Karen

Red orange chariots have emblazoned the sky with the final warmth of the day,

one last vibrant, radiant display.

Soon the warmth is washed away.

Shades of night subdue the light

and the air is chilled,

and the will is stilled,

and quiet is the night.

Starlight reflections of memory's recollections dance on the minds of the weary.

The darkness makes the travel dreary.

Oh sweet life; how tender,

How rare those transposing moments we one with another share.

Oh sweet repose, where angels light.

We close our eyes, we transcend the night.

Earth reclaims mortality

and the breath is stilled,

sorrow and joy collide.

The unbound soul breaks free, increasing God's glory and embracing eternity.

Written for Karen Haber. August 27, 2000

Lost at Sea

I wrote your name in the sand today;

I wished, and dreamed and willed it to bare,

the estate of my souls longing and prayer.

As the foolish man who built his home,

I could not see,

that what I lived and would die for

would Never be!

Cruel temptress the Sea,

a giver of life.

A thief of her treasures!

Coercing me to beg mercy,

To and fro,

To and fro,

To and Fro.

To the whim of her tide,

Her Highness' supreme pleasure

evident by the laughter in her sparkling blue-green eyes

mocks the heart of my longing!

She retreats and lies calm as empires are built,

with stealth and savage advance returns them to silt.

Bitter tears stained my defeated face

as she ravaged and erased

the lines and curves of your name.

Leaving me

with only the memory of a love

I had longed for and chased

in vain

Shower

water sparkling down
scented flowers in my hair
exhausted, renewed

October 4, 2006

Interpersonal Cracks

The space between you and me is thick with the tension

of a thousand little expectations.

I can not fill them all.

The space between you and me opens wide to let

my tears cascade to the cracks in the floor.

They will never dry in

The space between you and me!

You

the first thing you did

was to remember just how 

you said you would touch me!

june 7, 2009

Opposing Connections

naked, flawed, damaged

frigid, aged, unwilling, stale

ashamed, sad, angry

naked, raw, alive

connected, safe, beautiful

real, warm, touched, cherished

June 7, 2009

Evolution

naked, i sit perched on my mattress,

borne free of it sheets,

like an egg gently teetering

back and forth before i fall.

silently i ask my arms to coil

around me repeating their embrace,

mimicking the lengths of rope used

to moor a ship to its dock-

tight and safe and steady, so i

will not drift unexpectedly into

the vast and unpredictable sea.

anguish internalized, 

reverberates in my  bones 

causing tension in my sinew, 

validating my existence to the faintly

pulsing heart i shelter within

my delicate shell.

only dry, purposeless breath

escapes my lips.

a hot wind over the back side of 

the mirror like a heat wave

making the elusive image

of my face waver and fade.

a mischievous mirage!

i am a woman, i am a 

child ,the present and past

collide, a thundering din

peels loud and long,

survived only  by the silent

sparkling shards of my soul,

scattered on the floor,

blinking back at me!

March 18, 2007