ransom for a kiss ~

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

Tags

destiny, family, forgiveness, grace, gravel roads, life, love, memory, passion, postmark, reason, relationship, restless, southern, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wandering, writing

poppies grew
one august –
flush against the barn
and someone said
they saw a man
asleep out on the lawn

were whispers
from the kitchen –
tho no one held the proof
of where the stories
started –
while searching
for the truth

a busted fence
and thirty head
of cattle – more or less
babies crying
somewhere now –
for longing unconfessed

separate beds
and darkened rooms
places kept apart –
ten thousand miles
and eighteen steps
worn between their hearts

how many sorrows
offered
as ransom for a kiss
touch reserved for evermore
was never meant
for this

a slight of girl
to question –
how to know
when love was real –
would wonder
just how long the wait
for broken hearts
to heal

…

til I say ~

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

bliss, breath, connection, death, faith, fearless, forgiveness, grace, gravel roads, life, love, old maps, passion, reason, restless, spirit, strength, truth, wandering, wisdom, woman, writing

they warned me once
of dying –
before my time was come
of children
without mothers –
polished stone

of storms
were passed
before my birth –
carved into my canyons
a story
not yet over
til I say

tis luxury
in heartache –
precious scars
worth bleeding for –
a blessing come
for writing
in the dark

I’ve buried want
for reason –
broke the bed
and cut my hair –
gave favor
to the love
that had no home

pages bending over
lest I read them more
and more –
forsaken by
their meaning
to pretend

summer sweat
and winter rye –
some may say they knew
of vows I took
repenting –
for lifetimes passed
too soon

they warned me once
of dying –

. . .

between ~

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cherokee, connection, faith, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, love, nature, old maps, reason, relationship, restless, self, spirit, spirituality, truth, wandering, wisdom, wonder

when I was ten
the stars were my friends
and grapevine grew wild
to pass me between –
places of longing
and wonders unseen
by the eyes
of surrender –
a ways
down the road

nights
unforgotten
the dreamer I was –
left out the door
without thought for goodbye
or reminders
of home
I’d come needing
to find –
paths cleared away
by the wind

was destiny
left in a note by the gate
or carved to a tangle
of wood –
how quiet the house
a lone empty bed –
and chill burned away
by a wanting
left go

might they wonder
how far
I’d been taken away –
or wait me a season of still
unnoticed retreat
to a life just begun –
my wing’ed old soul
forgetting again
to wander the way back
to less

. . .

something unsaid ~

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

awakened, becoming, connection, conscious consciousness, dreams, faith, fearless, grace, knowledge, life, love, memory, old maps, passion, reason, restless, spirit, spirituality, truth, understanding, wandering, wisdom

breathe
and for a moment
eternities still
the first
the last
forever I am held
within something unsaid –
garnered a kiss long ago
falling as voice
into praise

fleeting
reminders
of places behind
will became stars
on the way
familiar longing
as hands fit to hands –
beat to beat
to heart
living done over
forgotten the sin
lips move
with nothing to say

dream
as permission
to harness the mind
curs’ed sleep
takes us home
cedar boats
to carry –
evenings rush the tide
finds a morning
waiting
to atone

. . .

glimmer ~

26 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

beauty, bliss, cherokee, connection, destiny, fearless, grace, knowing, knowledge, life, love, nature, old maps, passion, postmark, reason, soul signature, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, understanding, universal, wandering, wisdom, wonder

were e’er the truth
be hiding –
as a speck against the night
as blue beneath
the april lizard’s tongue
as echoes burned
to dying song –
crickets born to cry
forgotten to the living
everything

were stories ours
for writing –
the ending still unseen
revealed in lacey shadows
down the hall –
or grown beyond
the reach of roots
warm beneath the clay –
clutched within the hands
of everything

were reason
ours to master –
seasons ours to sail
worlds beyond the red
that is our flame
of life and love
resounding –
crushes now the sigh
rolled onto the back
of everything

were moments
but a glimmer –
sand between our toes
dimestore glue
and glitter
make a crown
light to torch the fabric
wherein our love
is one –

come to see
(come to be) the truth
in everything

. . .

unlearned ~

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

becoming, bliss, connection, destiny, dreams, fearless, forgiveness, grace, life, love, moments, passion, reason, restless, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, wandering, wisdom, woman

yes the only
answer –
were questions sure to fall
three feet high
and tearing at my knees

seems the years
grown bolder –
an eager course for fate –
tho not so much
my own
bereavement come

another
kind of wisdom –
sweetest lessons
born of pain
which is right
was never meant
and there we learn
again

carved into
our yesterdays –
tomorrow stands the door
when swore us
to forgetting
every dream we held
before

wherever love
is written
was for a while we fell behind –
dared our heart conceive
of kingdoms come

misty shades
of living passed
ages into ache
the night is gone
in search of ancient light

another time –
were only this
to lay your head upon

. . .

secrets ne’er forsaken ~

25 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in folklore, Poetry

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

becoming, cherokee, connection, destiny, fearless, grace, knowledge, life, love, nature, passion, reason, soul signature, spirit, strength, truth, understanding, wandering

willing
bends the willow tree
held by lace (and feather)
secrets ne’er forsaken
by the wind

canopies adorned by light
stretched to catch
the heavens –
her firmament
entrusted (to his love)

redbirds
string the sunrise
in slashes yellow golden
played us all (the fiddle)
by the fire

was once I there
(remember)
the warmest overwhelming
caught between forever –
were skies
I never knew

. . .

stay ~

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

bliss, destiny, dreams, grace, gravel roads, kentucky, life, love, moments, old maps, passion, postmark, reason, restless, soul signature, spirit, strength, wandering

stay the winter
share my bed –
to linger past the memory
of snowy blankets
melting all around
tempt me not
the taking leave –
stay to greet the spring
choose me
but for longing
unconfessed

stay the time
of silent speaking
dusted smiles
and rhyme –
hours without thought
to say a thing
solitaire and I don’t care
where tomorrow goes
an abandoned well
will stories tell
the same

stay the right
for wronging –
let the candles burn
lean into the marrow
of surprise
smoke rings
rise familiar
as storm clouds from the east
lightning strikes
reflection to your eyes

stay the want
for wilderness –
the forest of my fears
has pushed beyond
the borders of my breath
stay the will
for one more day
pull the blankets ‘round
listen as december
melts away

. . .

halls of light ~

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry, Storytelling

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

cherokee, destiny, dreams, fearless, grace, gravel roads, life, living, love, memory, old maps, passion, reason, restless, soul signature, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, understanding, wisdom, writing

spirit lift
as flight betrayed
cool this brow of longing –
raise the window
let the wonder in

of words
my only console
was to find it written
here –
a cause for strength
in memories of light

angels
gather after dark –
to rest above the rafters
silence sings
the sweetest song
I know

lovers wait
eternities
for one more living come –
passed between
our reasons to conceive

blessings
one –
the rest shall let
another breath surrendered
as standing close beneath –
the waters rise

rushing waves
of falling leaves –
wing’eds on the chimney
– sounds to me
the same
within these halls
of light

. . .

less afraid ~

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by tornadoday in Poetry

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

becoming, bliss, death, dreams, fearless, grace, life, love, memory, old maps, postmark, reason, restless, spirit, spirituality, strength, truth, understanding, wandering

last night
forever dreamed
and I awoke
to ancient fields
less afraid
of dying yet to know
rehearsing lines –
traced me back
the way I meant to go
sewn into my pocket
by ascent

blackbirds
thick
were circling
graces into light
home the heart to roost
amid the flame
long the time
for moving on –
shadows dancing still –
remembering
a bluer smoke
by name

morning brings
another cup
evidence of falling –
from places
not so far
as nothing changed
sleepy eyes
alert for signs
in every leaf – a lesson
left beneath
my window
another dream
awakes

. . .