Your trembling hands
are steady for me

I ask the tree who for hundreds of years has been around,
because his roots are strong and firm under the ground,
to teach me how to stand tall when I am alone and feel small,
that way no lumber men can make me fall.

I ask the river that stretches from sea to sea,
because her water doesn't know how to be nothing but free,
to teach how to keep going when I am stuck and don’t know what to do,
that way no boulder can stop me from the path I wish to pursue.

I ask the bird that is both strong on the ground as he is in the air,
because his eyes see that it is the ground that has the meal that he wishes to ensnare,
to teach how to observe my surroundings when life is at an ultimate high,
that way no doubts are in my mind that I can survive when my high life says goodbye.

I ask the sky who has beautiful stars, sunsets, and rainbows,
because she also has fierce storms that give many people halos,
to teach me how gain inner peace and balance when life is like a bumpy ride,
that way no bad weather forecast can make me hide.  

I ask my imagination to stay nearby,
that way I can ask more than just the tree, river, bird and sky.

for a year all i knew was
cut knuckles against torn cheeks
your blood in my blood
*you told me we
were becoming
one

"I'll wait for you,"
when we were kids,
you had said.

But Jack's still comatose
and Jill is dead.

You never came.

I went looking today.

I put on my red boots
and my blue pants
and I opened up the doors.

I went looking today.

I went through the parks,
the streets, the empty hallways.
I got lost looking for a lost you.

The crowd carried your scent,
carried me,
and I was six and a half miles from home.

I put on my smiles
and my cloak of courage.
My watch ticked away the time my heart drove my feet to you.

I went looking today.

I went looking for you.

I searched the corners of boxes,
under the shade of rose petals,
and in burning letters.

Because I had to.
I had to find you
before I lost my mind.

My bones ached for the home in you,
my heart refused to keep a beat continuous,
my skin began to come undone.

I went looking for you today,
only to stop before your door
and walk all the way back home

still in want.

I will be like a tree to you
neath whose shade you lie
as the days pull you down
and my branches long for
the pull of your weight-
the only kind I will allow
to pull me down.

Painless is the way
I shed my leaves for you,
die a slow death
all for your love for a golden autumn,
and again I come back to life for you,
because winter is a lonely business.

Your faith in my hold
is strengthened over these glad years,
unbreakable perhaps,
like how my roots are interwoven
into your ribs.

My poetry is eternal for you,
growing each day
and when you cut me open,
the rings will tell you of the years
I bled for you.

I will be a tree to you,
your very own Eden,
and the day I die,
I hope my roots reach out to you
when the time comes for you to
marry into the earth.

Only a vehement storm
can put me down.