The First Love, is only the beginning.

There is nothing like falling in love, especially the first time.  Part of me will always envy those first loves that get married out of highschool and live their lives together happy for another sixty to eighty years.  To bad it hardly ever works out like that.

I remember my first love well.  She broke my heart in so many ways, but most of those ways were important.  I had great potential as a person, yet I was squandering it.  I had dropped out of college in the first year, was living with my parents, and spending eight to ten hours a day writing a novel that wasn’t completely thought out.

(poem) - Autumn's Thrall

Fall has struck
With a resounding bell
And oh....
How it doth make my heart swell

The cold of the day
The chill of the night
The trees turning color
Is Autumn’s delight



Every summer I long to feel
The cold tendrils in my hair
Or sharing body heat
Deep within our lair

There is no doubt
This is my favorite time
For I have wrote about it
Line after line

I never get tired of
The darkened grey skies
No matter how depressing
To not actually see the sun rise



All Hallows Eve
Is just around the corner
Full of spirits and ghouls
Which makes me ponder

On life’s great existence
On all life’s fun
I want to jump in a pile of dried leaves
After a short run

The smell of decay
Lingers in the air
But it is an aromatic scent
A potpourri fanfare

Yet the worst will come
Winter at its best
Eventual it will creep in
This I can attest

So enjoy Autumn
While you can
For before long
It will be Christmas yet again



And people will be filled
With Greed and Kindness
And all the stores
Will become pockets of stress

But that is far away
For now it is Fall
And I will enjoy this season
For I am Autumn’s thrall.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Dating a Teenager's Mother

I remember several years ago, a colleague at work turned to me and said, “You shouldn’t go for women who had children.”  I remember looking back at her and said, “Finding a woman at my age without children...yeah right.”  I remember the conversation well, and how true it was then, and still is.

Falling in love is hard enough, even though when it happens its way to easy to just fall.  Lisa and I fell fast, and hard, and it was wonderful.  But quite a few people were startled by it all, watching from the outside.  Not least of which, was a teenage daughter caught in the middle.  But here’s one thing I’ve learned, if you are to have a mother love you, then you have to love the child as well.

(poem) What I see in her eyes.

There’s something about her eyes
That makes my soul fly
The way she looks at me
Makes me feel wonderfully

Her laugh is what I live to hear
It makes sure I am always near
Jokes come out all the time
They add the spice like thyme

And though spice is not needed
It makes our love life more honeyed
And oh how she loves her honey
For which she’d commit larceny

I still can’t believe I found her
And she took me from my winter
Bringing me into the sun
Of love so intensely one on one

I’m glad our nights are long
For that helps our love go strong
As the trust flows freely
I find myself thinking humbly

About my life and about my past
And how it all moved by so fast
And brought me to this slice of heaven
After a life of love’s famine

Now being treated to such a feast
I stare off to the East
Watching the sun rise on this wonderful chapter
Hoping it will not move any swifter

Because I want to enjoy this moment
Feeling my hearts every movement
As it beats just for my wife
And the outlook is so good for our life.

She saved me and brought me to this
For that she deserves my every kiss
For my love is hers till the end of time
And beyond, so goes the rhyme.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Blaze your own path.

I learned a very long time ago to follow my own path.  It seems what I’m destined to do.  Somewhere along the way, those people that kept telling me what I should be doing, gave me enough reason to turn my back on them, and simply walk away.

I come from a small town in Texas, where the status-quo is to work your ass off the rest of your life and retire.  Give your life to the company, and hopefully one day you’ll still be able to enjoy what is left of your life.  In all honesty, I cannot find a positive way to say that....  So yeah, I found a high paying temp job, worked there a few months, when it was over, I pooled my money and left.

Sixteen hundred miles later, I was standing in the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  Though it was a struggle, I clawed out my life there, and worked so very hard to keep it.  While I was there, I was immersed in beauty, and learned the skill to see the true beauty in life which in turn showed me how to  truly believe in this amazingly beautiful thing called life.

(poem) - Love This Life

Pain is something
We all must feel
For it is a part
Of simply being real

This life is amazing
And totally inspiring
How can one live it
And not think of aspiring?

Something great
Is just around the corner
All we have to do is get there
And learn not to falter

Keep your feet
On unsteady ground
Never worry too much
And just follow the sound

The sound of happiness
Flowing to your ears
Of friends and of love
Listen to it with happy tears

Let it fill your soul
And fill your life
Because one thing is for certain
You will get through the strife

And live a life
Happy and carefree
If only you simply
Let yourself be

Cheers to you
On your fantastic journey
Life is amazing, even if
You fall on your fanny

Just remember your past
Enjoy your present
Look forward to the future
And strive to be prudent

For you need to be
As excellent as you can
But to be excellent
Just learn to laugh like a madman

Because life is a blast
A true thrill ride
I know this
Because I live my life untied.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) - Envoy of my happiness

How did I not know
My life was so bad
Before I had you
As my bride?

The day to day
Meandering pace
Of simply avoiding
The mirror’s face

(poem) - A Dream of Love (forgive me for the mushiness)

I once dreamed a dream
Where lovers united
I’m guessing it’s a common dream
Everyone wants love ignited

Yet this one was different
In a very odd way
They lived and loved forever
Day after day

There was no arguments
There was no pain
They went to sleep in each others arms
And awoke the same, again and again

Love,
By its nature
Is full of arguments
Because two people will bicker

But this dream continued
On through the night
And never did there arise
Any form of plight

A utopia of love
Between two people
Could there ever be
A more important temple?

It seems I have found
This odd ball thing
When my wife looks at me
My soul doth sing

She is my one and only
My home is in her arms
There is nothing at all
That sets off any alarms

Don’t let your dreams die
Any form of horrible death
Because you never know who might stop by
And give them life’s breath.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem - Deeya) I Have Loved

(( In celebration of the 3rd part of Ballad of the Emerald Bard - Old Debts coming out tomorrow, I would like to share this older poem.  I've often mentioned that Deeya was a character and I wrote poems for her to be songs.  This is one such poem, and is kind of relevant to the story, Old Debts.  Here I also include an actual performance with the emotes, so you can get an idea of what it was like to see Deeya perform live. Please enjoy, and if you want to see the story jump straight to the Ballad of the Emerald Bard Page with a Table of Contents to the whole story so far!)) ))

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(poem) She is my everything.

She is my wife
She is my life
She will not be cut away with a knife
She is my everything

I wake in the morn
I feel her in my arms so warm
And quickly forget my dream’s forlorn
As my eyes meet hers, my soul takes wing

I go through the long day
Knowing that with me she’ll stay
I do not have to soothsay
To know she’ll fulfill my yearning




I look at her with so much love
While my heart flutters like a dove
She makes me rise above
She makes my soul sing

We make a solid team
And we hardly every scream
She is the woman of my dreams
It is my soul that she is saving

Saving from a lifetime of woe
I love that she loves me so
To save me from a life so hollow
With the love of such a loving being

There is no strife
With her as my wife
This is an amazing life
She is my everything.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) - The Most Important Birthday

A birthday is a wonderful thing
But a birthday of someone you love is special
I can stand for so much
How can it be anything other than cheerful

Another reminder of time spent together
Another passing milestone
Towards that forever we promised
Proving that promise really was set in stone

Another birthday has come for you
I love you my dear
Through all the ups and downs
We made it yet another year

And, even though its impossible
My love for you has grown even stronger
And even though I can’t understand how
It will continue to grow as we stay together longer

Autumn has come
The leaves will soon change
The air will get colder
And marriage to you seems less strange

I wish I could have gotten you more
For this special occasion
But we both know
This relationship is the perfect heaven

I love you with all my heart
And on this day of days
All I can give you is thanks
And a ton of praise

Because you are the one
That I have lived my life for
The only woman
That I can truly adore

You are my entire world
My entire life
And I shall see you through
All this world’s strife

I will hold your hand
Through all the bad
And make sure you are
Nothing but glad

You are my fiancé
You ARE my wife
To cut me away
Would take more than the sharpest knife

I love you Lisa
And on your birthday
I want you to know
By your side, I will forever stay.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The Weight of the Soul

Ahhh, the philosophical debate about the soul.  I personally think it’s the most important debate human kind can muster.  Do you have a soul?

I believe I do, for sure.  I am moved by music, moved by scenery, I can be moved to tears easily, as well as inspired enough to move someone else with my own creations.  I believe we can truly channel our soul into our creations, and pulse them with energy, enough to almost make it alive.

(poem) A Scratch

There’s something about being touched
Something nice and discrete
It swells your soul
And makes it charge to greet

A simple feel
Of fingers intertwined
Makes you realize
Your soul is in a bind

A bind of love
A bind of lust
All you know is
This sense you can trust

It will take you away
To that wonderful place
That poets dream of
Where sensuality is encased

Pain can be introduced
As it is part of that sense
But I do not like it as much
As it puts me on defense

But other like that sort of thing
And I absolutely never judge
For without a little scratch down the back
It would be hard to get my fiancé to budge

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) To Live.

When shame is the name of the game
Then how do you tell, what it is they sell?

It always seems as if people’s dreams
Do nothing but oppress instead of impress

This is a sad way to be, because you can never be free
From humanity itself, because there is no elf

Which is sad for me, because I love fantasy
To live in another world, found in books unfurled

But no, there is only this world I know
So the best way to deal, it to simply be real

And simply tell all the haters to go to hell
And live life the best you can, be you woman or man

Live with morals close to your heart....
Because truly Living, is an Art.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

A Passion in Beauty

There is so much beauty in this world.  But beauty is so subjective.  I definitely know where I find beauty, and I’ve found it in so many places.

Let me start by saying, I do not say the word ‘beauty’ lightly.  In today’s society, so many words are thrown around in so many different ways, that they all seem to lose their importance.  The definition of beauty states “deep satisfaction to the mind” or “high spiritual qualities are manifest.”  When I say beautiful, I don’t mean sexy, or even pretty, I mean moving to the soul.

I’ve found beauty in my fiance’s eyes, I’ve found it standing on the top of a mountain, with the vastness of the Earth far below me.  I find beauty laying in my hammock in the back yard, I’ve found it in a great book that has consumed my time.  But more importantly, I find beauty in passion used to create.

(poem) The divine blessing of life

I’ve stood upon the mountain top
And looked down upon the Earth
This is where I found God
Where I found life’s worth

Most people see such beauty
In the eyes of their child
Others when simply
Trekking through the wild




It’s hard to look past
The beauty of nature
When you find inspiration there
You fill find nothing so pure

I can’t help but create
When touched by beauty
The blinking icon on the page
Has anything so taunted me?

I want to share my dreams
With the entire world
They are marvelous stories
When they are unfurled.




I’ve moved people to tears
Made them flood with emotion
With the written word
The world can stop its motion

I’ve gone to beautiful places
With a pen and pad
And let inspiration rush over me
Writing among proverbial dryads.

There is absolution nothing more calming
Than laying in the hammock
On a warm windy day
Watching clouds run amuck

Swaying in that breeze
Listening to the sound of the world turning
Fills my soul
With gentle yearning




To dream a dream
Recreating forgotten lore
Oh to be a Bard
In the days of yore

To spin tails
To play the lute
Allowing people to relive
Deeds of great repute

Yes, I found religion
In the beauty of life
Why can’t others find the peace of God
Without the damning strife?

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) Rambling about inadequacy

Passing the time
Watching it go away
Is this what I should do
Day after day?

My life is completely on track
Yet I’m hungry for something more
I know what I should do now
So both of us don’t end up on the floor

But will it work
Can it pay off
Only time will tell
If we can fill the trough

(poem) Why I live my life.

As the seasons rise and fall
And everyone tries to make sense of it all
We watch the sun rise and set
As life fades we try not to fret

So we try to live life without regrets
And to be good to our pets
Yet most don’t know how to enjoy
All that life has to employ

Shame comes and goes
As does pain’s throws
Yet we life through and trudge on
And wonder if our last name will fade into anon

I asked for all things that I might enjoy in life
And I was given life
So that I might enjoy all things
No matter what it all might bring

This I hold true to
No matter what or who
Might try to bring me down
Because life is too short to constantly frown

So smile I do, as much as I can
Since this life began
And live by a creed that most dismiss
Because there is nothing in life I want to miss.

From watching my step-daughter
Try not to die from laughter
And enjoying my wedding to her mother
Being that woman’s one and only lover

Sure I’ve had my downs
But I fear them less than clowns
Of course, that goes without saying
Clowns send a lot of people to praying.

I’ve loved and lost
And each time felt the cost
But it all paid out in the end
For my life now has the perfect bookend

I knew it would all be worth it
No reason at all to throw such a fit
What a ride it has been
And it will continue to be, until the end.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!