They always say the same things -
the script and the show

“Let’s fall in love over a fancy dinner
and stories of travelling the seas.”
“Take control of my car stereo
play whatever you love.”
“I did three thousand pushups in three minutes, darling, feel my biceps.”

Same faces,
same words,
same places,
same stories.
Heard it all before.

But maybe -
if we’re able to cry all night
on the other’s shoulder,
for no reason,
or a hundred reasons.

If we can scream out
the moments we felt small
felt guilt,
felt shame,
felt fear,
felt agony.

If your long paragraph
meets mine
and we don’t flinch.
Just hold.
Just stay.

If we can dance,
inebriated,
with arms so entwined
we forget
whose hand is yours
and whose is mine.

If we lose track of time -
in silence,
in words,
in laughter.

Let love bloom
in a secret garden
of periwinkles and petunias
but also
in the mud,
the mould,
the stains of regret
and wishful thinking.
Let it exist
in nightmares
and dreamless nights.

Not perfect.
But present.
Something different.
Something more.

Goodbye.
A final farewell to a chapter that’s ending.
A word that many consider permanent
A word that is everlasting

If we want temporary,
Trying replacing with see you later.

That way the door is left open
That way the chapter hasn’t ended
The page hasn’t turned

That way I know you aren’t finished with me.

When the time comes
When my heartbeats begin to fade
My eyes begin to flutter
I hope to see you there

Your floppy ears listen
Your crooked tail wags
Your smile grows wide
While you stand by my side
I hope to see you there

My best friend
My shadow
My furry soulmate
I hope to see you there

Sitting like a stone,
Why have we grown?
The moon’s following you,
On the street, walking alone.

This heart makes room
for those without place
find a chair
a bed
some peace
some space
my heart’s your home
make it sweet
inside my heart
not at my feet

This heart makes room
come and hide
at the heart of my soul
not by my side
my heart is warm
a fireplace
come abide in me
beneath my gaze
it’s quiet here
within my chest
come now
come sleep
find your rest

Over the last four summers
I merely looked out of the
five bay windows of my
brown brick walled birdcage
where primordial shadows
meet and dance in the street performing rituals in the
warm, wild & windy midnight
air along either side of the
street.

I was only
a lonely observer.

But late one night deep
in the heart of the fifth
summer I sensed an
odd strength surging
through
my weakened wings--
equally born of physical
and emotional pain and
desperation.

I quietly opened the
door of my cage, glided
down the driveway and
onto the street below,
enticed by warm blustery
and liberating midnight
winds under the strange
glow of moonlight through

translucent
sunbaked
and
cracked
clay
clouds.

I no longer just longingly
admired the view of the
dancing shadows on the
street through a window;
I actually felt the shadows
of those living branches
and leaves dance with
my shadow and felt them
caress my

hair
face
arms
legs
mind
and
spirit

as I did a
low test flight with
them for
only about forty feet
over and along the
back street below.

I longed to continue
my solo night flight
like a bird through
the midnight air in
currents of streets
and hundreds of miles
of highway where my
baby and I like two
newly
freed birds could fly
across the

Sea
of
Change
and
of
Destiny

where we could at last
be truly free in our
hearts, in our minds,
and also physically.

But like a well-trained
domesticated bird
I reluctantly returned
to the large cage of my
mind where I continue
to dream of being free--

my
gentle
companion
and
me.

Wandered so long
I desire to cease
being on my own
for without ease
I've pressed on

I've fought alone enough
My battles, many to count

Relinquish control
Cry for help
catch my fall
Guide my leap
and fix my fate

I walk along an endless beach,
waves lapping at my ankles,
soft sand beneath my feet.
The world is a quiet peace.

I glance back and notice,
to my surprise,
two sets of footprints
trailing in the sand behind me.

I know He is here,
rejoicing in my joy,
walking beside me
because I have welcomed Him.

But one day, the wind rises.
The sky darkens, torn by thunder.
The waves crash, drowning my cries.
I stumble, unable to go on.

My life is unrecognizable—
rubble and filth,
pain and sorrow,
a world shattered by the storm.

And when I look back?
Only one set of footprints in the sand.

Why?

Am I truly alone?

I sit in silence,
lost in the weight of abandonment.
I search for understanding,
but all I find is emptiness.

I look up to the sky and cry out—
“Why have You forgotten me?”

Only then is the truth revealed.

Not my footprints, not my strength.
Every step in the sand was His.
Through the storm, He carried me,
through the waves, He walked.
Not a single moment alone.

I was never forsaken.
I forsook Him.
But he still carries me to the end

It hit me the other day
Not the smell of fresh tea
Nor the steam that hissed out of the spout
Spraying droplets into the air
But of the infinitesimal
Interconnected this of it all.

Even in this teapot a small ecosystem brews
Unaware of its function
I stared at my own reflection
And back it stared
It's eyes glassy
Or was that the sheen of the lacquer?
The smooth ceramic just was
yet my reflection was anything but
In it's simplicity it made a stranger out of me
I am a stranger to myself it seems
And yet I must be a teapot to others
Simplicity or duplicity
Equally deceptive yet difference in kind.
So let's drink tea you and I.