God's wrath struck the Joshua tree
   and burned it to its cremated ashes
   then let our world settle. Let it be.
   We watched it in lightening flashes.
   We live in angry desert cactus scrub
   hidden branches of the poison creosote
   where the only touch is death's rub.
   We have all but given up any hope.
   The stars are your eyes up above.
   The wind is my hands on our love.

"Bracken course Breacán Healer
Saints altogether one kneeler"

© 2021 Carol Natasha Diviney

A Bach piece never heard
was played for the first time
by a cello player in a courtyard
of a bombed Berlin hotel.
I knew it as lovers know each other.
No secrets. It resonated in my heart
a lifetime of troubles and
brief interludes of joy
where baptisms don't matter
and nothing is ever blessed.

sometimes
when i cry
i taste the salt
from your tears
instead of mine