Sometimes I think of the man

Who fell from the skies

And hit the pavement

Before my young eyes

Like a bag of wet cement;

A last selfish act of permanence

Seeking eternity in my mind

Like some tunneling worm;

And it used to make me angry

And I would curse him.

Now I’m simply sad in wonder

At the pain that drove him

Over the railing to oblivion

There is an oasis

Sitting next to me

Lush, bright and full of life

Like salvation in the desert

Whose waters run deep

To the cold and cleansing earth

What a sight to behold

From the withering sun

Where I hold court with scorpions

Dancing in the heat

There is the winded waters

Stretched out in waves

To flat ribbon of shoreline

Meeting pine green strip,

A jagged evergreen wall

That reaches towards the sky,

That covering pale blue dome

Spotted with white cotton

Backlit by a slanting southern sun

And we… we are witness to it all

As loon swims indifferent past

Belonging in a way we cannot

I hear laughter,

It rises above the waves

As song and new made memory;

There is family just existing

In the pleasure of one another

Floating peaceful on the lake

Sometimes silent, sometimes raucus

Bound in mutual bonds of blood

Making it a privilege to join in

Held by ties of “You are mine”

And “I am yours” alongside

“We are together in mutual breath”

In and out, in and out,  in and out

Keeping pace with the water

As ceaseless, it laps the rocks

A rhythmic song of belonging,

Such a pleasure to watch

Who can speak of an end

Or such a thing as ends

For such moments come

And eradicate all that was

As if it never had been;

An end is obliteration,

It is entropy tearing apart memory

Shredding life into primordial bits

Out of which new pain can be woven

Again and again and again –

Forever.

There was you

Lounging on the cedar

And daisies strewn

Lying in the dappled sun

Along the trail floor

While the waterfall roared

Along with my heart

And the day bled into perfect

Quiet and hidden

Like sunlight rising

Through mist

It clings like tears

With sad sound of cicadas

Reminding us of the love felt on

Day one…

The old men say

To steal a heart

Is to invite death,

One should never

Call the black guest

Willingly to themselves,

It will corode all

Leaving only dust

And empty darkness

The sun and the moon

Once roamed the night sky

Together, together together

Bathed in silver and gold

But the sun yearned for day

While the moon slept

And went forth

Forever without rest

Lost in the bright new

Drifting, drifting, drifting away

Choose, said the moon

You must choose night or day

But not both,  both,  both

Or the earth will be scorched

In your endless heat

Choose, choose, choose

The lawn is cut –

It’s green with grass and clover

Silent in the dappled shade

A small collective of life made

Smelling of brightness

Smelling of summer afternoons

And I am reminded of the beauty

That has come my way

I am reminded of the ones

Who are who they are

Because of me and I because of them

Forever entwined in thought

A breeze blows through the blades

Soft now beneath the song of oak leaves

Stirring my dead heart to a fresh hope