Flowers fade
bee lay to rest its days of care
fox slips into dreamless sleep unseen
even the song must cease
– that song the caged bird sings
and yet
Breath comes in
Breath goes out
strength renewing
for I drink in the air
you breath – last, new, and still
your fear is mine
your courage is mine
mine is yours as well.
There it stood
grand and open
wide enough for both
dreams and my doubt
it called to me like an old friend
a lover past into the ages
a stranger eager to meet
my out stretched hand
entreating me to give way to
whatever divine experiment
lay ahead but
my feet stayed
It was not light enough
the time was not right
the stars in sextile motion
lay just off center in the
retrograding discovery
lions awaited surely
just beyond the wood
or maybe dragons long since
gone but awakened just for me
no, seriously, I kid you not
perhaps disease or malice
harm, trouble and pain
play cards at the base of the hill
an empty seat for me to
join them but
There it stood
grand and open
whispering of bravery
courage and a life well lived
as if this covered wall would
not sustain me
surely it had in times past
surely it will stand times more
its cold rough hewn edges do not
lean even for a minute
hand reaches out to caress
but
nothing reaches back
now the heart must decide
if living is worry or if living is
facing the world beyond
if motion towards mornings
yet believed to come will come
if evenings will signal stars or thieves
if love is in short supply and if even
the lion or dragon or fearsome beast
will comply with such a simple emotion
and let a traveler pass out of mercy
may haps storms will drench
fires chase
stones to stumble and hearts to break
…
There it stood laughing gleefully behind me
as pavers and tuffs of grass greeted my
soles with joy
and I the road ahead.
Stretch my skin out across the world. Let the edge of me dip into the hands of lands and valleys I shall never see. Let my life drip like rain from thunderous skies rolling across green hills. Let my breath move through trees on a sanded isle and my tongue to taste the salt of earth beneath an olive tree. Let my eyes stare at stars a hemisphere away and my mind dive into oceans of universes undiscovered. Yes, please stretch my skin across the world. Let the edge of me dip into the hands of lands… I shall never see.
