Hang Fire

Waited for you by the gate
To heaven,
Under the aging sugar maple
Old and wrapped around herself,
With knots from years
Of growth and rebirth.

Waited for you.
Fire in the bowl
Fire in the heart
As the cold night crept in.
Souls can wait forever
But the body is only here
For so long.

The apple blossoms, the lilacs
Demonstrate that beautiful things
Can wilt and the petals drop
Like snow that turns brown
With death and blows away with
The slightest gust;
But if given time and patience
They bloom again with more
Beauty and fragrance than before.

And the bed under blossoms and stars,
The fire in the bowl
The fire in the heart
Still wait beyond the gate
For your return.

To Sweetness, Wherever You May Lie

The lights were out in the city.
You came to me, like a dream,
In through the darkness.

Here we sat in stillness and silence.
My lanterns burned, pulsing,
Like my heart.

I remembered when we walked through the woods
And you kissed my collarbone in the sun.

It was only October.
I wondered how I could make it through the winter’s grip
With such a desire to kiss your face
In the green grass?
How would I kiss you only in the cold,
No longer in a hammock under a blossoming tree?

There are times where I worry about your beautiful mind
And the ties that bind you,
Though you are a miracle.

In the darkness I could feel your fears
As If they were my own.
As If I were born with them.
How I wished I could ease them.

-And I still do.
One of these days, I always said.
And one of these days I will.