The Loss Ladder

The ladder is lost in the slow creep of vines

laced to the seasons with rain keeping time

forward the laying of names and their place

enhanced with engravings that memory has traced

 

 

Reminders drift down from the trees each new year

delighted the waiting is no longer for tears

change turns the leaves of October to blazing

and the sadness of mauve has fallen out of my daydreams

 

 

I remember the feel of the brush in my hand

down her tangle of curls in the dampness of morn

still the length of her smile in my dreams after midnight

can still open the time of that long ago storm

 

 

Now smoke and ashes dig into the hillside

and fasten the rocks from out of my past

yet will always be present in my still breathing chest

where the cradle still cuddles with my once aching breath

 

 

I can see now how dying is another beginning

the song sung within life's cadence is a test

as a lullaby bubbles and rock a byes others

I've learned each new step on the ladder is the best