beautiful night

this friday grooms me
in wind-swept cloud cover
like youth
like tomorrow
like the day i left behind
when i turned my back on you
and turned yellow into gold

this moment of purity
as i looked to the west
seeing only sunshine
instead of sunset
and knowing every step i took
drew the breath of others
not in wonder, but in awe

this simple path of being
carried me
beyond the pale
beyond the death of me
into the life of you and the horizon
purged of silver and grey
glimmered in flourescent colour

crocus

sweet, like cherry valance
you lure me in
on my knees
i smell the gold of your saffron
and take you

purple-fuchia dream
like northern lights
illuminate this dark halo
in late winter sun
longer with each dawn

replace this blanket of bleak taupe
like earth and dying
and cover me in colours vibrant
to make me feel again
before the solstice reign

Fortune Cookies*

these little sweet flowers
of long-standing tradition
individually wrapped
for you
hold the words
i can't bring you
without tears

they sit neatly stacked
on the counter waiting
to be opened and read
by you
to give you direction
i no longer have
without tears

i will keep them here for you
your collection to ponder
their meaning, their message
to you
in the hope they will guide you
like i once was able
without tears

* to Mallory

and that disease is love...*

a twisted torment of fluctuating course
gone before treated
back before recovered
always leaving the bearer
with simply the hows and the whys
and the cottony aftertaste
of the will this ever ends

the tug of the inexplicable
soaring to new heights
on the waxed wings of destruction
breathtaking in its fall
the crash and the burn
beautiful horror swept away
as the cherubs sweep you up for more

as the words form on your lips
at the edge of that sweet precipice
once again consumed by fever
and the acid of uncertainty
gathers and burns your throat
the ground breaking away
under the feet of angels

it's never ending. no cure.
the plunging sickness left
the rotted hole within your gut
and tears the vessels bleeding
from the holes left in your heart
as another wave of hoping
carries you off away, again.

* for juicebox

sky-blue orange

the colours i see in my mind
not always gray
implode
as horizons do
at times
when facing west
at dusk's reprise
not always the end
this blanket of light
though fleeting
before the inevitable
push of night
takes me again

Clockwise

each day
the countdown to you
ignored, the potential
of every blind corner
as i take your hand
and lead you there

some say
the moon revolves clockwise
reversing your pull
yet my heart leans forward
as you take my hand
and lead me there

one way
defines the descending path
we chose without concern
of outcome or destination
as we take our hands
and show eachother the way

Erlenmeyer Flasks

pulverized
these fine grains
heated to make you whole
smooth and sturdy
utilitarian in your grace
you allow my use of you

borosilicate
graduated and sterile
your neck defines you
weighted or free
swirled as in titration
you hold my volumes

conical
your shape unique
as Emil inspired you to creation
culturing each cell
in gas exchanging beauty
you measure my failures and success

purged

the pull of you
relieved me of myself
sending me tumbling
into this sweet abyss
i had overlooked

gone are the notions
that defined me
once upon a time
melding the given and the lost
as the potters wheel

spinning spinning
in the free fall of you
taken as i walked silently
blinded by it all
purged, to live again

Paper

long sleek strips of pulp
fashioned for pen or imprint
of pressured expression
meant for others
from the mind of a stranger

pressed and fashioned to comply
with either demand
dependent on the need at hand
paper, pulp, or meaning
each deserving of you

i reached for the pen
as the roll expired before me
leaving me only remnants
of space to fit
each syllable inside me

i left you as i found you
only different and filled
with expressions of words
only meant for you
written across the surface of your face

this night

tomorrow only knows
the answers we sought
as the hours passed
leaving us in the vapor
of this night

the wind pushed through us
chimes with no melody
for we pay no attention
to neither deed or action
of this night

i asked. you answered.
only once because nothing else was needed
we swayed back and forth
two as one without cause or worry
of this night

never really knowing

i saw a star
its name i can't recall
but the colour was clear
as the hue of the glow
and the crimson that shone
reflected off your face
despite the darkness
surrounding us

the glowing meld of gold and spectrum
drew me like no other
a constellation, a wish, a star
like no other but welcomed as home
its fire both warm and distant
glows today within me
never really knowing its name
though embraced as mine alone