velvet leaves ~

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I’ve been warned
there is a dreamer
rests beneath my collar bone
spends the night
curled beneath me –
a fiery furnace made of stone
sometimes words can resurrect us
from all we loved
all we know –
of the joys recalled in living
hand to heart
soul to soul

in the leaves
I hear the ocean
silent strumming on the shore
as I walk the beach at sunrise
I feel the trees like ne’er before
one remains
and one remembers
where is home
and what I keep
of the blessings that surround me
broken seashells
velvet leaves

. . .

a place to return ~

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evening wears heavy
a hole in my heart –
the lights have all blown away
nights once so dear
have relinquished their hold
as wishes fell stars
into flame

given forever
where might I land –
held to this love
so long
letting go
memories soften
as moonlight on skin –
born of a touch
now etched to my soul

a coming together
for breaking in pieces
returning as life once again –
was love ever offered
a place to return
when tied to the memory
of where we began

. . .

familiar sunrise ~

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what share would I give
of a life fully lived
another life to recall
arms reaching out
from the shadows –
words cut short
by the fall

a house settled back
on the edge of a wood
smoke in the air
in my eyes
steps from my watch
at the window –
dawns a familiar
sunrise

would e’er creation
remember me whole
to places I loved long ago
memories tease
at the edge of my reaching
of something
I already know

Author’s Note: Of those who know me well, a few know me better. They know of the house that has been a part of my dreams since I was a child. As of late, they come less frequent (I have a theory on that) but still. I’ve never been there, and yet I know it, and could find it if chance put me within a mile or two. I know the steps from the porch to the fence, the soft old rose print of wallpaper in the smallest bedroom, the way the wind howls through the trees at night. A dear friend who I shared my stories with once commented that she and I should take a trip in search of ‘the house’. “I’m sure it’s near here, and we could find out who actually lives there.” I froze. She didn’t understand at all. “I live there.”

In another life. I am in the kitchen as morning climbs the steps.  I dance beneath a faded bulb, and worry not for sleepless nights in which I am lost (I am found).  I love.

But in this life, in those moments that reach my soul, I pause. I place my hand against a window, upon someone’s heart. I close my eyes (a snapshot) and whisper “remember this”. ❤

. . .

days beyond ~

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between
the planting
and the bud –
how much more have we made room
how many sleepless nights
the harvest pulls
a prayer for something grander
than e’er we dared believe
orchards stretched beyond
the wishful eye

another day
when someone else
who never knew to know our name
bends beneath the weight
of fullness come

a poet holds the stillness
day before the dawn
scratching at a page
that can’t be seen –
set on some imaginary soul
in search of word
ten thousand years
another heart
to mend

whatever we have left
of days we numbered soon
of dreams denied the dreamer
a sliver of the moon
time becomes the shape
of everything we once believed
the sound of words
as falling fruit –
apples to the ground

. . .

memory of soul ~

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do you remember your first
brave walk on the shore
– the rush of a wave
rolling thru

do you remember the sound
of a dove soaring high
– racing the breeze
on a shimmer of blue

do you remember the day
the returning of love
– a lifetime or more
to begin

do you remember the want
a passion to know
– how fleeting the hours
since then

do you remember my name
the taste on your tongue –
a story forsaken
by time

do you remember the way
I willed you to come
do you remember
the ways
you were mine

. . .

sometimes ~

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I’ve made peace
with where you are
(another part of me)
can’t see your sun
from where I sleep at night
can’t listen
as you tell me
what of this is everything
where the story ends
and who you love

from every dream
another came
(tho none to take your place)
some nights I walk for miles
before I see
a star I know is glowing
just as brightly where you are
sometimes I weep
sometimes I laugh
sometimes I hit my knees

I wonder
(as you know I do)
to fill a busy space
do your eyes still hold
the colors of the moon
are there wrinkles
where your smile became
a place I loved
to kiss
would your arms
still reach around
eternity

. . .

captive to his dreams ~

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she takes her poison
after tea –
before her evening shows
she spins around
the kitchen
and wonders
if he knows

how much of her
remains with him
despite the miles between
how much of her
is captive
to his dreams

once she starred
in color
almost every night
he whispered
while the coffee brewed
for he loved to see her smile

she knows the way
she counts the ways –
every stone by heart
as steps beyond the barn
into the dark

naked feet on hardwood
face against the door –
staring down the darkness
with faith in something more

how much of life is taken
by the breath
that bears us home
a name that tastes the same
is ours alone

. . .

beyond my last goodbye ~

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when I’ve forgotten
how to love –
give me strength to die
to tarry not beyond
my last goodbye

til words have left me empty
and all my blues are dried
turn the page
don’t wait for me
the night

when ashes float
eternal
atop a boundless sea –
will heaven take your heart
in search of me

let my grace be barter
with want for one
more day –
with love the only reason
left to stay

when I’ve forgotten how to love
give me strength to die

. . .

witness my heart ~

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take of these lines
the story of me –
some I won’t tell to a stranger
break every rhyme
on the sharp edge of truth –
as witness am I
to the way love can take
so much longer

give me this day
the first time again –
every moment
a lifetime I waited to know
as breath unto silence
a blush in the night
when you swore you would stay
as I waited
you home

witness my heart
and I will remember –
the way that love feels
your hand reaching mine
when words I’ve been holding
ring through your shadows –
light as a sigh
let loose on the night

. . .