamed of, tethered to their daily grinds,
Taste the fruits our mothers longed for, out of reach on hidden vines.

See London Bridge in all its glory, falling stately to the ground,
Hear the fog horns on the murky ocean pierce the air with warning sound.

Roam the tundra of Alaska, fish the oceans, hunt for game,
When nightfall comes to lay beside you, gently calling out your name.

The years will slip by like a waterfall, sweet Niagara rushing by,
The ocean of my love for you a deep expanse as wide as sky.

Before the curtain closes and sweeps my life away,
I will kiss your lips so tenderly in the beauty of the day,

And whisper softly in your ear each fond wish, each golden dream,
And count you mine 'til the end of time, barring something unforeseen.

-Bruce Potts
Revised Copyright 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED