Autumnal Rise

He stands close to the shore
feet just almost touching the water
He faces the sky and sea
stares into the distance
and I wonder where it is his eyes take him,
I wonder
is it to the same place where I seem to find
myself wandering
sometimes without so much a trail to lead me back
to the nowhere from which I come
I stretch out my legs
I watch from up nigh, at the cliffside
skin weathered and tinged with rose
her autumnal rise
I inhale, then let it out slowly
perhaps a breath, perhaps a cry welled from deep within
the taste of salt lingers on my lips
Sound of waves running into each other
the echoes of birds in flight
and I look at him
wondering if he and I are lost all the same.

Tres Noches

Bright is the company of a thousand stars

the eternal letters that spill from a sky of the deepest India ink

They roam through the endlessness that is night

and romance the unmoving with a consciousness as stirring 

as the heavens for which they announce

They convict in their illuminating, perpetuating silence

as our eyes wander heavenward, soliciting Him who hears the

quiver in our prayers, the tremble on our lips

Among the gold dots of this celestial map, 

our thoughts travel and we ruminate.

Quiet Somewhere

'Tis quiet somewhere.

Still.

Where the mind empties her tragedies

and the spirit tarries peacefully until the morrow,

where messengers of woe gain no entry

and languid travelers lay rest among the swallows.

A land I dream of nightly,
a dream I wait on daily.

Alas,
'tis quiet here, my love

we shall fall asleep now.

Borrowed

Deliver the wild ocean, her salt water tears
a June moon and whispering stars
to a landing place west of the Carolinas
sit with me in a borrowed hour of languor
sit with me in stilled reprieve  
Time will move in slowly, casually
wander barefoot toward
the past until it is no longer present
as this quiet state of sapphire
undresses before our wicker chairs, then
disappears.

Our

Our forest
our redwoods and pines
Our treehouse
our limbs intertwined
Our quiet, our haven
Our stow away from the noise, which abounds
loudly below
deafening, ever threatening
In our place above
alone
we let down our guards
for each other.

Body

O River
I trouble you for one night's dip
as my parched soul aches for
a drown in your body's deepest quarters
Blistering summer heat deludes
imaginary golden orchards o'er thy sparkling springs
As I lie next to you, in the lush shallows of your
neighboring flower bed
I peer upward at our celestial company
The steady hum of your breathing
lulling these eyelids to heaviness
and before I drift away into the forever place
I make one last request:
Cover my naked body
its bleeding sores
with the softness of your
blue lullabies.

Vessel

Remove the moon
remove the stars
wash thin their blinding glow
Weathered four-chamber vessel
birthed from the ocean's womb
returning to sea
moving in slow, quiet agony
The unlit night
its unsung victories
Through the darkness it journeys
into it, it moves gradually
Where the midnight sky
melts into a body of ebony
and a divider, there is not
Tis where this vessel will come undone
lay down its final sail
and surrender to the currents of an awaiting
Maker
Smaller it grows as it travels further
from sight and shore
until it blends O ever seamlessly
into distant earth
Traceless, still
forever floating
in the vastness of night and sea.

Mister Houdini

He tiptoed into the garden most unexpectedly
with a rucksack of well-versed lines
and a pocket full of posies
He unlatched her iron gate with stealth as great
as the greatest unknown operative
charmed her with his sarcastic wits, bits, and a number of tricks
She let him into her bed of begonias
where they exchanged wild dreams and well-kept secrets
When they laughed, the earth shared in their happiness and
the universe painted a few more stars above their mortal bodies
He gradually became her heart's trusted gardener
a company for whom she extolled
Then, just as quickly as he entered through those iron gates
he disappeared into the world outside
swift like a thief in the night
Took his treasure and bag of loot
and exited the garden without saying a word
She suppressed her cries in that first hour
simply gathered the trampled flowers and looked around at the aloneness
with which she was left once again
And it was then she gave way to their reality
her garden, once so pure and void of harm's way
had fallen prey to the condition of a speeding heart
Like rain and thunder storming the earth in the midst of winter
she felt the harshness of her disposal
for the truth was she had been disposable to him
He left like the best of vanishing acts
and the greatest of all magicians
Mister Houdini, yes, Mister Houdini, you are
frightening indeed.

Paper Crane

Paternal rumble
I hear your voice
anchoring the moment like a ship in an abyss
all hands on deck
that's what you said to me
And there we were, younger than we gave ourselves
credit for
lighting dreams like firecrackers on the new year
folding alive paper lions, tigers, and cranes

And then you left
flew above the trees you made us draw
and I was left
with the things that I did not say, things I could not say
because I was convinced
a flood of better days was coming and
denial got in the way of the truth
that you were leaving
and I choked on the words that were swimming in my mind
Like a dozen of koi fishes fighting in a shallow pond
they couldn't make their way to the surface in time

Oolong, Hennessy cognac, and menthol
your scent was unlike any other
I've pocketed it for keeps
take it out occasionally
to fill the space of this gaping hole you left

I hope you are well and enjoying eternity
I fold this paper crane and send it your way
with a pack of your favorite peppermint starlights

Safe sailing to forever, Grandfather.
You are greatly missed.