I am in the fire my love
I cannot tarry, cannot extinguish
nor distinguish right from wrong
sometimes places I don't belong
I am desolate in a desert, resurrected, burned
deep in fields of sage
a breath of fiery blaze
the pull and push away
I lay in a bed of ashes
feel this rebirth
as another death
blows away.

This house, it does not speak of me
I am unknown to these adobe walls
these cool clay floors
I press my feet against
wanderlust, I dance
through desert nights I roam
these sands to drink the moon
and follow stars toward home.
I travel endless nights
painted blue with black
wait for sunlight
once again to warm my room.
Nights I dream to be
in wild fields
with you.

Tonight
a million flowers loom
clouds of gypsophila bloom
at my window and beyond
the jasmine vines, they crawl
saturate and scent my paper walls
these night lilies, only a dalliance
that blooms and fades
your hands soft upon my legs
we are drunk from dulcet wine
sung from the moon that dips
caress of your reddened lips
as we travel this world
lilting softly slow.

When I wait for northern lights the sky is void of moon
and too the sun has gone, a silence of blue green light comes
like colored ghosts of whirling skies, it flies
and I no longer think of stars
I can only dream to fly, to shine
magenta in magnetic fields

But tonight it is you
that burns across the sky beyond the heavens
dazzling brilliantly now beyond this earthly plane
to join a symphony of seas and stars out there, unknown
gathering in the ethers of forever

Last night I dreamed of you
smiling, as you laid
in green fields laughing
and tonight I will see you
in the northern lights
shining.

Nights, we take the boat out
paddle our way green through water
swum by inlet waves, full moon apace
shadowy, ancient tribal faced
lose all trace of the shore, black
but for phosphorescence
glowing, trailing from the oars
a haunting ghostly art
green and breathing, disappearing
back into darkness, swallowed
by black water, by night
strange this death,
this rebirth and breath
felt in each and every moment.

My heart of sleeplessness
awakens me foolish
moonless from my rest
ache of cells and blood
a torrent, a flood
a rushing river
reaching for your hand
your reddened lips
soft a place to land

Sometimes
before you arrive
I imagine the drive
the dusty winds
roads blown sand blind
the breath hot desert
red upon your back
the drown of dripping sweat
a mirage, a swimming lake
an oasis, of mind escape
how you travel as saguaro fields fly by.

If I could see you shining
clear in mirrored waters
if you'd come to rest
in green fields
of peace
sweetly sleep
breathe in sync
with me

Oh when I was north, cold
and white as snow geese
blue on water ice, I'd fly
glide on frozen ponds
cry with snowflake eyes
sigh of winter's long goodbye

Early in the morning
blue skies of birdsong
winging in summer
singing sweet of dawn
awakened from dreaming
the day is unfolding with love
early in the morning with the sun
we are opening like blossoms at blue lily pond
no words spoken only reflection within
early in the morning with the sun

Sink deep your feet
the moss and muddy floor
grey with rain
the weeping moss
hanging in the trees
ravens cry, calling thee
into the starless void
of moonless canopy
a hidden place
wherein the soul illuminates
a cynosure of deeper truths
a dark that lights the way

Thirsty, a parched pale yellow
this milkweed, dandelion field
dried silky seeds blowing wild
hot cracking leaves
lightning trees afire
forests and burning meadows
with eyes that sting
I can but see, spectrally
the smokey sun
breathe a deathly air
that chokes the lungs
creatures gasp and run
in moments ever dire
they flee frightfully
amid falling trees
of fire.

When I drive that road
past sun bleached stones
of minerals and bones
take the turn off at Dragoon
fly past cattle guards and farms
the road that leads
to your house
my view askew
a parallax
I rue
desolate
the cold
moon-blue
of you

A susurrus wind
of chaparral lingers on
after the rain, in the heat of day
behind mountainous clouds
the hissing sun will scarcely fade
until at dusk it finally crawls
and swiftly snakes away.

These women, they are old
in touch with ancient ways
the dredging of deeper points
they've come to know
and show, without hiding

Their faces are worn weathered maps
lines and holy roads
with soulful eyes
smiling they settle
and sit you down
beside them

In their circle of fire and knowing
these women of the earth
serve milky tea and mirth
their laughter resounds
it pounds the heart
grounds you there
in the fervent pureness
of your tears

Moon winds pretend to know me
clouds steal the sky away
never knowing my name
only a diaphanous veil
what game            
night stars
play

This morning, upon my wall
with lilies, lilies tall
sun shadows
the beauty
of it
all

Colors
and flowers
birds of dawn
in the singing trees
has only ever been a dream

This desert
with blinding beauty burns
always a season of birds  
before the sun, the grey raining clouds
we traveled miles over hills leading up and outward
with all its budding ways the glowing days of May
fragrant petals faded into summer
scorched our lips, how we slipped
into the ways of fire
our love, only a smouldering pyre.

A fevered pulse
though sweat moves slow
as night falls
fast upon our bed
breath of steam
we float like dream
to fill the hollows
sink, we swallow
the light of gold
we seek to follow
hear a blue calling
under the ache of stars
as the moon blooms
softly sallow.

There was a bird that time, a flicker
they always remind me of you
the melt of spring fever, the tapping on the roof
how like snow the petals flew
that window, the rain, the rainbows too
the breath and sigh of you
our springtime walks
the way the forest talked
soon of summer to come
we were completely undone
unchained in the falling rains
sweet like music the call
of your name.

It came softly warm, mist of fragrant showers
garden flowers of parchment petals
drank of sun, of moon, of rain
silent the Perseid showers
a falling sea of rain
sparkling in the night sky.

When we were far
and very young, in a place with no roads to follow
only a winding path, a branch to grasp
a place to fill the hollow

Blue the summer, with drowsy daisies came
petals, petals, we drew circles round the sun
gold spun, our halo heads of pollen
gold the bees of sleepy flowers
amid clover grass heaven

Days we lived deep in hills
we were endless green, in unmapped countries
stretching past the farms afield, in other worlds
too far to see, we lived beyond the gray of days
and we were free, in the shining silver
of our hallowed hills of ever.

Oh green I sing, of wings and birds across blue morning sky
with summer sounds, willows round the floating pond
dipping gently by.

Warm winds play music soft
through leaves and reeds they sing
gathering in the transient breeze.

All the day I rest my head
breathe sweet the flowering fields
and never shall I leave this place
nor want for any sweeter heaven.

Just lying on the couch and being happy.
Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.
Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
so much to do in the world.

People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can't
monitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.
When dawn flows over the hedge you can
get up and act busy.

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
left lying around, can be picked up and saved.
People won't even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.

Later in the day you can act like the others.
You can shake your head. You can frown.

William Stafford

Where sleeps the crescent moon
and drifts bright stars away
to bring a song of light
glowing from a thicket there
where tawny birds take flight
or dappled in the wooded trees
foggy breathes the morning light
with rousing sounds of faeries there
drowsy in their dreaming cares
they bid farewell unto the night
and to stars that sail swift into
the evanescent light.

Now springs another day from this woodland place
soft with mossy grays or starry lichen lace
green the leafy ferns will wake
with scented rains wet upon the bark
incense cedars drift and swirl
sweet, the air of smoke
until alas the sun so brilliant comes
from behind a clouded cloak
and disappears once more
the dawn that softly spoke.

In the garden a bird, a flower
gold the edge, gold the dawn that hovers
a song of summer, a tiny sparrow perched
long upon the woody yarrow, that musky fills the air
a redolent warmly breeze brushes by the maple trees
caressing sweet the singing leaves and breathes the air of heaven
in the gold of a halcyon summer
beyond the hills of sage, grey plumes  
a stark blue sky cloudless looms
and sings with birds in lilting waves high above the field
they break the silence in a world transformed
a song - void of man's ordinary words.

Never run swift and away
leaving without words
never go fast my love, escaping on far off trains
only to ride all of your days, gone from me
arriving in places foreign and sad
left waiting empty
traveling ever lonely
on and on

Here we sleep under star flowers
a flash of meteor showers
our room a fire light - full bloom
sigh and breath of moon
we travel nights like this
in a sky of sparkling jewels
swim and dream, float
in shimmering pools.

The mad allure
the bite, the cure
haste and taste of you
splendorous kiss
sudden slip, we drip
wet in rivulets
of sweat

Our flaming fire
swallowed by desire
a gathering storm
so calmly warm, just before
the fall, the come hither call
that pours and pours
drops of diaphanous rain

When I returned home, after having been gone
I'd missed the fire orange poppies blooming
missed the lilacs too, it was early summer
time for bright and blossoming flowers
there is no place that fits me quite like this
no place I wear this smile, quite the same
I follow bees into the garden
I sing like morning birds
just to be home

If when you leave, you do not think of me
or do not call my name, then I will be a lost
and fallen star, diffused and drowned in
unforgiving seas. I will be restless on the waves
of my days, blind to all horizons
with dark stormy eyes
then only grey blinding fog
will settle in, descending
with smoke to ****, to choke
my dying heart.

Never leave running away in uncertain winds,
nor leave me dangling as a leaf, high or out of reach
hung by a thread, spinning.
You are the sea of my drowning
and not a placid lake I've come to swim.

Come with your smile, sunning
let your days go shining at the shore
where our eyes shimmer as moonlight on water
tranquil as the silent stars that fall.

Come as the ocean blue, dazzling opulent
with expansive arms, embracing all of this
even wildfires burning into embers
a torrent, a rushing river
our love like holy water
that finds its way back
to an undying sea.

involuntary
necessary signals sent
heartbeats and breathing

How many times at this cliff, wild with winds
waiting for direction, even though storm clouds come
I look beyond, remembering the halcyon days
but today - rain, rain, rain

This evening, with the wind
of my curtains breathing, I listen for night birds
watch the room grow pale
the finality of day, a nightly ritual
how skies reconstruct themselves over again
twinkle and murmur of stars
cynosure of all planets, even unseen
clouds like amnesia, hide things
our earthbound slipping away
of days lost irretrievable

It must be a tricky business
it lingers, hovers stealthily
an invisible silence
a swift inhabitation
the soul awaits
to startle the body

In a wordless voice
it moves from room to room
turning lights on
spends a lifetime
ever longing
to be known
and heard.

Tonight in this garden
a million flowers loom
clouds of gypsophila bloom
through our window and beyond
with fragrant vines, they sprawl
saturate scented paper walls
these night lilies, only a dalliance
that blooms and fades
your hands, my breath of sighs
we are drunk from dulcet wine
sung from the whisper of moon that dips
caress of your reddened lips
traveling this world
lilting softly slow

Wings they came at first, unknowingly
didn't even feel them - a part of me
until you pulled the ground
the quicksand from my feet
breathed my sinking sleep
awake

I find myself here, wild
roaming the long road home
to no one belong

Spend all of these days
together or alone

Survive the heave and cleave
the warp, the weave
of winding years

A lifetime, a spiral of
trying
flying
dying

I woke early to silence
but for the whirring of a fan
the stillness before dawn
I wrote these words
though they never convey
the pure heart of morning
or pure the song of the first bird.

Oh these doves they are cooing crazy
a language full of sunrise colors
with a variance of blues they coo
and soon the quails - laughing
the way they do in their morning mood
smaller birds chirp and shrill
the air is melodic music filled
here amid this cactus garden
halcyon songs to the sun
and too these flowers
explode in petals pale yellow
blooming high in the saguaro towers

When you come home
bring forth a garden, a storm
all the colors of you
a flower petaled rain befalls me
a soaking, sweeping view
from mountains you come
calmly with rain
deep from earth's core
sweet with petrichor
encircling softly warm
attracts me magnetically
stupefies me uncontrollably
though I know the killing hour
will come crushing, empty and forlorn.

Lilies in the long grass
wild with tigers, striped orange
under trees, cool canopied
buds of sun blossoming
pretty cats slumber
sleek they dream.

Nights,
twitching whiskery
breathing slow
slinking low
as if to stalk
shock the sallow moon
hunt and growl
purr and prowl
animals whispering
stark the tiger lilies
glistening.

Gathering colors of day
sea of green viridian, washing storms of grey
seagulls cry in shades colored blue
how mad the ocean's raving tune
it sweeps away the end of day, a hopeful sun
to paint the sky of blackness
paleness of moon
rises, fades
beyond the sway
of silvery shades
night shimmers its way
into red and blue
where fiery clouds ignite
the day once more anew.

When peace comes curling up to me
comes to rest softly on a sweetest breeze
or in the cooing of a mourning dove
carries my aching soul far and gone
it comes in the soothing kiss of dawn
in the quiet clouds of red and orange
brief a fiery sky, consumes all the
troubles of this world.

This sacred mountain
holds me ever close
this trail fat with hope
to whom I've finally
told the truth

From this island
water and more tiny islands
heavily treed with Douglas fir
landing ground for ocean otters
while orca whales glide by
spout and spray
the beach, broken shelled
puddled wells of tide pools
filling, spilling over again
brown bauble seaweed mingles
round algae rocks, barnacle shingled
here where the air breathes salt scented
water running wild with salmon.

Alone, this time is slow
though for you faster, I know
out of reach, we do not touch
cannot speak of two
all day I only think in blue
climb these craggy trees
to hide myself away
lay in the seaweed sways
wait the night to swallow
my lonesome day
oh and then the cruel stars
the ones you named
appear, to shine
and speak of you
in vain