Beyond Words

Blessed beyond wordstruth is like a bird with a broken wing, it cannot fly but can surely sing

this song calls to me, the inner voice of muse speaks volumes, stitching together fractured moments of my life and giving each of them worth

these words bubble up gently from a place, cool and deep inside of us all that is immortal and wise, their warmth and their light wash over me to cleanse my soul and remind me that in a world the reeks of harshness we are never fools to be kind

all who seek solace will one day find in each day a reason to keep smiling in spite of the world and all its beguiling ways for it is true, we are blessed beyond words.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Just Enough

Life has broken 

my heart open 

in a beautiful way.

There's nothing as 

warm as the deep content 

born from knowing 

the Universe will never

fail to provide just enough.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Unbroken

The world has grown up around usleaving us with our memories and the beauty of broken things, dusty relics of the time we knew

even the sky is different now but yet we cast the same shadows and these shadows still stretch as we walk away from the sun

the crowd grows younger each year but I feel a warmth that only wisdom brings to have weathered all the winds life has blown and still be able to smile...to find joy means, today, I've won. I am not broken

These years have taught me to feast on the marrow of life to wring out the glistening drops of happiness and not trouble myself with the trivial,

the day's events slither, they are shallow and fickle sometimes difficult to grasp they do not even know themselves

in the end all that matters is the sum of the words written on the pages of our book of life and their unique and personal truths.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Meditation

How lucid is your soul tonightas guards are put to rest? When not one is stirring ‘round you and the sun is setting West,

your true being is emerging as facades yield one by one you long to merge with oneness and to greet the golden sun,

free from inhibitions imposed by the mind you call your own freedom from the past mistakes, these karmic seeds you've sown,

cross-legged, in the lotus you begin to clear your wearied mind wishing for a sliver of a moment to leave the struggle far behind

your pulse begins to slow as the void becomes your breath your heart begins to soothe you ever-beating in your chest,

dancing somewhere in the stillness breaking shadows far and near where a worry’s no longer a worry and a tear is not a tear,

a wave is all consuming a bright beam breaks clouds above you reach your precious goal and for a moment become Love.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Rush Hour Train

Happiness is an empty rush hour train only the scent of the past remains and stains of a crushed Cheeto on a vacant seat, a crumpled can of pop and graffiti covered shops that rush by, unbroken

Happiness is an empty rush hour train a subtle sway to hush the pain as life's maelstrom briefly slows its swirl the fringes of my soul begin an upward curl, a smile

Muse strikes, a welcome distraction from mortality pulls me back from the edge of never to maybe...just wait and see please save me from obscurity

Happiness is an empty rush hour train the pause I prayed for spared me again from being life's prey sweet Muse diffuses the illusion, and I return to the conclusion that I spell out the meaning of my existence, one word at a time.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Freedom in Sixty-Four Bars

5:30AM wake up, shower, coffee, buttered toast, and So What flowing from the radio

its call and response, like smoke, coaxes me softly to some other kind of consciousness

a strange feeling settles at two minutes thirty-three, reality? It's just some charlatan

"you've been a harlot, son." the notes say, "You've sold your best years for a song."

By three minutes twenty-six Mr. Davis had me transfixed, I was living 2/7ths of a life

struggling through the mires of a Monday to Friday strife for such a small slice

but who am I to whine? it's taken quite a long time but...so what? I've found freedom in sixty-four bars.

~Eric Vance Walton~

A Grand Resurrection

When I wasjust a young man liked things shiny and new,

as the years have gone by I have grown to appreciate a speckle of rust, a layer of dust, a mottled patina

the middle aged me has a certain penchant not for pretty things but rather things that have been cast aside as useless and obsolete, tired things huddled in a corner feeling like they've lived a hundred lives, maybe because I do too?

oftentimes all it takes is a little attention to spark a grand resurrection

You see, I've found these things, they are so eager to tell their stories and continue their breath of life inhale tarnished, exhale cleansed

I seek out and smile at the perfectly imperfect and bask in their greatness of character I don't mind that they've lived a hundred lives, for in my heart they are reborn and in a way, so am I.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Too Simple To See

Time is cruelin that there are not enough minutes in a lifetime to learn all there is to know

the best of our years are spent sifting through the bullshit, the fluff, the liars, and the takers until one great day our hearts reveal to us what it is that truly matters

even if our eyes witness the truth of only one sunset there would be immeasurable worth in all of the struggle and pain

there is such beauty in this world if only it weren't too simple to see.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Truly

Of all these things I covet,all I've loved to pieces until they are no more you are my greatest enigma

my touchstone, the thief of my heart your words drip as your soul skips through the next field of daisies

the words you've said will echo through the ages in my head,

they will wrap me in warmth on cold days and one day will remind me what it was like to truly be alive.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Broken Dreams

In this world it's so easyto be broken, so many dreams are fractured every day

We must carry on in this world of madness, when all we want to really do is play

Trust is such a scary road to wander, it can feel like a stone in your shoe

The pain brings you back to this moment, and can reveal a very sacred truth

Don't ever spend too much time looking backwards or laying down and gazing at the stars

This life is all about the journey and these broken dreams can show us who we are.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Know Me

You think you know mebut do you really?

You’ve savored me before like the last taste of summer wine and you have ignored me like some troubled stranger asking for your last dime

Do you remember?

I call to you softly in your time of greatest need to offer solace and love, without condition I am a steady presence who is here to ground you in times of chaos

Are you listening?

I place no blame, you were built to be a stranger to yourself in a world where the only goal is to discover who it is you really are

Will you love me?

There is no leap of logic that can bring you closer to me there is only one way, an unfolding of your heart.

I am waiting and will be here forever, I will replace doubt with deep faith I am your soul.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Memories Of The Sun

Smothered...in this deep winter bleakness as the sun walks away from us, an ancient journey to be traveled once again

but I will hold fast in my memory the days when it seemed close enough to pull from the sky and whisper to

I remember each moment it warmed us and the wondrous twilight when we squinted as it danced broad along the water's edge

these memories of the sun, they will offer me solace through the gathering darkness as we patiently await the lushness of the equinox with a certain feigned indifference that fools no one.

~Eric Vance Walton~

My Autumn Muse

Thoughts thunder through me,

twisted magic,

minus metrics creating absolute

unbridled hope,

static pops,

air electric I am immersed

in the fathoms

of my muse during

these fall days I wring the darkness,

words drip slowly

and freely like syrup

and to my soul

they taste just as sweet. ~Eric Vance Walton~

Vertigo

Put a buzz on my brainlike some whimsical whisper barely audible yet so beguiling that it takes me away, tipping my world ever so slightly...vertigo

when I regain my balance I am never quite the same, my psyche, slightly altered, We may fall but never falter destinies intertwined, it's true

traveling through this string of simple moments our souls speak to us if we only step aside, as this world turns, we learn in times of blessed vertigo.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Two Poems Published in the Literary Journal Page and Spine!

Two of my poems, "The Writer's Life" and "Memories of the Sun" were just published in the literary journal Page and Spine. Click this Link to view:  http://www.pagespineficshowcase.com/197/post/2014/10/eric-vance-walton.html#comments

Deeper

That Fall, before the snows came
the bees buzzed in spite of us
and nature still danced its magic

something in us knew
that life would never be the same
we closed our eyes and soaked
up the rays of the sun
as though we wanted
to hoard them in a cupboard
to feast upon in the midnight hour,
our superpower against
the gathering darkness

I snickered at the thought
but the only choice was to endure
what was to come
and let it change us
to learn, to grow
and develop a deeper appreciation for the warmth of the sun.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Level Me

Level mewith one glance as you look over your shoulder and smile sweetness with your eyes

our years are a dance only just begun yet I know there will be a day in some distant time when the days grow short I will chuckle with content as we sip our tea with the dust of a million miles on our feet and know that this life was lived complete my dear.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Half Way Home

Awake, at half past twilightstaring hard into the night heart heavy with nothing but the weight of wishes my soul has yet to shed so much to be done, many words left to be said

Time, teach me more than I think I can learn

Cycles, please slow your turn

for Regret, I don't wish to feel your burn

Life, tell me a story but know that I'm too old for empty words the deeper I dig the deeper you get that much I know but these bones ache now when your cold winds blow

Time, teach me more than I think I can learn

Cycles, please slow your turn

for Regret, I don't wish to feel your burn.

Universe, it was you who conspired cleverly to put me here in this world, ripe with storied shadows so eager to speak their truth even if people aren't always as forthright

Time, teach me more than I think I can learn

Cycles, please slow your turn

for Regret, I don't wish to feel your burn.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Bien Dormir

Close your eyes,dream a daunting dream that seems a haunting ghost in waking hours

see your soul in slumber's mirror, it is stirring with such strength that spirit speaks and wishes wander without constraints of time and space

leave your longings and leap into the night fly so fast, so free that your wake curls the fragile edges of moonlit mist

welcome to this land of happenstance and whimsy where no wants exist

here gravity tugs only at our hearts, entranced and we dare to dream nothing...but love.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Song Bird

Your voiceCasts a certain Enchantment Blowing Into the corners Of our minds Like an Indelible wisp

It's a Song that Sparks a silly grin Casting out Our blues And making Us, if only for a Moment, forget The weary miles Walked in Our shoes, Life Is new

It's true As long As we Carry your Sweet song In our hearts The world is A finer place, bone china And delicate lace, cups always brimming With the Rarest tea.

Leave us lifted With each note to savor, Every phrase Is a savior That will whisk Mundane Worries away.

~Eric Vance Walton~

This poem is dedicated to Stacey Kent and Jim Tomlinson.