I will hold you in my arms forever,
long after you’ve flown away.
I will love and nurture your very essence
until you float on air,
and then I will let you go.

If I’m getting it right,
you’re soaring, exploring
everything in you
and you in everything,
always knowing this embrace
is a safe place to fall.

May you live your life fully,
in vivid colour,
and feel it all,
your wings gliding
through the expanse of the sky.

here we are surrounded by miracles.
we set chase hoping to catch stars.

any time i get close enough,
i squeeze the fireflies mercilessly
between thumb and forefinger,
extinguishing all light.

winter moves in
and my breath is the wind.
the wind delivers a slap,
a cold sting that brings relief,
and then i blow on a spark and flames grow.

rage turns to me and says:
you can't forsake or silence grief,
lie down with it and roll over and over and over again
until you’re dancing
and it becomes part of your hope.

the wind choreographs and
unites glittering diamond flakes into a snow snake that
slithers gracefully
across the yellow spotlight of the moon
on the asphalt stage.

the snake shows its fangs and asks:
can you have faith in what's born when you break open?

light enters
and breath ignites spring.
a shooting star runs down my spine.

when night comes again
i sprout wings
and take flight
dancing and glowing in the dark.

your words are an invitation.
i eat them off my plate
and when i swallow they become
indistinguishable from my own.

i recognize what i already knew.
we are permeable.

still i wear this cage of white bars
across my chest.
24 pieces of armour.
an illusion that reveals the work i need to do.

if i pry and break them,
one by one,
will my heart finally surface
and rejoin you?

how much would we shrink our world
in order to possess it?

no one truly listening would ask a bird to stop singing her song.
so please,
go on.

this store full of packages and people
is the emptiest thing i’ve ever seen
white stuffing bursting at the seams
hunchback heartache in every gluttonous scene

i want to ask,
are you full?
as i, and my hollow shadow
stand in line
gripping our own empty full cart.

where there once was a steady beat
is a parched quarry,
thirsty and wishing
within as without
for the blood of love to return.

i knew you’d come as your own unique soul, that’s good and true.
maybe i hoped you’d be happy being entirely you,
just over there at the other side of the room.
maybe i hoped you’d be a little bit of me outside of me,
so it would be a bit like being in my own company.
but it’s not.
and you don’t.

you need me always.
i love your face always.

i love your company for one hour or so,
that makes for long days.
i enjoy winter for one month or so,
the rest of it is just a low battery
and blue toes.

come closer anyway then,
let’s warm each other up,
see how it goes.