cherries for sarah

"it was fate," she told you
the way she caught your eye
walking alone
as you usually did
never missing a thing

was it the shape
of her confident stance
or the smile, like a child at play?
you'll never know
but she had you

the words came easy
as if from a thousand conversations before
"i love you" preceding "i want you"
seconds turning to hours
you kissed

her Ruby lipstick colored your lips
"it looks like cherries," she said
and that's when you knew
you'd bring cherries for sarah
forever

a flower to tread on

the evenings hasten
to steal the light from you
leaving you to curve forward
in search of life

you lean toward the path
upon the steps I take
so beautiful in your struggle
to reach me

a crisp wind pushes you back
swaying as you once did for me
our paths colliding again
in this underfoot serenade

i used to be here

this place of vines and thorns
drawing blood with every move
blinded by the pain i sought alone
living in the shadows of each day
wondering why the warmth i felt was cold
cool as the earth beneath me
the wind driving the thoughts from my head
to wonder; will i live again...

the truth of words and deeds

remember the story i never told you
cast in brilliant shadow
for all to see
a true picture
the essence of who i am

veiled as if to confound the seeker
the blind and the seeing
opened to you
a true moment
the essence of who we are

can you take these words
and the deeds preceding
available now
a true process
the essence of who we become

ashes

when the tears
of the unforgiven dry
and are ground back into earth
i will be there

salvation

when i suffer
i love you most
words, like an open wound
ravage me

empty

gray
ashen kettles of nothing
holding what we thought we were
looking, still
for the things that held us close
gone
leaving nothing but the search
for the the thing we never had...

tattoo of you

indelibly mine without a canvas
stretched upon imagination
you allure me
love is like a marking
inflicted with meaning and intent
you are mine

tomorrow

forever a memory
the special event we left behind
gathered in the entropy of us

isn't it fine now
as the storm clouds consume us
gathered in the entropy of us

tomorrow we will never know
consumed by today
gathered in the the entropy of us...

Transparency

shallow figures lie
on plates of energy
as if once one connected
tragic figures still-embossed
upon each other

memories
aligned in purple
and coral shades of blue
recall the brown
of what we never knew


as light turned into copper
the view of solace skewed
with everything we once believed
the one exception
being you

Sunshine

tear me in ultraviolet hues
down to the soliloquy of you
ancient, ever-more
as if it mattered at all
a diatribe of nonsense
in the face of all that precedes you

sunless sunshine
cast in shadow and doubt
the remorseful end to a beginning
nurtured
without the earth
without the sky we adored

Cold Medicine and Wine

a fog upon a clear day
mine alone - clouded without you
reign me in, will you
sun setting on us both
no punctuation needed
on this chapter of self-importance
worth regardless of importance
is as necessary as an ego in an asylum

welcome me to hysteria
a mat of red
laid for the debacle of us
remember the tomorrow
we once promised each other
swept with euphoria
crystal and sapphire
victims of everything around us

clearing now, cauterized
in the haze of me
and the memory of you
all eyes seeing
as if to just tell us
the simple fact we knew all along
swirling and disappointed
in a fog upon a clear day

drift

the large expanse of us
driven by the wind
driven by each other
pushed into tiny pockets of indifference
as only we can do
we are powder
we are victims
until we are no more

take me there
until i see you
until i feel the way we really are
tumbling across a sinking horizon
as only you can do
we are golden
we are treasure
until we shine no more

gather the force of ages
to sweep me onward
to sweep me into you
the lone oasis in the waste of me
as only love can do
we are eternal
we are vapor
until we drift no more

petals fall

don't you hear them
little petals hit the floor
whether torn away
or weathered
their sound you can't ignore

the sweet goodnight

the words no longer spoken
falling away
to lay gently on the floor
beneath us
where we once stood
face to face
promising the things we could never give

the morning no longer ours
we lie
with this perpetual darkness
between us
like an empty wishing-well
back to back
and stare into the black of the sweet goodnight