Wild Welcomings

See the pond there?

It runs through me into a deep pool
and there within its reflection
I see many wild welcomings.

The sky and even singing birds
corner the curl of moss.

I am there see my hair?

A mermaid of fresh water,
she lifts her contemplation up
and knows each thread
in the fabric of art she watches
is turning with her toes
as slowly a dance she knows becomes
the quiet melt of songs already sung,
just beginning and will be begun.

Blow a kiss into this other place
then hold my wild in your embrace,
funnel the current between the rocks
a riffle is made from this love unlocked.

I’ll catch it in the ripple,
take it through the canyon
and across the city
to the sea with me.

Where is the Spider

Time spins a web
from the tree of life
and we are caught.
Blown like a feather
we cling
as our need
gives us strength.

We touch
the lazy leaf in awe,
smell the tangy edge
of fruited laughter
and long for truth.

Days are sometimes
our slow enemy.
The dullness of them
seeps into our lust
and inhibits our exuberance.

Many times a manic dance
spins us out of control,
before we can think of a purpose
we have passed ourselves
and must seek again
what we never found.

We are the umbilicated
tied to the past by a severed cord,
phantom pains
keep us from forgetting
our beginning.
We are chained to the future
by the microscope of eternity
found in our children.

We throw out a life line
and glean
through the unbearable
coupling of our bodies, destiny.

From the depth of
this beauty
we recognize youth
far back on the road.

The mirror mimics
our exterior
when inside we
realize that youth
has only become
less frivolous
and more kind.

There are signs along
the path we travel
these are some I’ve seen:

Singing when your heart
is full
brings sweetness to your
voice.

Holding the hand
of one
who walks along
the river
leads to the
appreciation of
little things.

Listening to the message
of the sea,
humbles
an overripe opinion.

Embracing in love
sets a fire
that will not
be extinguished.

Looking inward
for the teacher
calms the trembling
fingers
of your grasping
search.

Laughter emptying
into your
troubled soup
sweetens the bitterness
and strengthens
all the essential
ingredients.

To struggle
against the web
is to be caught
more fiercely.
If we are still
listening
and open,
we can appreciate
the glistening of its
craftsmanship
and the touch of air
surrounding it.

Peace is fleeting,
found in an instant
when eyelash meets
the cheek.

Does the tree
of life
concern itself
with our struggle?

Tall and sure
it holds the web,
but can it protect it
from what is
or what will be?

I still have not seen
the spider.

Hello Above

hello
above I think you are
or all around
that star

can’t say that I’ve not looked away
a stray
but I used to be Sunday’s child
licking that gold star beside my name in school
and every night I laid me down
my soul
what was that I didn’t know
but didn’t want to die before I woke
forsaken..no no

I asked you to help me back then when I was ten
with something bigger then I have known since
put my hands out into the dark
in my room with the closet I feared and asked
just needed to know what to do

and while I’m at the questioning
I’ve been wondering about that angel
I called Michelle
you know she was special she was
most for me a first big love
and my prayer was big that day
I know I’d faltered earlier and now I was in need
all of a sudden I asked
..is that greed

to take a child who was loved so dear
this tear is all you gave to me in answer
and still I ask
how is this plan worked out

I don’t mean any disrespect
and I’m sure you know my heart is good
believes in love and brotherhood

and I appreciate all the little things you made
for me to touch
and I know one day beyond this time
sense will make of me some semblance
of what this time spent is meant to be

until then just one thing for peace on earth
goodwill to men
could we get some help with this

amen
----------
From some time ago with thoughts of my darling daughter, Michelle (1965-1974)

Slowly, the Slipping of Summer

Slowly, the Slipping of Summer Air moves slowly through the open door then begs the corner of my eye to watch as a small thread from a spider's web turns into a gold chain even as I look away feeling like I can't bear to know how fragile this one thing is and how carelessly it can be destroyed but I have already seen it connecting the wooden door frame to the bookcase where in one corner a book is wrapped up in patient silk sewn up so tight lace fingers of it hold its pages in place I see a fluff of feather there caught fast by the delicate strings cast across the air and taken by the sun like a piece of art holding mighty a drift from a molting summer bird I watch a hammock swing macraméd and filled gracefully with wind then set on fire with sunlight and I am captured in the whim that it is marking a path to the place of bare feet and the sound of summer's children in the yard gone too soon and replaced with slamming car doors and crows quarreling in the shadows of morning How slowly air moves into the voices of the trees Over my shoulder I sense time moving made from the slipping of summer even as I turn wanting to catch the first squeal from a cool-down sprinkler's child and only find the sound of leaves ------------------------- Published in Pirene's Fountain, October 2009, Volume 2 : Issue 6