If you will take anything
Take only my heart
For poor as it is
I have nothing else of worth

If you speak
Speak to it gently
For it is ignorant of all things
Save love for you

If you journey
Carry it carefully
For it overflows
With need for you

If you wish to keep it
Forever it is yours
For it can never
Fit the hands of another

If you go
Do not return it
For I will have no need
Of an empty heart

The cygnet scorns the swan
And swims in ever wider circles.
Downstream roars the waterfall
And overhead a falcon swoops.
             ljm

VIEW FROM WATERCREST ST.

Clouds that look like something
           A novice wedding baker
                    Would pipe onto a cake

Spread themselves across
      The distant mountain tops
                   In swooping shades of
                            Peach and cobalt blue.

The sheet cake of
          Remaining sky
                Resembles Blueberry Yogurt
                        Swirled with apricot jam.

As quickly as this
         Wondrous dawning scene
                               Appears, it fades

To ordinary morning
          Clouds, and sky that hints
                      Of rainstorms and
                                         Humidity.

What did I do yesterday
          That earned me
                      This reward today.
ljm

I don’t know where it went
  I just know it’s gone
    I don’t know how it happened
      I just know I did it
        I don’t know what it even was
          I just know I miss it
            I don’t know where to go to find it
              I just know I have to try
                             ljm

Wrapped around by dawning
cotton candy clouds,
I turn and turn
to scan them all.
Squadrons of Starlings
punctuate the quiet
as the crooked moon
decides it’s time to maybe set.

On a gravel hill that
overlooks a minor wasteland,
I selfishly enjoy
a time that’s mine alone;
reminding one who felt
hard-done-by,
that in reality she
rolled the dice
and won.
     ljm