Flat on my back
enveloped by the contrast
of warm light above and cold rock below

Remove the unobtrusive speakers from my ears
that now seem so obtrusive in this other world
this outside world
As I exchange the music I carry with me
for the music the wind carries
The music this world carries

I open one eye to peek skyward
And am forced to squint
finally to blink shut
my pupil overwhelmed by the grandeur of
The sun

- wait, no. A second squint reveals
only vibrant leaves turned
to blazing shades of warmth,
Backlit by the glow of that big daytime star
How can foliage produce so great a radiance?

And I lay to rest my worries
lay to rest the day's commotion
For the squirrels cause the only commotion here

Yet their antics cannot disturb me
As long as this unending water flows, undisturbed
The rocks in its path not obstacles but
friends she kisses on her endless journey
past them
past me and my thoughts
Carrying my heaviness away

The stream of water
A stream of light from above
My stream of consciousness
Mingled with the stream of birds' chatter
All circulating the one great question:
          **Why return indoors?

Friday Evening
The snowflakes fell, cold
Your coat on my shoulders, warm
The night, idyllic

Saturday Afternoon
Empty park, blue sky
Walking, streaming thoughts of us
This big world is ours

Sunday Morning**
I did the crossword
Your name among its answers,
My constant answer

You can put meat in the ice chest
but that doesn't make it any less raw
Just conserving its substance until the thaw

Like the wound you carved in my chest
that has the rawness of day one
Of day two, at best

In keeping it from rotting, I've preserved your power
Beneath frozen crystals that sparkle like your eyes do
Like my eyes used to

You froze my heart, twice
Paused it with your hand when it first grazed mine
Made it rigid again with your final line

So I'm putting it all out on the counter
to begin the emancipating thaw
Hoping the runoff floods my essence and carries away your presence

Caverns of hurt
Full of things I won't allow myself to feel
Threatening to surge out,
Carrying all of my taboos

hold it in

The behemoth of sadness; my Atlas
Carrying my pain atop his shoulders
Threatening to drop it upon me
And watch my world shatter

*stay strong