A Thought: On the Language of Music

There is so much power in the universality of music. I firmly believe that, if Babel is what shattered the words of the world into something incomprehensible from one place to the next, before it, we all sang. Read more!

A Thought: On the Brevity of Life, Good and Bad

There are some days, as the years go by, when I feel as though I'm getting older too quickly. Funnily enough, I've come to realize that those are the days I find to be most worth living, good or bad. And a part of that is because I've been lucky enough to have had, thus far, a life filled with friends and family who make me think, feel and, most importantly, anchor me to the world.

Life can feel too short because of all that you have or all that you have left to do. Either way, enjoy what's there, while it's there. Read more!

A Thought: On Defining Memories

If we make an effort to define memories as much as they define us, the most one need ever be is wistful for what once was, rather than sad for what couldn't be. Read more!

A Thought: On the Importance of Doors

Building castles around the heart is important, but you've got to remember to put a door, else you'll starve the soul. Read more!

A Thought: On Marriage and Murderous Home Design

I do so love being married to someone who gets excited when I ask if she wants to help me design a mansion of doom.  That's love, right there. Read more!

A Thought: On the Tragedy of a Catalyst

The difficult and sometimes tragic nature of a catalyst is that it is so often used up in the reaction it inspires. Read more!

Ah, Valentine's Day

When we're all reminded that it isn't enough to show love in everything you do, unless at least a few of those things have high monetary value, that it's better to be with someone who treats us like crap than alone because life is a hollow, lifeless shell without someone to share it with (and upon whom, as previously stated, we can shower expensive gifts) and, finally, that if we pretend hard enough that we don't care, maybe the people in our lives will be kind enough to pretend they believe us. Read more!

A Thought: On Love and Absolutes

Love is absolute.  There can be no condition placed on it without changing it into something else.  That being said, sometimes love is not enough, or the world gets in the way, or time, or timing.  But love, when true, will always remain. Read more!

Poetry: Between the Lines

I fell in love with a girl once,
Whose name I never knew.
I never saw her face,
Though I'm sure it was lovely,
The sort of soft, quiet beauty
That lingers in the mind
With a smile that hints
Of unspoken secret
And whispered promise.
Nor did I ever look into her eyes,
Though I can see them when I close mine,
Bright and deep,
With the faint touch
Of a sadness long past.

I found her in the pages of a book
I bought at a secondhand store.
She was there, in the margins,
In a handwriting that managed to somehow
Be both tight and flowing,
Adding things, here and there,
As though conversing with the novel.

The book, which was mediocre, at best,
Became a vehicle,
Nothing more,
For my getting to know her,
Her wit, her humor,
Twice, her pain,
Never overt, but neither hidden,
Worn with the humble truth
Of the survivor.

When it was over,
When there was no more,
I put the book aside,
It's narrative fading,
But not ours,
Fanciful as it was.
She was a dream,
Ephemeral and sweet
Forever out of reach,
The girl between the lines. Read more!

Poetry: Her Eyes

The way she smiles,

  Her eyes in the shadows

  Beneath dark hair,

  Unable to meet mine,

  Though not for fear of rebuke,

  But, rather, of acceptance,

  Of perfect, imperfect faith,

  Reflected within.

Read more!

A Thought: On Perfection in Love

Looking for perfection in another person is futile.  Everyone's broken, in some way or another.  Perfection, in love, is just a matter of finding someone who's broken pieces fit yours. Read more!

A Thought: On Love and Butterflies

More often than not, those butterflies you feel in your stomach when you meet a new love end up just being moths, eating away at the fabric of your soul. Read more!

A Thought: On a Woman's Eyes

Say what you want for anything else, but I love a woman's eyes.  Everything else ages, changes, but a woman's eyes are the same from birth to death, affected by the passage of time only in that they're made deeper, somehow, and more beautiful. Read more!

A Thought: On Love and Roses

Poets and writers are wont to compare love to a rose, beautiful, sometimes painful, and quick to fade.  It's a foolish, short-sighted comparison.  If you try to take love, sever it from the earth and sun which foster it, of course it will wilt. 

No, true love is like a rose bush.  It must be tended, nurtured, some blood will likely be spilled, but in the name of something astonishing, a unique dichotomy of fragility and resilience.  It will not always be in bloom, but with care and time it will, with each season, create a greater, more enduring bounty. Read more!

A Thought: On Quantifying Love

When asked seriously, the correct answer to the question, "How much do you love me?" is very nearly always, "Never enough." Read more!

A Thought: On Love and the Permanence of Existence

There is no way to write of love without falling into cliché.  It makes sense, of course, as it permeates everything we are, everything we do, in some way or another.  It is the deepest of human drives to want to feel wanted, to be needed.  I once read that for infants, when something exits their line of sight, it literally ceases to exist for them.  Maybe some vestige of that lingers in all of us as we grow older and reason tells us that it isn’t true.  Maybe we’re terrified, in some dark corner of our psyches, that if someone doesn’t remember us, doesn’t miss us when we’re gone or think of us in our absence, that we’ll cease to be.  And how could we ever prove it wasn’t true?

So we seek out love.  We seek to make a connection in the lives of others, to find an anchor, in their hearts and memories, that will keep us safely in the world.  If we’re very lucky, we find a handful of people who’ll carry us through their lives, a few more who will carry us in their hearts once our roads have parted, and all we have to do in return for that most astonishing of gifts is give it back, to bring them with us, to keep them here.

Read more!