Sunset reflects
on what dawn never knew...

The bigger my heart,
the greater my capacity for hurt.

The more open my mind
the deeper I need to think.

Can you imagine something
  beyond your conception

Can the truth hide from view
  exposed in plain sight

Can you forget to remember
  or remember to forget

Is all darkness misleading
  —the safe harbor of light

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

Paint me a picture
Of your skin
Does it bronze beneath the sun?
Or sizzle and blush
Like your cheeks
When you’re in love?
Is it soft to the touch
Like when your palms graze
The smooth surface of water?
Or rough around the edges
Like your favorite book
And its lovingly worn corners?
Does it melt in the heat
Like sweet syrupy treats
Dripping through your fingers?
Or does it welcome the winter
With wide open arms
As if greeting a lover?
Paint me a picture
Of your skin

Is it God I’m searching for?
Is it whispers deep,
deep in my ears?

Is it someone puppeting me?
With threads of gold
tieing me into knots

Resisting the pulls on my hands,
I tug with my might
And my arms fall with a thud

I wish to lift my arms,
Their muscles weak
By my own design

I beg for my tethers back, to a blank face.
Stone gaze,
With eyelashes of gold

Tears crash like waves on my chin.
Puddles of ash,
Begging words spilling out as sand

Cold lips press together as a silent nay.
I lift my arms to pray
But sadly they stay limp at my sides