David Grzan

Our nuptial vows did fatally succumb
To the dragons' fires. Though our grave feathers
Came to ashes, in phoenix we shall plumb
The depths of chaos for hoarded treasures.
...

Love sanctifies acts of forgiveness,
Flourishes in the presence of respect,
Creates miracles of natal quickness:
Credits to a mother's bearing aspect.
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Queen turned Molly—quits me on nature's terms,
Weaned from a clowder of kith ‘n' kin kits.
Doomed a barn cat, my innards hosting worms—
Barely sustained by my wiles, will and wits.
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As unique as a Fire Lily's debut—
You arrived a gem with resonate flare,
Blessed with a sanguine air of derring-do:
Your avant-garde lifts to your savoir-faire.
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Oh mysterious creature! Wolves pack lairs—
Alphas tread alone. Eerily endowed
With intuitive perception he bares
His fanged precognition ere rivals crowd.
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Roar's chaste hide skinned, worn proud, proves pride's mane dead;
Clipped heads double back till seared necks grow naught;
Gilded rack trapped though arrows she out fled;
Goring grunter run-down ere snowbound caught.
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O divided House of Plantagenet—
York against Lancaster; martial roses,
White versus red: civil war, banishment,
Usurpation! Death till Death reposes!
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I am the honor of what is most prized.
I am the flower on the sepulture.
I am the namesake for children baptized.
I am the guarantor of all culture.
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Bedeviled as belled cats to suffer toils,
Credits and costs on the cuff. You and I,
Born fettered to Man's original coils—
Withered and waned whilst our love turned awry.
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Love beatifies acts of sacrifice,
Acquits itself just in discharging debts,
Provides kinfolk a glimpse of paradise:
Quantums by which fathers love their begets.
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Harken back to time immemorial:
Your paternal lineage—stout peasant
Farmers—dwelt nigh Dalmatian pastoral
Shores, to eke out their hardscrabble pleasance.
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Fallen Man—God's theodic instrument,
Beguiled, cursed and exiled by primeval
Determinants—raised to be immanent:
Good fates its telos by willing evil.
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Oh Daughter, my errant renaissance lass,
Oracular master of the tarot,
Asks: Why doth my tempered mettle tilt pas
D'armes? Mercurial stars limned your tableau.
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Rapt by shades of psyche! My moiety
Of good wanes meet to my waxing shadow:
My pride's conceit—void of reality.
Bedeviled! How ought I to undergo?
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Britain's King, of sceptered impunity,
Crowned the colonies with purple-mantled
Acts of tyranny then flouts amity:
No quid-pro-quo—Revolution gambled!
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The Fallen Angel doth challenge the Lord
To a duel—proxy faith ‘gainst suffering:
Empowered to break Job's faith the Dastard
Freely murdered his estate—paltering.
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Love extends the fixed compass of the soul,
Measured in generations—eyes the Sphinx,
Quickens itself with esprit to extol
Life that begets ere death to live past brinks.
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Heyday reveries of Cherry Blossom
Dalliances fly; streaming thoughts drift charmed,
Of my quondam Bird of Paradise Palm—
Pierced deep our Bleeding Hearts, so Love adjourned.
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Ex nihilo music resonated
Existence into being and beings
Into existence—oh intonated
Harmony dost beautify His pealings!
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Revolution! Revolution! Freedom
And Liberty trumpeted Providence—
Wartime's gallant paladin braved treason:
Washington, a seer hip to precedence.
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