Held tenderly within  angel wings
He released his most inner secrets
And I silently wept for the strong
Hard man with the child in his eyes

Mirrors are the throat of time
Devouring all in their path
Leaving nothing not even bones
Relentless in their wrath

Mirrors are the throat of time
Taking all with nil to give
Leaving only the profound loss
So deep we can never forgive

Mirrors are the throat of time
Stealing from each of us all
Leaving no corner unexposed
Silent witness to our downfall

his words take my breath away
his stars are not my stars
and there are worlds in-between

so i come back and i sit
and trace all the letters
slow, slow

i let my heart wander
just far enough
to feel the mountain air

singing feels like flying
from the pines
on the mountain

his words take my breath away
and i don't mind much

There's something I desire like
Dripped honey on strawberrys
It's scent delicate and ravishing

We are the universal harmony
Through which human warmth
Survives hidden from cosmic wind

Celestial incantations float airily
Beyond everything inessential
Being joyful of the incidential

And we should treasure each sip
Thoughts running in time like grass
Reflecting lifes own  peace endlessly

i learned how
to diagnose myself
somewhere
along the way

trauma
dissociation
abuse
depression

so many words
to describe
who i may be

words i don't talk about

i worry about
drowning
in waters
no one can see
but me

confessions of a newborn

It's been something of a while
      since I tumbled down
from warmth and darkness
      into this strange bright space.

I see you coming towards me
     and curious parts of me
begin to dart about in all directions
     because I remember you.

Every time you're here
     something glad happens:
           you hold me to your warmth,
           you bring good food to my mouth
           to ease the ache inside,
           you make pretty sounds
           that tell me I am safe -
           that tell me I am not alone.

For reasons I cannot say
      I know that I am you -
that you are me.

The beauty on your face
     tells me you know it too
and like you, I smile.

*© 2016 by Robert Charles Howard

When the dusts settle from the last wheel
and the sickle moon stoops on the bamboo grove
the dead rise in the whispers of the southern breeze.

You may hear them splashing the canal's water
beneath the hazed halo of one quarter
by nocturne music of barn owl and crickets
in lights of glowworms from darkest thickets.

If you stop on the Rotwood Bridge
can hear them sing in gay abandon
though we're now all dead old spirits
the night can't make us anymore forlorn.

The twin moon may from the ripples broken
beckon you and if your spirit awakens
take a plunge for a joyous down go
amid cheers from the watery hollow.