




Ephemeral haze
Clear lines
Color and shape
Still draw the eyes
What is it to focus
To destroy the impression
With crisp clear facts
Outlining a true shape
Sharp edges
And mystery dispelled
Only to discover
The next ephemeral haze
A little nugget
Wedged within
The sliver of space
Between
A rock and a hard place
Swelling with moisture
A crack in the opening
Rooted and growing
Emotions flowing upward
And outward
Emanating loveliness
A joyful play of colors
On a lonely stretch of road
A meeting of kindred spirits
Overlooked but not forgotten
What has sprung there in the darkness
But the renewal of hope vanquishing
The forlorn heart with love and understanding
This is how we grow, darling
In a tight spot
Sunlit
In the daylight hours
On sun drenched streets
I am surrounded
Where I once walked
A solitary path
What beauty held
In bunches
Vied for prominence
Against a single bloom
And won
my arm guards the tender place
there is pain
my body lists a little to the side
bending and curving around what hurts
habits forming with thought and without thought
moving crookedly now
a soreness that will ease
perhaps
with time and attention
these are the obvious and expected
reactions to physical wounds
where does my mind bend around a tender spot
is it camouflaged deftly
preventing awareness from tending those
heart wounds
like a garden to pluck the weeds
like a garden to turn the soil
like a garden to compost last year’s crop
like a garden to grow healthy vegetables
like a garden to grow medicinal herbs
like a garden to grow beautiful flowers
the potential is there
but I must walk through the garden gate
maybe rusted shut
hinges needing to be replaced
so it does not scrape the ground
I gather the tools
I let down my guard
the only time to begin is now
and always
They hang like chimes
Those hearts dangling over earth and stone
To hear their song in the hushed morning mist
Singing tales of brokenness and healing
Is to wander wonderingly into a pinpoint light
Soft and warm against the cool, hard texture
Of stone
Is to remember being wrapped in your arms
In a way that hasn’t happened yet
In a way that may never happen
Except in the floral chimes
Suspended
Protected
Swaying beautifully
Lit from within
Let us soften love
And meet one day on the path
Through fog and forest
Let us soften love
Until the light of us
Becomes one
As the stone blossoms
And hearts softly sing