SamadhiMuse

                                #113

                  I see it in the free wind
                  and expect it in my thoughts
                  my feelin’ of your mind and ways
                  as a warmness I have sought.
                  With face drawn by boredom
                  and mind unused I rest,
                  some quite thought of your feelin’
                  passin’ through my rest.

                                      Gallagher
                                       8 Dec 68
                                       Matagorda Island, TX

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                        Daniel Martin

               Will the mountains seem so wild
                  and the dew sparkled mornings alone, so clear
               considering the price paid
                  to put me there.

               Can my life’s essence be valid
                  after such a crime to attain what I covet?

               Will I roam for my fulfillment and find only
                  that my unreality leads to the ashes of my dreams?

               Serenity cannot, I fear, be found in a distant snow
                  but only in the purity of mind it represents.

               And so I will consider this pain,
                  and look for peace,
                     and spend some years fooling myself.

                                       Gallagher
                                         23 Sep 69
                                         Port Lavaca, TX

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                              Rose

            My enigma, my joy, my mirror
            my mind apart from me
            filling my hours with only herself
            never faking it for me
            her steady regard, belief in me
            provide my mind a rest
            from all those who think to hurt
            and feel our lives are tests
            I value her faith and strive to be
            all that she believes of me
            and she, in turn, with a life her gift
            has given her time to be
            a faithful loving caring wife
            and keep a home for me.

                                gallagher
                                 14 dec 69
                                 Matagorda Is., TX

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                             Wife

         I could taste the salt of her tears in the kiss
         smell the dampness of them on her cheek
         filled with love she lay trembling
         under the whip of uncertainty
         Would love be her salvation or her pain?

         With shyness she smiled at me through tears
         and tears welled to my eyes
         with the tenderness I sensed
         Love, our pain, our greatest joy
         Calmness filled me while pain remained
         where was truth, I know not
         but it is there.

                              gallagher
                              29 mar 70
                              Port Lavaca, TX

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                  — Daniel Martin again
                      or the Plastic Sea Song –
               It’s all there, right in my grasp
               but then, is it?
               Are they crazy, or am I?
               And, if it’s I, then
               should I do it their way?
               Spining wheels of paradoxs
               ring in my mind and gut.
               Right in my hand the answer,
               it mocks me.
               Afraid to ignore it,
               afraid to look.
               Here’s my endless painful moment
               of procrastination
               or was it common sense?
                                 Gallagher
                                   01 Jan 71
                                     Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                           Freedom
               A sad price we pay sometimes
                  seeing if our dreams are really only dust.
               These empty rooms stare at my independence
                  with their chilling silence
               and my mind echos their stares
                  with the memories of the laughter
                     of those who loved me in these rooms.
               When all my freedom has mocked me
                  and my integrity proved pointless
                     against my pain.
               When wild, free, alone and hungry
                  fail the test of love and company
               will they love me still
                  my Rose and child?
                                    Gallagher
                                      28 Jan 71
                                      Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                          Understanding

         Profoundly, my lesson is absorbed…
           the consequence of my love for you is my life.
         chards of feathered crystal dreams spin
           after truth has voided them
              and reality is yield me in their destruction.

         The consequence of your regard for me is my happiness
           my pain more than equals my understanding.

                                    gallagher
                                    25 mar 71
                                    Long Beach, CA
                                    - the end of our 2nd separation

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                             Rose II
                  I find it in the reality of her
                  that when she looks on me
                  its a good place to be
                  and so I clove to her
                  that the me she saw
                  could be…
                                gallagher
                                 29 jan 72
                                 Long Beach - on mescaline

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                          The morning wind
            When the morning wind has come again
            to rattle my window pane
            and the morning fog to make
            the dream gray world the same
            the winter’s chain it holds me
            in a house overseeing dead grass
               I lay by my lady, spoons cupped
               my arm around her
               breathing the cleaness of her hair
               dreaming…
            Of naked highways
            thru razor mountains
            of my aching muscles
            and eyes that squint in salt
            dreaming…of lust for my other lady
            who will wait for me
            when the season’s turned.
               And I will go
               and stand above the tree line
               on some mountain’s flank
               to be where only high contrails
               mar 2 billion years of natural selection
               and remembering indian thoughts
               I’ll put my watch in my pocket.
            Two ladies love me in this life
            and I can give them neither all
            for while one lies enfolding me
            I hear the other’s call.
                                    gallagher
                                    23 feb 72
                                    Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                       The photograph album
            Looking at the photographs
              I could sense the number of times
            her eyes and hands had passed here
              on baby pictures and friends long gone.
            As if she had written them there,
              her feelings came to life in me
            and stopped my eyes
              on those moments of time…
            I wish she were here now to hold her
              and her dreams.
                              gallagher
                              7 jun 73
                              Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                          For Rose
         There’s a woman who loves me pure and clear
         and that’s fine
         though sometimes I don’t know why
         she’d want such a hassle as loving me,…
         Me, who wants to be free
         and sure and wise and strong…
         she loves that…the prideful stupid fool…
         and me, I’m just amazed at my grace
         to have such a woman.
         Ah, but love’s so simple,
         why, she’s been whispering it to me
         for years at night
         and I’m just now getting wise…
         going on to do it myself I was….
         and she was patient.
         Love is my gift
         and its fine.
                                 gallagher
                                 7 jul 73
                                 Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                          Denise
      ….Denise said that religion wasn’t important.
      She wasn’t sure if there was a God or not
      nor that it mattered save that she was a bit of ‘God’.
      “Living is creating yourself, loving life is learning
      to believe you can cope with all of it.”
      “Learning this until you get to the place
      where it doesn’t matter, learning this
      until you learn what non-sense is and dig it.”
      “The master plan, if such a thing could be so called,
      is that ultimately everything is without sense or reason
      and struggle represents the untogetherness
      of believing it otherwise….”
      I told her it must make sense
      cause it seemed to work for her
      and she laughed at me….
      I felt better, though.
                              Gallagher
                              4 Oct 73
                              LBSC

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                             Carla
         Carla, the direct experience girl,
         blew some of my fuses
         when I fell into her eyes…
               It was when…
               looking at her gave way to
               seeing into her which gave way to
               understanding her which became
               loving her which was the direct knowledge
               of experiencing more than
               I could cope with…
         It was then that smoke
         began to coil out of my ears
         that curiosity gave way
         to overload …. Zap!
                           Gallagher
                           12 Oct 73
                           LBSC

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                       Brother Unknown

         My brother Elmer is such an enigma;
         he says things which I’d call unreasonable
         for anyone else and I’m swayed.
         If its intelligence, its not my kind….

         If its leadership or charisma, its impressive.
         And if its my misconception, its durable.

         All in all I can’t think of anyone
         I’d rather drop acid with
         than my brother.

                           gallagher
                           13 October 1973
                           Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                  Ron’s week and Ron’s wedding

         There was an identity of the weekend
         which, like identity’s twirl,
         left me wondering at the conjunction
         of people and ideas.

         As if the fabric,
         which showing whole for the moment,
         must recede into time and vanish
         as all the parts.

                           gallagher
                           26 November 1973
                           on LSD

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                                Child
      To guide a child you must give him attention
      that fills the spaces inbetween his expression
      so that by the very form of your being
      you form the child you love.
                              gallagher
                              25 Dec 1974

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

            Sitting here hurting
              for her hurt and mine
            scared I’m wrong
              but not knowing
                anything better to do.

            This won’t keep me from getting old
              and it won’t change me
            from the dreamer I’ve been
              and it won’t make the TV real
            it won’t even feel good,
              Lord knows.

            I’d have never believed love
              such a cruel whip.

            Freddie said that God wouldn’t have
              given us minds capable of choice
            if the choices were not to be ours
              and we to put the pieces in place
            but somehow the result wasn’t
              the clear light I expected
            but just the same darkness
              all mine now….

            Attachment increasing is love
              attachment decreasing is pain.

                              gallagher
                              8 feb 75

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

         Think on makeup and poise … it makes the observer cautious
         because of its unspoken intention to control his perceptions.

         But it whips the wearer more deeply
         with that very same fear she sought to escape just then.

         For just when she’s accepted, …just then she cannot become real
         because of all the change might reveal.

                                       gallagher
                                       18 Feb 75

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

            Take this cup of love away
            I no longer think I’m able
            to partake of the feast of life
            while seated at love’s table

               Slow charades of the past
               we walk thru
               looking on the forms we’ve turned
               the surfaces of our lives

            These weeks and months
            wait on the seasons of our heart to turn
            tender touches and looks of loss
            the actors turning to dust

                                 gallagher
                                 26 feb 75
                                 Buena Park

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                     Its so hard to know
                       as I push love away
                          so many wait to hold her.

                     My pain and my jealousy
                       walk hand in hand
                          behind damp eyes.

                     And I think
                       she’ll be a treasure
                          to someone who needs her.

                     And I’ll remember it a thousand times
                       when I’m needing her
                          and she’s gone.

                     And then I’ll wait alone
                       for my need to pass
                          praying for my will to last.

                                    gallagher
                                    1 mar 75

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —