Dear old me
I know how the future seems
As if time has you wringing out every last drop
Wondering if minutes spent are hours worth
But here we are
One crossroad after the other
You've taken paths paved
And those never walked
You've breathed in clouded air
And have gotten lost in the fog
You have climbed mountains
And descended valleys
You've seen clear skies
And cried with the rain
You may never know what's next; not even I do
But no matter where you think you'll go
Every tunnel you'll collide with
Always has a way through
Forwards and onwards
You'll make your way toward me
And I'll keep walking too

The hands of time
intertwined with mine
we walk down this street
through puddles of years
in the rain
where minutes fall
onto our heads
soaking our laughter
until it dissolves
and flows down the drain
to the stormwater pond
where the past awaits

but we keep walking
ignoring the ache
to retreat our steps
to what is now a lake

and we journey until we've left behind an ocean

Silence tumbles out of me
this moon, and this sun
this morning and this night
this want for rain
this flicker of hope
the embers, and the sheets of ice
it all in an overwhelming exhaustion
have come to take my breath away
and every time I speak
my words are caught in the wind
circling from everywhere to nowhere
leaving me somewhere in between

Words were left behind
    on top of the soil
    where they buried
    yesterday's bones

2. suddenly, this cold chill
    that has befriended my spine
    is now a sense of comfort
    that I am still alive

3. Grief, it is love, it is every form of love
    From every story I have ever read
    it is hope and despair
    it is the shadow
    of this rain
    that follows me
    home

4. I hope you see
    that this running clock
    moves in circles
    just like we do
                             the beginning of your journey
                             is closer to the end
                             than you could ever imagine

5. If you are looking for me
    I am searching for that old shadow
    we left with the sun for safekeeping
    thinking about burying old love

To heal
To lose
In circles
We float
Losing
Healing
Breathing
Hoping
Fearing

What are we fearing?

You with solemn eyes look to the sun
Lost in its embrace
Wishing to be the clouds
That touch its light and dissipate

"I am afraid that everything I have lost
Will come back and find me
After I have learned to live without it"

And with that, I begin to disappear

My lungs dissipate into this silence
The fires between yesterday and tomorrow
Burn in the back of my throat
I take the words I’ve collected over the years
Store them in jars with pennies and fears
I envelop my breath with rain clouds and blues
Ready to mail it out to the years

Between us are silent sorrows
We’ve only just reunited
And already, a vast sea has made its home
Between you and me
We filled it with our tears
I spoke, you listened, I listened, you spoke
Our heartbeats aligned
Momentarily we breathed
And words flowed out
Drowning us in memories
You make your departure,
Leaving me as I overthink the unspoken

The fire’s put out, but nothing’s left
If you ever return with more things to say
You can count the pennies and words I kept
But I’ll be gone into the void of yesterday
With healing lungs,
putting out the fires you left behind

when you climb mountains
you leave your footprints
in the rigid soil
that feeds into the ground
we once laid on
waiting for the sun to descend
to take our guards down
and prepare our fingers
for pointing at stars

Time leaves us reminiscing
Leaving behind bitter tastes laced with honey
something you liked about coffee
on these notes

I think about the distances between
Who you are and what I hope to be
And I see the mountains you said you'd climb