Two of us
going nowhere
in a box
on a wheel
crammed in
waiting to go

we chat
about nothing
I can remember

coming to the end
we realize our
mutual enjoyment

you give me your name
which
I slip it into my pocket
anxious to see you
though we have not parted

gone
from my pocket
from my memory
griffin?
taylor?

only me , ****

Twisted dried and withered up I took you out
and laid you down to rest
A little tear slipped from the corner of my eye
when i said goodbye forever
I thought of all the dark winter mornings when
the only light \i saw was yours
You were a big presence in my life, strong
forceful and sheltering
You received all my black moods graciously
and drove them into the earth
You were the one constant that I was sure to see
in the morning unchanged
Until the faithful week that brought with it
the glistening black frost
I wrapped you tightly, securely to protect you
for you were not built to feel such cold
I cried in disbelief the day you died as the
bewildered birds sat on your bare branches
and sang a dirge for you.

spring hits the
country
like a ten-ton truck
screeching
down your street
on its twelve to
eighteen
wheels

the trees burst with new leaves
the flowers bloom and stretch
to the sun
in hallow groves and quiet brooks
life is afoot once again

the backyards and the
lawns ache with their
growth

the new birds chirp with
hunger

the poets
reach
to their pens

still mystified
by this sudden
change

writing down thoughts
as colorful as their
worlds
trying to capture
just what
it’s like
to smell
spring
on
the wind

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine