YOU ARE A RIVER IN MY ARMS

Mountains fall comes the rain
Night opens curls the wind
Won’t you dance with me
Moon the music climbs the scale
Your hair the leaves on the ground
You a river in my arms

Putting the Night to Bed

The loveliest tangle of them all
was your hair when you woke.
Do you remember the wolves,
the owls, the clanging metal
of the bed, you alive
in my arms, now a wave,
now a bird of prey, the moon
a wreck, all shattered light.

Moon Time

her gift her fire dying in my arms
her body rising until nothing
but the bloom of sighing
herself to sleep and flying

High Ridge

The mist on the mountains lifts
ghostly greens glimmer
a new day darkens the valley
far below, my fingers trace
the high ridge
that runs just above your eyes:
a sudden swoop of wind and wing

.

Such gentleness to your touch.
Is it wind? I dare not ask.

CARMEN NOCTURNUM

Out of night
comes the body
of the world,
leaf to branch,
comes the longing
in your eyes,
lonely and lovely
because it’s true.

RIVER NOTES

As I sit here writing
at my desk,
I am on the river.
The sounds of water,
bird, and wind
are my voice.

Luna puella,
there you are,
your body curving
and folding
in the current.

LEAF FALL

Follow the path
of a falling leaf,
the shortcut home
twixt sky and dream.
I’ll be waiting.

PRESENCE

I walk along the spinning
shore, the moon, a wheel
of a thousand nights.
We shared a dream
of another life,
you here with me
in the dying light.

ORANGES

He was determined this time,
as he sliced the oranges,
not to cut his fingers.
He would focus and keep them
away from the blade.
He remembered how before
his blood had flowed.
It wasn’t that he was getting old.
It was the lure of the trees.
She had been as nervous as he
and had closed her eyes.
Now all he could think of
was feeding her oranges
and the taste on her lips.
Suddenly, she had bitten him.
making him bleed.
But now, more softly,
she was feeding him.
She was delicious and he
…. he was lost in the trees.
He put the knife down and wept.

ALL IN SPADES

You’re a fool
to love me more
than the Prince
of Diamonds.

SEASCAPE

The moment she touched
the old man’s hand,
he lost his sight
and blindly stood,

yet standing there
upon the sand
he heard the light
play on the waves.

She sang
and let him go,
and like the wind
he sighed.

None knows
what song she sang
or how a man
became the sea.

.

Poetry is what
goes missing
when you wake
in the morning
and don’t hear
the silent singalong
of the one, still asleep,
who dreams of you.

.

There are two moons
when you’re gone.
I sleep a lot
and dream of spring,
the horses playing
in the field.

Autumn RaiN

This autumn rain comes
on me strange as you
and I lie beneath
the ledge, hold hands
and kiss and say goodbye.

When shall I see you again?
In winter when I am dead
or spring when you flower
or summer when you rise
with the waves upon the beach
and make love
to every passing eye?

No, it will be as today:
the raindrops drop
like leaves like tears
that hold our love
and all that’s lost.

I shall come
as surely as winter
and die a thousand deaths.

You too will come
and lie upon these
fallen leaves
and give me up

again.

You shall come
as you always do
dressed in pearls
and make it rain.

.

Though he is lost in time,
she will not permit the truth be spoken
until she has shaped his soul.
She turns his face to the wind.

Phaiakia

Digging in the garden
I find but earthly treasure:
worms, beetles, and ocean shells
and a blackened shard to cast away
where now stands a graceful palm
and a girl, spellbound by a stranger’s words.
She lingers there by a stream
and hears the wind in his song
and knows she’s free,
her mind as wild as the sea.
He too, far from home.

KEEPING TIME

We met in the play
of wind and wave,
our names inscribed
in the shifting sand.

We sang the blues
of sky and flame
on that shore
lost to time,

every sigh turned
to prayer,
keeping safe
that passing hour.

Dark like the earth,
adored, her eyes falling
here and there
summer rain

CALIBAN LEARNS TO SING

“O you who do not love
the night, the darkness
flowers and brings delight.
Hear my song! I sing for you.”

Miranda blushes like a rose.

LAMPOS AND PHAETHON

She rose early morning,
looking east,
and spoke the words
that stayed the horses
of the Dawn.
They stamped their feet,
but she needed time
to saddle up
and run with them.