life takes
      
          us
              for
                a ride

here
                                          there
          everywhere

                                and
some places
                                                 in between

            wind
blows
                     so we
don't even
                     know
which
               w
                    a
                       y
                      to
                      l
                   e    
               a
            n

though
we may
stay
in
just
one
spot

life
still
seems
                  to
            pull
            us
    'round
     about
          and
                 to
                    and    
         fro

to
places we
did not
ever
mean
to go

so

don't lose your grip
hold on
to someone
to keep you
more
or
less
i
n
l
i
n
e

at least
you
won't be

alone

when life
finally
flings you
                                           w  i  d  e

on its
wild
and
crazy
ride

I want your everyday eyes and your everyday smile
Your everyday laugh and your everyday guile

Your everyday love and your everyday pain
Your everyday sun and your everyday rain

I want your everyday body; your everyday skin
Your everyday loss and your everyday win

Your everyday breath on your everyday kiss
Your everyday stress and your everyday bliss

I want your everyday dance and your everyday stroll
Your everyday rock and your everyday roll

You're every day dress and your every day hair
You're everyday hug and you're every day care

I’ll give you all of my life and all of my trust
And all of my love and all of my lust

I'll share all of my hopes and all of my dreams
All of my plans and all of my schemes

Just the everyday you and the everyday me
By your everyday side is where I'll everyday be

tears spill out
from weary eyes

all color drained
no sparkle there
no life

my soul won't hold
the pain today

spirit split
and torn

my mind's sadness
makes my body ache

with leaden feet
weighted heart

when filled with all
this gravity

how can there be

such emptiness inside

The years add up
But you never truly forget  
Just cover it up
with leaves, some brush
an old sheet or blanket
A drive
a new route around
Sometimes an old box in a closet
or under a bed work fine
to hide the time

until the winds of seasons change
bare it all again

..and there's never any tissues around

Never sure who's boss between us
He comes when called
several minutes later...

Blinking sweetly
smiling as only cats can
Golden, half-moons of sunlit bliss
watch fat yellow-jacket
marginally motivated

The hunt cannot compare
to the soft grass with its tender clover
a  full belly
and the meeter-of-all-needs nearby

But the quick jitter-dance
of an easy moth
sends the tiger
to the jungle of forsythia
Gleaming, stalking stripes
Alternating white of paws in precise approach
The prey?  Too quick
The predator?  Too old and lazy
prefers attention
Lumbers slowly back
lolling against coffee cup
Enough....

On needles of white pine
a secret lion has lain down

waiting only for the lamb

I suppose there has to be a reason
or at least a note
to mark that day--

He ate his breakfast
She let him out
He walked along the railing like the plank
defying death for pleasure
of his lady's company
to get his belly rubbed
sprawled long
across her lap

She released him
to chase the squirrels of his dreams
to his black cat adventures
to the aching green of life's
late summer ways

But, the days assemble against your return

May the angels find you quickly
my darling, Bailey
Dark beauty of coal
I was a Tuesday, bereft
You disappeared--
like the shadow of a whisper

Disappeared like hope--
in the last blow of day