Tag Archives: self

candlesigh ~

11 Friday May 2012

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days til then
and thought we’d made it
when fate caught us asleep
pitching tents
and chasing wings (of flame)
never thought to think
I’d trade forever –
just to hold your hand
in the light before the nightbird gave
a story worth the telling
babies came –
and winter wore our names

while there the golden
wheat we gathered
burned the forest down
I wonder –
now I wander back
and there’s nothing here
but home

mason jars
and homemade whiskey
pewter dim and silver barns
rust beneath the want for something
straw the pale of evening sun
Kentucky blue
begun – to close my eyes
succumb to wishes
give them all another chance (to fly)
let me love
in fields of clover –
let me die in fields of flight

give to verse
this dreamer (dreaming)
poem writ of moving on
seas returned – the lowly sailor –
backward here into the dawn

was set adrift
on oars of maple
pinned aloft the noble bride
set a course for warmer waters
but kept a place (for me) aside
written here – a tattooed letter
button birds and woodsong shame
lacey lace
in cardboard boxes
sheets to never fit the same

proof of heaven
a moment glistens –
forever waits the night (I hold)
touch the locket
and claim the promise –
cools the skin
that hides the soul

star gazing ~

11 Friday May 2012

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often at night
I stand in the drive
and look at the world anew –
watch as the life
of a star
flickers out
reflecting on moments
with you

the sound of your voice
alive on the wire
the joy that rests in your smile
echoes of moments
shared with a friend –
allow me to breathe
for a while

returning myself
to the places I keep
light from the night burns within
touches my life
with cool winter truth –
waiting to know you
again

swords to the sky ~

10 Thursday May 2012

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held I once
this earth to my longing
this child of tomorrow
with knowledge I fed
knowing not of how soon
another would come
to wait at the hand
that was God’s

but only for this
my place in the plan
my sight –
(tho once blinded) to see
the worth in unworthy
silver to shining
the way to becoming –
at last to make sense

fingers and ferns
limbs to the forest
arising as swords to the sky –
ten thousand hearts
remember one beating
forever returning
to remind us of her

blankets of wonder
are stilled
by the midnight
hands search in darkness
the secrets of light –
someone is waiting
in gardens of turmoil
dares not to sleep
lest a prayer go unheard

compassion gives birth
at the feet of forgiveness
while goldenrods wave
in parade of the saints

innocence for trading ~

09 Wednesday May 2012

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before the proof
was come to be
our faith was in forever
gave our glory to the heavens
our longing to the lake
spoke in tongues
yet never knew
the language that would save us
whispered from the depths within
as love we pushed away

quiet as a choir rests –
innocence for trading
the river for a seat beside the shore
lovers moved in perfect time
but swore the night was different
forgotten now (a time for sleep)
the dreamers couldn’t rest

prophets came
and placed the blame
on politics and passion
believers lined the eager banks
and fought the urge to curse –
thought became so tangled
we scarce could find the meaning
carved into the cedars
every evidence of word

as birch to dry
and songs where men
had never learned to listen –
sparrows stood atop the violin
and gave to these
(the worst of those)
lessons in surrender
gypsies rode an ancient flame
to resurrect the sun

beetles marched
beneath the blade
with katydid and weevil
bespoke of war
(and rumors of)
dignity and truth –
soldiers slain with harsh disdain
of what (it doesn’t matter)
reminders of forgiveness
fell in colors –
warm and green

then burned to ash
the testament –
was never ours to utter
oceans rose as rivers raced
backward to begin –
sworn to grace
each warm embrace –
would lend us back
to love

cycles of wheat ~

07 Monday May 2012

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how sad it must be
for the fields ~ for the trees
when the buds and the babies
have gone
when the chill takes a bride
to the long winter night
and lies in the places
we loved

as memory caught
in briar and sage
clover as mid-summer heat
twinkling lights were weaved into braid
vows are crossed over –
(our fortunes to meet)
a lifetime or two
and not so apart
the swallow would nurse with the bear
the willow unfolds her branches of gold
while wishes make nest
in her hair

another year falls
as seasons to pass –
a way of life drifting away
tho once we were here –
so amazing (I know)

and now
there are none to replace
the nature of oak
to remember my hands
the bark grows much darker
these days
rings become rings
as history saves
stories from Luna to limb

a photograph here
the scene soon forgotten –
my memory the same
(it must be)
life rearranged to the cycles of wheat

a picture
of a picture
of me

eager page ~

05 Saturday May 2012

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doubt me not a moment
when the page is turned at last ~
when chalk is mute
against an empty slate ~
when ink is spilled
as longing ~
might I then erase the truth
was given me
and I returned to you
as slanted verse and broken rhyme
tales denied the telling
literature I knew (before you came)
chisel me with tenderness
before the end is done
else stories I have told
be all I was

to hold you now ~

04 Friday May 2012

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of might you were
and I – a pittance –
a cast of shade
no plans to keep
passions blooming through the winter –
icy petals melt to sleet
upon the heels
of sad reflection –
slipped into the past
somehow –
to resurrect the sweet reminder
that I was come
to hold you now –

desire to press
your soul to garner –
words so easy
ink too dark
nights grown long
with every telling
coals to cool
the seeker’s mark –
of recognition
I’m returning – as you were mine
some other day
passed as blue into the river –
eased surrenders
into grey
and caught my tears
were loosed too early –
truth denied one last refrain
you were might
and I – a pittance –
there lies the wound
beneath the stain –

touch and go –
yet stay a moment
hide with me beneath the stairs
take my dreams
and let them keep you –
safe from life – my love to wear
of tattered coat –
and velvet trousers –
locket strung – a lover’s chord
rests against the drum
long silent –
forever passed
without a word

meant for more ~

03 Thursday May 2012

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the last we were
a stain of glass
patchwork prisms overhead
songbirds swimming through the wood –
boughs to cedar blankets spread
as burst to breath of early bloom
red and yellow
blue and bright –
I held you close
before the sun –
touch made softer by the light

how it was (I never knew
for certain) you were meant for more
than destiny
I’d found myself
in places come as love before
I was new (as you were old)
sixteen rings around the tree
lacey edges fit just so
to guard our paradise of dreams

might I
to fate –
as then (was now)
recall the magic of your name
when spoke aloud
into the night –
would bring me back
the way we came

the last we were
a stain of glass
patchwork prisms overhead

inheritance ~

30 Monday Apr 2012

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for sure
I’ve been around a bit
not much I haven’t seen
I’ve watched as rivers
rolled to flood –
and crushed the land between
I’ve seen them pass
and heard them speak –
there’s sorrow here for sale
peaches sold by basket –
and berries by the pail

my favorite jeans
are twelve years old –
my softest scarf – eighteen
there’s perfume on my dresser
– older still than me
a passion
that my granny cursed
wrung her hands to old
a walking stick
my grandpa carved –
permission to let go

there’s a coffee cup
I value most
the color of the sea –
was cracked the day that I was born
and saved at once for me

of satin sheets I never use –
and cotton ones worn through
dried to sun
beneath the lines
no other place would do
for sharing lives
and speaking minds –
curs-ed fate of men
spoke of pies
and nursery rhyme
til twilight fell again

long nights
on a crooked porch
tunes I know by heart
fingers press the strings
that were his voice

just beyond
the front gate –
there’s music I can hear
something moves
forever knew
a welcome waited here
to greet the past – to hold the cup
was raised another day
I say the same
I love you –
each time I kneel
to pray

on ailing floors
a crystal glass –
and none of this is mine
inheritance of loving
moves silent
through the pines

still when I was leaving ~

29 Sunday Apr 2012

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eternity
(it seemed to me)
was just beyond the doorway
and spoke not in a language
I could hear
sang while I was silent
still when I was leaving
sweet caress remembered now
for reasons I forgot

I couldn’t move for moving
wouldn’t tell another lie
no matter to the plans
I’d put away ~
truth was more than looking
in a mirror at tomorrow
more than seeking purpose
in a deck of gypsy cards
spread between
the dusty wood ~ a lampshade
made of fortunes

voices pull to everything
choice I didn’t know
turning toward eternity
a door beyond the door
fate ~ once more to question
but I can’t hear
a thing