Collapsing Rainbows

Amidst nocturnal reflections, your opal flame glows,
chasing away the haze of somnolent visions
that land and rest upon my eyelids;
lethargic flies.

The morning oranges shake their summer cheeks
heads quivering, they laugh at my window, joyous
announcing you.

Your cool breeze wafts in unexpected
With an ambush of snowy kisses.

Your hidden song whispers continually
its effervescent music
born of dark forests
distant tides, collapsing rainbows.

Second Sight

Angel of angels
Light of lights

In my dreams you pursue me
Through my darkest nights

You guide me
Grant me second sight.

They call me an entity Incomprehensible
Because I speak not with words
But with tones and fragrances
Because silently I seek you
With moon beams
And bleeding carnations

Because my only refuge
Is a star that dies slowly

Because I know why the caged bird sings.

Angel of angels
Light of lights

Still you guide me
Grant me second sight.

Cedars of the East

In my blood
I carry cedars of the East
Olive trees
A thousand burning Suns.

In my skin
Silk of Phoenicia
Strumming lyre
Beating drum.

At night
I play with tigers
Fly with dragons,

At dawn
I rise with the Song
Of a Tower's solitary monk.

The earth here is rich
With the sweat and
Bursting hearts

Of the people
For whom
The Pharaohs wait

With royal seal
And beetle's hum.

Rising Sun

Companion in the Ascent,
We are two birds of one Wing,
Souls afire,
Heat pulsing through our phoenix feathers.

Light of my perilous nights,
Beacon of Jade and Gold
I sighted you from afar,
and You chased the Dread shadow
with your Face of Dawn.

A new Day bears it fruit,
Beloved, I come running.

The Sun also rises
Beloved, I come running.

Two rivers turn into an Ocean ,
their mottled heads
Unite in one solitary wish,

Beloved, I don't care
The day is fleeting
I come running.

Winter's Harvest

You were that long, gentle August
That planted its forest seeds
In the hearts of the leaves.

You were that crepuscular dawn
Submerging me in waves
Of stubborn, wild berries.

Summer’s sweetest drought coursed
Through the grapevines of your arms,
Silent cornucopias that shudder beneath my lips.

This falling and awakening
Encircles us in a dream,
Of pleasures postponed,
Our winter’s harvest.

Requiem for a Lost Star

I watch the scarlet rivulets
Of your hair, as they paint the sky
In effervescent hues.

The milky cosmos cradle you
Caressing your tender filament
As our trajectories diverge.

Ours was the sunset that never came.
The mantle of light
Arrived too early. Jostling us
From our contented slumber.
Its blinding flash
Bit at our heels.

Ours was the stellular rose
Cut short before the stem could grow
Into its giant sunflower
Of beaming petals, strong and bright
To guide us through the night.

The constellations whisper your name unceasingly.
Their somber orchestra
Will gently carry us

To your sweet, celestial sanctuary
Softly shimmering
With unspeakable grace.

My buried wishes will be your bedstead.
My kiss on your forehead, its sacred seal.

Out of our broken promises,
I'll build a funerary ark
To surrender your memory
To the astral ocean,
With a final, hushed prayer
To anoint your brow.

Our fading recollections
Will serenade you
To the deep sleep
Of comets and supernovas

Lulled by the wistful melody
Of fallen doves
Our hummingbird's last song.

Canción a la Luna (Song for the Moon)

A tender gazelle
With lingering pace,
You perforate my twilight.

Your nocturnal visits
To my bedroom floor
Make the Sun beam jealous
And the stars
Gossip restlessly.

Your angelic face
Pursues me in my dreams
Before dawn
Crowns my forehead
With her burning kiss.

Light of lights,
I thought I’d lost you.

But you were only playing
Hide and seek
Amongst the clouds.

Distant song,
I thought you were silenced.

But now you pervade
The root of my Being
With the unrelenting melody
Of your sonorous voice.

In the sacred stillness
We dance, interlaced
As we have all along.

You reach out your hand
To be taken.

I, your loyal page
Embrace you,
Lift and spin
Your golden silhouette.

Around me, you orbit
In the cradle of my arms

As I sing odes
To the elegance
Of your resplendent form.

Warrior Amongst Flowers

In the East,
There is a tale well told
Of a warrior who fights in secret
Amidst flowers and beasts of Old.

His eyes are of ashes
See what ghosts see.
His heart is of fire
Fanned by a cool breeze.

To some he is a rhapsodic ruffian
Of a string most uncouth.

To others, an incomprehensible entity
Speaking an ancient tongue
Known only to elders
Or youth.

His neck is a songbird
That curbs with the rain.

His chest, a Tiger's totem
That feeds on dreams, moonbeams
Visions of verdant plains.

Unbeknownst to most
His voice gives generously to the dawn
What the forested meadow
Gives to the faun.

Singing odes to the moon
And the Sun in her Stead
He drinks the silence of the apples
The distant call of ocean waves
Then, lowers his head.

The Man in the Clouds

Yesterday,
A man dissappeared in the clouds.

He'd been carrying a burden
That was wearing him down.

Yesterday,
A man dissappeared in the clouds.

He'd been chasing a moon
That was too far gone.

I watched him unloosen
His heavy pack,
That had held him tied to the ground

And with a whimsical tap
Of his solemn feet
He ascended
Into the sky, no longer bound

By earthly cares and worries
Pressures due,
All these things that nag and bother
Me and you.

Yesterday,
A man dissappeared in the clouds.

A first I worried
But upon seeing his glee
I realized he was free
To do as he pleased

And I was the fool
For staying behind
Confining myself
To apples
And orange rinds.

Yesterday,
A man dissappeared in the clouds.

Enviously, I watched him go
Knowing secretly,
That man was me

All along.

Don't you know?

Diver

Dive
Into the water,
Headfirst.

Return to it,
Ineffable
Inexhaustible Source.
Unnmarked block
Face you had
Before you were born.

Go back
To that solitary place
Which has existed,
Exists,
And will remain.

You are older
Than you pretend to be.

The burden of
All previous lifetimes
Weighs heavy
Upon your brow.

The most exquisite
Of Illusions

Blinds you
So you may see.

Deafens you
So you may hear.

Silences you
So you may speak.

Your Name

Your name travels through the dusk
Tender assailant, it perforates my twilight
With bow and arrow, resounds
Softly at first, then with more intensity.

I follow the sound of your voice
Its siren call
Guides me past dark crustaceans,
Infernal trenches
Towards your tidal palace of moist earth
Adorned by soft shells.

Glistening on the shore, dazzling in purity
They whisper their oceanic secret
Softly at first, then with more intensity.

The bright, maternal glow of your forehead
Stays proud and rebellious
As it is overtaken by waves
Swallowed underneath surging waters.

In our bodies is the
Perpetual somnolence of stars
As we remained nestled, arms interlaced
Enveloped by darkness,
Hearts grasping persistently

Softly at first, then with more intensity.

The Quiet Moon

The Moon is quiet tonight

Silently, she covets
A ray of Sun
That escapes her
To dance among the stars.

The Moon is quiet tonight

A jealous lover, she watches
Him secretly, admires
His every movement
His every song.

Her silence is
A lethargic lizard
At dawn.

The Moon is quiet tonight

Her stubborn forehead
Burns with longing
For his kiss to visit.

Impatiently, she awaits
His nocturnal appearances
Across the sky

While in dreams she chases
The warmth of his light.

The Moon is quiet tonight

The power of her desire
Moves the ocean
Churns the waves.

She drinks him from a distance
In the thirst of her gaze.

The Moon is quiet tonight

She remains hidden
Conceals her pride
From the Sun she lost.

The Hunter and the Nightingale

Said the Hunter to the Nightingale:

Hail, oh troubadour
Of tender wing
Servant of the forest
Why do you sing

Call out so sweetly
Your wistful song
When only do
I do you wrong.

Wherefrom your haunting melody
To soothe and caress
These callous ears, when
With nothing but cruelty, I address
You throughout the years?

Said the Nightingale to the Hunter:

'Tis only to calm
Your armed hand
Weary with
The death it deals

My fallen feathers
To soften the tread
Neath' your foot, bound
Tensed from fears.

This golden beak
Source of my pride
For your mantelpiece,
A shining prize.

The flesh that adorns
Shields it from the breeze
For your table,
A feast to please.

All this and more
I offer you, willingly
Just to show

We are but two
Estranged lovers,
You and I
As only Fate
Herself would know.

Puncture one
With word or deed
By one Wing
Together tied

Not as one, but two
We'll bleed
Make our way
Back to the sky.

The Dragon Knight

Show me the face you keep concealed
Hidden from the light.

Show me the star that dies slowly
Glimmering in the night.

By day, a solitary strider
By dark
A tamer of Dragons
Beasts,
Birds of flight.

Show me the tender warrior
Who brings roses to a fight.

Dusk and embers
Flower and book

Revive a fading memory
Your only delight.

Ressurected Heart

Bury your knife where it hurts
the most. I will bleed
fragrant roses.

Injure me where
I am softest. My pride will yield
its golden crown.

Resplendent moon
of my thoughts and dreams
Your hidden face
altar of my soul's longing

will douse this phoenix's
burning flames, yet my heart will rise
resurrected from the waves.

No matter how much you hurt
the songbird of my affection
the only sound you will hear
is his sweet music.

Fruit of my devotion,
ladybug of broken wing
the dawn heralds your return
to feast on the nectar
of this giant sunflower
cradled by his petals.

Born of a Tyger

“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

–William Blake

Were I that nocturnal traveler
whose sunburnt face combs the grass
deterring the hornéd goat upon its path,
and the crawling snake
of slithering gait.

Were I that thirst and hunger
 that shakes branches and empties rivers
building lush palaces within the trees,
 learning lessons from the leaves.

Were I that cub born of a tiger
whose name resounds in the dusk
recalling itself to the forest,
when the moon hides its pale countenance
behind the clouds.

Painting: Tiger and Snake (1862) Eugene Delacroix

Aphrodite

Your hair was the quiet fortress of dawn
Its shadow caught by the sun’s rays,
Held in scarlet rivulets which glistened
Blood-red against the slumbering sky.

Our abode was the hushed wind
Whispering its message across the trees
The dreary goodbye of coffee shops and midnight dream hovels.

The day Athena left you, there was only Aphrodite
Lost in her sea, Birthed of seashell bliss.
Our nocturnal reflections kissed
And flew over the twilight mountains.

Slowly we beheld the august apparitions
Beneath disappearing, autumnal rains,
The unconscious desire for summer’s warmth
Burning in the secluded magnetism of your gaze.

Ode to the Moon

On these sempiternal shores,
your reflection coasts across tidal waters
forming precarious mosaics,
fragile rays
mingle and dance.

Longingly, I search your face
for the one that you keep hidden
roaming, anxious fugitive
concealed in the dark.

The shadow that adorns you,
not perfect, nor virginally white
punctures the twilight
and coat of gloom
inseparable from your beauty.

Seasoned by seclusion
and nights of waiting
your weary forehead leans forward
kissed by the dawn.

My Tigress

My Tigress
by Julien Kareem Stricher

My Tigress,
You dream
Of Leopard stripes,
Fiery tongue
And neck of ice.

My aching fingers,
Through your burning mane
I run,

Your fierce song
Haunts
My restless nights.

Your ferocious game
Of tooth and claw,
Lingers over the fading verdure

Of the fields we ran
Hand in hand,
Our souls together.

Into the somnolent forest
I gaze,
Searching for
Your mournful eyes

From which I kiss
Away the grief
Of your primal longing
And early flight.

The House of Dusk

I returned to the place
Where I carved your name
In the husk of eternity,
And buried the last song
Of my longing
Beneath drowning sands.

It sank tenderly
With a mournful breath,
The lusty waves
Overtook my burnt letters.

Final engraving
Of my lost pearl,
You were the prize
Of the fisherman’s pride.

Setting sun, slowly dying
Your ultimate sigh
Was a blood-red victory,
And your cruel lips
The burial ground
Of my kisses.

Beneath the water Hope sank
Her head, fiercely stubborn
Serenaded by the foam.

She left us slowly
Drinking her humiliation,
Adorned with a necklace
Of broken seashells
That whispered our fallen dream.

As I watched her go,
She traced the shoreline
Of fainted doves,
Alone in her innocence.

The last rays of light
Hurried to their cemetery of stars
As sinister seagulls followed
To feast on the tainted crumbs
Of Lady Nocturne,
Bearing your memory
To the House of Dusk.

A Song in Scarlet

A Song in Scarlet
by Julien Kareem Stricher

Inescapable melody
You are the guiding note
Through my oppressive nights.

Delectable symphony
I skirt your verdant fields

Encompassing
Your stubborn mountains

Travelling across
The lush valley
Of our dying dreams.

Your song is Scarlet
And your lips
The bitter rose
Of my tongue of ice.

Fruits of the nascent earth
I relish
On your sumptuous skin
Where I bury our memories.

An ancient sigh escapes
From the petals of your mouth

Gently closing
For the last time.

A whispered farewell
A song in Scarlet.

Dying Star

Wayward child,
You were the last breath
Of a dying star.

Angel of fallen wing,
The rogue wind took
And carried you
Into the horizon
As swiftly as you came.

Your Song's lament
Not even the heavens
Could console.

The ashes
Of your decrepit Love
Not even the urn
Of my devotion
Could carry.

Maiden of grief
Unquenchable flame,
I bury our dreams
Beneath the still sand
Resting-place
Of our final excursion.

A Quiet Burial

Last night
My cricket died.
I found him
In his usual resting place
By the edge of my window
Standing stiff, upright
Dignified as a pharaoh.

There
On that same spot,
He would spend the days
In avid contemplation
Scrutinizing
My every movement
With his beady black eyes
That never close
From their meditation
A pensive monk.

Feverish musician,
No longer
Will your boisterous song
Disturb the sleep
Of the gaudy sunflowers.

No more
Will your stubborn hind-legs
Compete
With the murderous crow
At dawn.

Last night,
My cricket died.
So I picked up
The tiny corpse
And buried it
In the sand
Beneath the fig tree.

His proud antennae
Still pointed, jutting out
In a soldier's salute
Of mock farewell
As I immersed him
Beneath the grains.

–Painting: by Caspar David Friedrich

The Moon and the Lost Child

"I want to sleep the dream of the apples,
to withdraw from the tumult of cemeteries.
I want to sleep the dream of that child
who wanted to cut his heart on the high seas."
–Federico Garcia Lorca

The moon, incandescent
Traverses the ocean waves
Turning their pages
In her nocturnal lamp.

Her gaze is lowered
A blind-fold bars her sight
Breathlessly, she searches
For the youth she lost.

Beneath a barren sky,
A commotion of waves
Uncover a brief glimpse
Of golden tresses
Combed affectionately
By the currents.

Oh, bitter child
Inconsolable one
Amongst the tousling waves
Sounds your lamenting song
How fairly they uncover
Your scarlet petals.

Shimmering stars,
Arrogant Topazes
You are of no help.
The moon is grief-stricken
And restless as a maid.

Frantically, she searches
Beneath subterranean deeps
And creeping abysses
Leaving no grave unturned.

She searches still
For the youth she lost.

Rosy Infinity

Tainted flower,
Hidden fire
Of my injured soul.

The night pays tribute
To our breathless struggle.

Amidst the cool breeze,
And sonorous crickets.
My longing seeks
Your Rosy Infinity.

Defeated Warrioress,
Your tiger claws
Excavate the moist earth
Of my bleeding heart.
As the ocean of my desire
Inundates your bitter fruit.

Fallen angels
Encircle our tenderness,
Bearing us
To the land of dreams.

The Impossible Song

Here is a path
Not taken.

A way
Not written.

A note
Not sung.

Here is a land
Uncharted.

A sea
Unsearched

An impossible
Song.

Walk down the trail
You will hear it:

Neither straight
Nor broken.

Wade into the stream
You will feel it:

Neither moist
Nor dry.

Look beneath the veil:
You will see it:

A fire burns in secret.
A prayer without a breath.

An impossible Song.

Sometimes

Sometimes
Avalanches happen
In silence.

The murky waters overtake you
The dove's shining pearl
Falls prey
Beneath the waves,
Sometimes.

Sometimes
Angels bow their heads
And shed golden tears
In quiet resignation,
Sometimes.

Sometimes
The arrow of tenderness
Reduces noble Pallas,
Plucks her diamond crown
And puts her to shame
Sometimes.

Sometimes
We look in the mirror
And encounter the shadow
Of our former selves

The sight is enough
To burst the shell
And silence the Muses
Sometimes,
Sometimes.

A Man of Many Suns

In my blood,
I carry the East
Petals of jasmine
Olive trees and Cedars.

In my heart,
An ancient sarcophagus.
Only the eyes reveal,
What is given in the tomb.

In my mind,
Many suns,
The quiet murmurs
Of ocean waves.

In my body,
The earth.
The salt of seven seas.

Unbeknownst to me,
Even in words
Such as these.

The soothing hum
Of a distant breeze.
With the hint
Of musk
And orange blossoms.

A Blessing For Those Love Lost

A Blessing, A Blessing,
For those who die slowly in waiting,
For a rap on the door
Or call that will never come.

If there be angels among us
Then surely these are their Cherished,
A blessing for those Love lost.

Bottomless is the mire,
A Styx for willing souls
That submerges and drounds
Their restless hearts.

Leads them back to empty houses,
Cold beds, discarded letters,
A blessing for those Love lost.