I saw
two hearts meet
into one

a soft touch
a tender word
to open up to love

life is simple
we live to love
and die in love to
return home

By Joseph Childress

Beautiful woman in the mirror
You are the fairest
Of them all
More fairy
Than tales
Long and tall
The truth you seek
Can be found
Without reflection
Someone paid
Extra care
In designing
Your cover
The silk fabric
Of your skin
Was created only
To showcase
The beauty within
Like decorative boxes
Housing diamond rings
Open up
And give the world
The gift
It's been waiting for
Ask the mirror no more
As much as it reflects on life
Only you have
The power to live it

Tracing the thoughts with a fingertip
Lining the clouds with silver
Present feelings from past mistakes
Proof that change is good
Perspicuity from a lazy dream
Thoughts like jumping beans
Bouncing off of shady corners
Waking what lies in quiescence
Scratching light into the darkness
With a stretch and a yawn
Folding what was into what is
Forming what will be

This fool believed the words once spoken
The dancing heart tells lies
Floating on the wind for an hour or a day
Worries blown away in a sigh
Thoughts of maybe tickle the past alive
Awakened memories, revived

Always lingering, longingly
Like leaves frolicking in trees
Your gaze entraps me
Tempting me
Mesmerizing me
Engaging me in a lovers dance
Seducing my senses
Only you, only you

She is the tickle behind my ear
whispering love from afar
offering hope and faith
best wishes for us all

I see pictures of her
smiling laughing drinking
She is beautiful in her mask
Her mask ... she wears it well

Behind; tear stained cheeks
permanently scarred heart
eyes as bleak as withered snow
She is lost, I cannot find her

Saddened by life's choices
dying from a broken heart
a loss of hope, of will
She is giving up

But I love her with all my heart....

Time trickles by
agonizingly slow
tick tock tick tock
frustrations grow
They are playing the waiting game

Stung by fate
life's little trick
the sweetest boy
so very sick
Tick tock tick tock, time is just a game

Hands aged with fears
bound tight; she prays
fingers shivering
a grandmother softly says
God keep him safe and end this waiting game

Friends and family
kneel down in faith
praying together
In God's love they bathe
Knowing soon that time is almost here

Fate is fate
and we are all bound by destiny
but in my heart of hearts
I pray that he will be
your happy, healthy grandson once again

*to Wanda, you and your grandson are in our prayers

She is as beautiful
as butterflies in Spring
Her hair flutters in the breeze;
a gentle sneeze
from the soft blowing winds
She is beautiful; she is ...
Her skin glows golden
like daffodils at summers end
and just as flowers often do,
she blooms
In a world of trampled
black and white weeds,
she truly is as beautiful
as butterflies in Spring

*to my beautiful neice Nikita