"Nude - white and reds" January 2010 Graphite, Ink and Acrylic by TL Cope.

"Second Light"   20x24 Acrylic Painting by TL Cope. Click for larger image

The sand always shifts on the East Coast
Outside looks good here, the paddle out looks rough
Yeah! Let's try here ..... do you have any wax?

Impressions locked in colors residing in a moment

I open up my palette to  paint a pretty picture

To tell you how I see you in a very special way

Lost in crayon colors no one will ever know

I’ve built this shrine, this temple; you’re how my garden grows.   

Standing in awe of what lay before,

Staring thru cloudless skies and the infinite,

I, So small once measured?
What size am I once pass this horizon?
Do I exist at the edge of the universe?

Thrown across the wind like a storm,

Measured like dust on a breeze,

Tattered like the flag abandoned,

Lost like the rain in the sea.

Mine eyes have seen the poetry,

Of a moment that ne’er returned,

Wonder upon wonders in a swatch,

To be played out countless times,

In distant lands, stars and galaxies,

Witnessed and not by someone or thing,

Through many thoughts and dreams,
Trapped alone, in flesh and bone
My mind sets out to play,

Growing lost and insignificant,

In the calling of this day.

Bathed in white light, I could barely trace the outline

There you stood, pristine, motionless and eternal

I walk up to you with that look, happy, confused, scared

A million scenerios, like the stars in the sky, flash before me

The white halo of the streetlamp, the cold grey of wet concrete

The hollow sounds of the city at night

I take your hand, to perceive a smile, some sign of approval.....

"Girl in white shirt" 2010 16x20 Acrylic on canvas by Terrence L Cope

I have a favorite spot

It's where I put my favorite box

And inside this favorite box

Are all my favorite things

A favorite stub from long ago

Of my favorite picture show

A ticket to a baseball game

Marble, coin, some metal chain

Matchbook cover, a sketch I drew

This photo from a day with you

"Untitle sketch" 2010 8.5x11 Pen and ink from my sketches during New Orleans visit

In the thin grey light of morning
Twelve roses lie down red and dying
Dampened by the drops of rain
That tap against my window pane
A killers soul that burns with fire
This dawn holds on to love's desire
A Street lamp glows, it's time grows short
While day awaits this night's retort
In the blanket fog and satin sheets
A clock breaks up the silent sleep
It ticks onto the beating heart
That watches from the distant chair
I disturb you from your deepest sleep
Make love to you soft and slow
For soon I must take my leave
For soon it is my time to go

"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