If I have to
Do it for her
Then perhaps
That’s reason
Enough

Since running
Just isn’t working
And stalling
Prolongs
This wait

For what moment
Seems absurd
In ways
My mind
Can’t fathom

Motivated
Not by pressure
But fear
Such love
May kill,

Like lives
All men must suffer
When time
Demands
They mellow

Aging
With hands
Left tethered
Around our backs
Which ache

Noticing
Each new pain
While wrinkles
Claim
Long faces

Happy
Someone besides us
Should share
What end
Will come –

Inevitable
Though we proceed
Holding
Those hands
Still reaching

Begging
Tomorrow together
Knowing
Forever won’t
Last.

– J. Pigno

Despite
How clouds
Surround me
This sun inside
Burns bright
And relieves
What darkness
Lingers
Before my eyes
Obscured

Like such plumes
Of desperate smoke
Whose example
Proves
Our blindness
To these symptoms
Keeping silent
Till that pulse
Provides us
Warmth

Shining beams
Upon those woes
While resistance
Builds
Some courage
Through its brilliance
Everlasting
During times
God offers
Light

When believing
Day may come
Even if
Bad feelings
Idle
Within distance
Growing closer
As we face
Life’s somber
Sky

Gray enough
But not quite
Dim
Looking blue
Beyond discretion
Twisted sadly
By experience
Watching weather
Change
So much.

– J. Pigno

Why do I
Wear this cross
Knowing full well
There is
Nothing,

Lying
Each time
That necklace
Dangles freely
Off my throat?

Faking
Faith with chains
Which yield
No proof
Or meaning

While believing
God goes missing
Just before
Our time
Should come

Watching jewelry
Sparkle bright
Around necks
Whose collars
Suffer

Flashing myths
To those who witness
Such adornment
Held
Like hope –

Praying fables
Weighted down
Upon shoulders
Weak
From pendants

May excuse
Apparent errors
And relieve
Their certain
Doom

Before sinning
Once again
Thinking heaven
Must be
Waiting

For regalia
Ever doubtful
Through expressing
Fear
In gold,

When old trinkets
Seem absurd
Learning truth
Might warrant
Tarnish

Feeling symbols
Brand impressions
Into flesh
Where silver
Sits.

– J. Pigno

Relieve me
If you will
By assuming death
Convenient
In attempts
To make things better
By agreeing
What comes next

Is the fate
No man avoids
Through each turn
Of final chances
And believing
Sudden pauses
Imply sadness
Life expects

When existing
Just for laughs
Crying loudly
Without reason
Hoping heartbeats
Slowly steady
As disaster
Hits too soon

Where this youth
Has some excuse
If such dreams
Were never healthy
Putting off
Another chapter
Drifting wildly
Towards my goal

Finding feeling
Proves that cure
Testing play
I take for granted
Since all breath
Becomes one moment
Held within me
While it lasts –

Pure emotion
Drawn from grace
While my pulse
Climbs ever quickly
Chasing freedoms
Between illness
God insists
Art cannot fix

Still remembering
Time builds walls
Through expressing
Chains not present
Hidden deeply
Among poisons
After taking pills
With words

Losing semblance
Though I speak
Along paper trails
Mismanaged
During crises
Often easy
Unexplained
Until they pass.

– J. Pigno

God waits
Beyond me now
In a place
I fear
Is imagined

From the minds
Of men more fortunate
To believe
That heaven
Exists

As faith
Doesn’t always stick
When pain
Insists
We are ready

For truths
Which assume
Our courage
Endures what death
May entail

Since feeling
Proves it all
Wrong
While revealing
Logic tattles

On fables passed
Like assurance
Such gospels
Preach
Without sense

Though reason
Often fails
Among numbers
Lacking
Their patterns

Varying
Ever so quickly
If examined
Now
Under prayer –

Despite how sin
Can claim
This uncertainty
Killing me
Daily

I suspect
Some sane
Realizations
Are divinity
Shrouded by hurt.

– J. Pigno

Strength
Isn’t facing our fear
But accepting
The fact
It’s consumed us

Or agreeing
Such nerves
Remain heightened
Knowing death
Is a heartbeat away

With air
Which mustn’t escape
For what time
These lungs
Keep breathing

Speaking their mind
In protest
Through words
That defy
This release

From suffering
Heaviest weight
Upon chests
Not privy
To burdens

Still praying
Those answers
Await them
Within lifetimes
Already passed

Like mornings
When light
Doesn’t come
But diminishes sun
Behind grayness

Obscuring day
By obsessions
Hanging low
Beneath
Heaven’s fence

Seeing God’s saints
At their rest
Watching each man
Fail
How he changes

Stopping us
Catching
Quick glimpses
As children
Indignant for proof

Our existence
Endures
Beyond pain
Within that realm
So unhappy

Leaps of faith
Aren’t taken
Yet medicine
Saves
Without grace

All of them
Taking
No chance
On those who insist
They can jump it

Into yards
Containing salvation
Where souls
Find relief
Being safe

Since bodies
Delude
This belief
When Christ Himself
Appears naked

On a cross like ours
Between bedsheets
Stealing youth
Through age
Every night

One more sleep
Toward reprieve
Even if
Some hurt
Lingers daily

Pursuing
True resurrection
At request
Of the flesh
Unconvinced.

– J. Pigno

Even now
As I write
My heart rate
Just won’t dwindle
Or ease what racing
Demons
Lay dormant
Beneath this skin

When falsehoods
They call help
Just stave
How death impending
Hangs his scythe
Above me
Boldly calling Jon
Back home

As I’ve never felt
Such pain
Or these shallow breaths
For hours
Built of torture
By those masters
Who believe
Their answers right

While I pray
God never asks
If my actions
Warrant judgment
Thinking fear
My only weakness
And His trial
Feeling sick

Even while
This organ sprints
Stealing minutes
Hardly worthy
Of that penance
I keep facing
Every time
My pulse should skip

Being told
My nerves are shot
Or I’m anxious
Since believing
How the curtain
Will be falling
Very soon
Upon my stage

Taking bows
Before each joke
Speaks its mind
Without reaction
Where an audience
Thinks I’m faking
Being truthful
While they laugh

Never hearing
How this voice
Wanted nothing
But assurance
Or at least
A clap of comfort
To acknowledge
He was here.

– J. Pigno