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Dec 2010 · 883
Love is not...
Cathy Bourne Dec 2010
Love is not gilded cage
holding fleeting angel
ever earthly bound.
Nor shining mirror
only fathomless pool
reflecting true desires.
Not brave protector
but soothing respite
during battle’s lull.
Nor bonded keeper
weakening bright shoot
under brooding shadow.
Not threat, not fear,
nor promise of eternal light.
Not boundary or design
only uncharted path.
Dec 2010 · 644
As Each Leaf Falls
Cathy Bourne Dec 2010
The wind, sweet breath, moves through the stand of trees.
A sighing music dances on the breeze,
and glances over leaf, drifts soft caress.
A fleeting shadow through unconcsciousness.

This ever-present zephyr twists in flight,
to cast its unseen eye on one who might
be plucked from bough and drawn into its thrall.
Its fate but to decay upon its fall.

Then straight, decision made, here is the one.
The chosen, name called out with silent tongue,
must join the lifeless throng on forest floor,
Bathe in the sunlit canopy no more.

Through each branch this constant whispering guide
by capricious temper will still abide.
Cruel impatience, swift striking avarice,
then sweet mercy in its poisoned chalice.

Spring’s bright growth or autumn’s russet tone,
where is reason for which leaf is cast alone
into the void? Its brothers left to grieve
until it is their chosen time to leave.
Dec 2010 · 803
Relics
Cathy Bourne Dec 2010
Here lie the sweet, arrested buds
scorched by a sudden frost.
Withered now those unborn blooms,
sweet scent forever lost.
Reposing here, such shrunken bones
descendents will forget
lie undisturbed in silent tombs,
promise untested yet.
Here we find unyielding knots,
perpetual sand-swell dunes,
thorns that pierce the unaware,
scars thickened over wounds.
Should they reside in endless peace,
not see the light of day?
These dusty relics locked within;
the things we didn’t say.

— The End —