"Dreams and geishas" 8x11 Pen and inks from the sketchbook of Terrence L Cope.

"Blue girl in New Orleans 2010" ; 8x10 pen, ink and pastel from the sketchbook.

Into my city's sleep

Day! Light casting shadow

A passerby walks discreet

This ancient road, this cobbled street

Standing water reflects the sky

It's stories rise above my head

Wicked things are not denied

As this city lays me down to bed

Cold and dark our life begins
A journey starts, a journey ends
Armies of the countless souls
Flash and wither like dust in fire
Ever so bright this Meteorite
Dies to give this darkness light
As soon as it was, it is no more
For few will touch these golden shores
So burn bright this glorious night
Together we light up the skies
With all the souls that are around
And all the fires that do abound
We form the sun, a star that shines
For it is our time...........It is our time

The lights are low and I can see the mirror ball dance in your eyes. There was not a thought in our heads to leave the dance floor yet. There was not a notion to let go of one another. It had taken a long journey of life's responsibilities, broken dreams and dead ends to get to the point where we are now. We were at last happy and in each others arms. On the dance floor, under the soft lights is where we wanted to be. Everyone had gone to their seats but we stayed and kissed for the world to see our love. We kissed and the band started playing .....

We stumble and fall past a once distant future

  Resigning to live out the rest of our days

Wrapped in thoughts, lost dreams we created

  Cold, naked, we shiver in the beds that we made

Blue-violet shadows a thin dust of snow

  Reflects in the din, the demise of the fall

Captured in ice that hangs on the branches

  Birds have long flown with the chilling winds call

And the water runs clear in this light of the dusk

  Washing our souls of the sins from within

A focus that shifts, my mind off and wanders

  With setting suns dancing like balls on the ocean

Its soft dying light paints this storm driven sea

  Surfing the swells as she slips ‘neath the white foam

A ghost wind cries openly … mourns to be free

  Footprints are wiped from the sand in its passing

For I must bear witness of God’s greatest gifts

 To stand alone in attendance, but not for the asking

As most of my life was this struggle within

  Yet I notice the beauty that’s always around me

That is frozen and barren by the cold cleansing rain

  And down the sidewalks and into the gutter

My crimson blood flows deep, dark and divine

  A cross bears my name, available in colors, assorted

I choose one that matches the sound of my dying

  I choose the sad song of the lone gull, high o’er the water,

No sight of the land, just the dark angry sea

  The winter winds tatter its wings seeking shelter

The ice tears its skin, shredded and boned

  As the car turns the corner a mile from its home

Wipers they strain to stay in the headlights

  There’s nothing on TV …… and I’m home all alone.

Dreaming in ghosts, gray days and echoes

Trees on the hill are the first ones to fall

Lowly leafs dangle, cling in defiance

Doomed to the ground around the stone wall

Crisp is the sting of a sun cold and frozen

Bundled, I shudder and shrink in its bite

Walking alone, I wonder how you are

I strain for a vision in the cold winter light

Seeing my voice as I say your name slowly

See every breath of the last words you said

Things that you say are kept in my pocket

While pictures of you are played in my head

Passing in shadows, this haunting of twilight

My collar is turned towards the bone chilling air

Alone with my thoughts and the sounds of my passing

Holding tight to a love of someone so rare

These skies are all empty, the birds have abandoned

The grass and this city sleep 'neath the frost

Streetlights are wrapped in a halo of cold rain

And I remain vigil on this long winter's walk.

In my darkest hour

No light to reach my eyes

Tempests rage outside these walls

And nowhere can I hide

Worlds they slip beneath the sea

Dreams that die when worlds collide

Future's nothing but whispered words

Lost adrift on moon swept tides

Yet, just when comes the blackest black

 When sounds of life all subside

The love of you comes to be

And lights a pathway deep inside

For you, my soul, my everything

A silent candles flickered light

This lighthouse in a raging sea

A breath of life within a fight

Peace, she’s flowing back to me

The morning’s hope appears in sight

I set my course to see your glow

You rise the day .... deny the night

Sometimes

I feel so lost

Hopeless, sad

Things I want today

Things I love

Are so far away

Things, pretty things

Once made me happy

Are now tarnished

A band of gold

Pawned and sold

Inside the clutter

For without your love

There is no water

And these seeds

Planted and tilled

Die in the dust

Things needed to survive

This late in life

Are killing me slowly

For without you I die

I struggle against straps

I gnaw and I cry

And stare at the sky

I cannot see you

Such dim light

This dark of despair

For it's you I breathe

My future found

At the movies end

As I close my eyes

Late night

Can’t sleep

Nothing new

Same as the last

Silent, Quiet

My mind races

Better times

Maybe tomorrow

Maybe

She lies hidden

In tall grass

Great sienna oceans

Sway in the breeze

The lioness

Stalks in shadows

She sees my passion

Her hair catches the wind

Ivory Black,

Burnt like bone 

Dark as coal

Her body is Smooth

Like skin

Hot, wet and white

Against the night

Warm Savannah rains,

Lightning in distant thunder

Purple mists clings to twilight

Obscuring our presence

Hiding our intent

Carving our souls,

With a killer’s touch

 Claiming us free and innocent  

For we are Wild,

Like the clouds that rage

Inside a painter’s brush

Or an artist’s palette

Collecting the night 

With all its splendor

Random strokes

Laid out as a tapestry

For all to see

For all to fear

Yes, we see you

We see in the dark

We have your scent

We smell your blood

And together we hunt,

And together we kill

And together we feed

This heart of the lion.

Magic was the city

Olden in it's charm

The moon strools

  It's Alleys and court yards

As Achellis sleeps nearby

And you

Never more beautiful

Etched in a moment

Stunning

In the velvety night

Became a fantasy

Ever so Sweet

Like chocolate

Dipped in honey

Touched to your lips

No ! more like a dream

To which

I never wish to wake

Still

We hold one another

ever so tight

Afraid to let go 

Time, ticking 

sweeping us away

Swirling,

Mystical,

A perfect day

White horsed carraiges 

echos the ancient streets

with a million stories

dark and deep

Of love and romance

holding us prisoner

adding us to the conquered 

with just the flip of the tarrot

Your heart became mine

And my soul, yours

Yes, atop the hill

Overlooking the square

We heard the song

Of young lovers

In the church

Soon to be wed

We were children again, 

In love, again

For the first time, again

We could hear the sounds

We could hear the city breathe, 

We could feel the Music,

Bluesy

Wild

and Seductive

Dust rises in the moon light

Shining through the boards

And cracks in the wall

Oil lamps flicker

From my master's house

Strange is this light

That floats o’er the fields

The cotton is stilled

In the deep air of August

Reflection on moist skin

Warm, black as night

Smooth and alive

I watch as it rises

With each passing breath

I’m sensing your youth
For older was I,

A slave to another

Son of a warrior

African decent

Sweat soaked and naked

Louisiana plantation

Sounds of the South

Prayer speak, voodoo
Softly spoken incantations
Night sounds 

Strange cicada
Gator and cotton mouth
Hum of mosquitoes 

Roll of the gar

Blind is the old man

Who rattles his bones

Under oaks draped in moss

Near the dark bayou waters

They bred us as cattle

They used us for barter

Yet you were so gentle

You stuck in my mind

Bearing my child

They dragged you away

Oft'times I've wondered

Where you may have gone to

But I died a year later

In the first part of May

We'd known one another
And old were our souls

Young were our bodies

All shackled and chained
Yet time keeps moving

It's funny how it happen
I'm driving my car

Stopped for no reason 
Just for one moment

Then suddenly I saw you

Turning you smiled

For having remembered

That life long ago 
In a time far away

"Study in red - No17" 8x10 Pen and Ink on Fabriano

by Terrence L Cope "Click for larger image"

Last night ,
I lie awake, dreaming,
Of live's past, you and I.
You had looked into my eyes,
And knew who I was,
On that bench, you remembered,
A long time ago.
Stopping, you sat beside me,
We had known one another,
We may have been lovers,
In live's long ago.
Like Cairo, before the pyramids,
We sat in the tall grass,
We stared at the sky,
We gazed at constellations,
I named a star after you,
Remember?
The one in the heart of the Lion?

"Untitled Oct 3, 2010" 8x10 Pencil and Ink on Paper

by Terrence L Cope

Her eyes
Dark as the ocean
Deep as my soul
Distance
Melting
As wax to flame
Time Crawls
As it races eternity
In her eyes
I stare at the light
Hang on each moment
Each sound
Each word
Feable in attempt
I place in brush
I recant in words
My love.