with you i only live today
of the woods, in the midst
where monkeys grunt,
empress cicadas chant

i dance you on the bed of leaves
with your arms around me
and your lips against  mine
i don't want to cease the day

with you i only live today
on your wings,
i’m carried above  
with the mists
i float like clouds

the trees stood still
like the guardians
around your arms
nothing can be harm

guardian of the forest
friend of the wild
they listen to your heart, soft and gentle

with you i live only today
share the purest honey
on our lips we lick it

I’m almost never in the position to
let the curiosity and memories control me
But when I am,
it takes everything I have not to drive by
for my own contentment
just to see.
My tired body has moved on
but my mind is still upstairs and straight-down-the-hall
cutting pictures out of magazines
splicing them together in pages of notebooks
and aching for what I have today.

Things sound different now.
Fire trucks and shouting neighbors
kids playing on front lawns.
I don’t walk out of my back door
to my own personal jungle,
I don’t hold my breath to feel the stillness
and let the hushed air envelop me.
I’m not careless and flying on the seat of my swing set
that my parents tore down while I was away at college.
But I can still step outside and feel the same heat
and I can still feel the same weight on my chest
and the birds go on chirping like before.

Painted against the sky this prayer
in golden green, one more feather
to the warbler and whistle-bird
a carpet of dew-wet leaves
welcoming the Autumn Goddess
to this our forlorn world
tiled homes wilting at the horizon
from smoke rising in the morning
mists, rising high the distant
lure of the modern life.
Yet here is a clearance in the
once jungle abiding by the rivulet
where red and purple those
flowers of the unknown kinds
lose themselves in the colours
of the Autumn Goddess who
rides the winds with her
bow of the the fading green
brooding thoughts of undying pain
in the depths of eternal pining
of earth for the heavens

I'm sorry that I look away every time I catch your glance
But I got hurt so badly the last time I took a chance
I know it sounds cliche but I can't fall into your trance
I can't allow myself to be anything more than an acquaintance

But you're so beautiful
So beautiful
And if I wasn't so ****** I probably could love you
If you wanted me to
You're so beautiful

And love at first sight might not be love at all
I know you have my number, but you probably won't call
The anticipation's enough to make my flesh crawl
I've never felt so tiny, no I've never felt so small

But you're so beautiful
So beautiful
And if you weren't across the room I could probably love you
If you wanted me to
Because you're so beautiful

And I love you
Yes I love you
Your eyes are kind and large
I have to fight the urge
To walk over
I won't walk over

-E (c) 2017

The way you watched as I ran ahead in search of elephants,
Is not the reason I feel in love with you,
On that crisp autumn day.
The way we both agreed on how terrifying it would be to zip line over the man made jungle,
Was not the reason I held your hand so tightly.
The reason I feel in love with you was how excited you were to see the red pandas,
" Like they're ready for a wedding"
The reason I held your hand so tightly,
Was because the butterflies in my stomach were threatening to make me fly.

There Was A Dare Dog In This Town
That often ventured the wild and returned at dawn
He treasured the jungle floor he could lie on
till the night he lay on the tail of a Lion
and never lived to tell of the Lion's frown.

I reached out to the twiddled vines, clawing my way to the boarder, sighing in relief from exhaustion. My knees dropped to the ground. I shook my head-trying not to let the excruciating pain of his absence overwhelm my need to hear his voice once more. Devastated, I just couldn’t accept his last words as it dragged my mind through the depths of despair.  The whole situation was desperate. My legs couldn’t keep intact with normality, shaking and tensing. My chest, I could feel it tighten under the weight of my emptiness. Feeling smothered, I gasped for even just a short breath and I couldn’t make out any words, I just couldn’t.