And there she was,
Stepping past the image of herself
To be seen in my light.
As those close to me know
How she has stirred
Spring melodies from my guitar—
My head thrown back,
Eyes fastened
Finding myself by
       catching her scent—
Her kiss.

This is the image of love,
A world in its place
As a flower to a vase.
The measure of my speech,
With a ripening to newness—
And the palms that sway to our song,
Lifting their limbs to provide
the solace of shade.
The sand of the beach sleeping
beneath our feet -
Each wave rising from the depths
To exhibit an emerald
Even the whales have never seen

Cadence and sound
       - the salt air -
Yielding a second melody
With the intimacy of grace -
And we came into the scene
as the scene—
Serendipitously  

The source of the sea
and her longing.
Like the movement of wind -
Born to reveal
The love found within

____________

Holding hands on the plane
The wings become our adventure
Guiding us through orchards of clouds -
Each blossom kissed by a sunset’s fire
Each moment steeped in the sweetness
of fragility

We are light
Adrift above the city’s spires
Soaring past the limits of hawks, of eagles
Beyond the reach of reason

Like a ballerina, arms like wire -
The earth tilts on her axis
but love, unyielding, holds us aloft
A gravity of its own making


Silence takes comfort in our ears
The quiet roar of leaving again -
of shedding the weight of the banal
We wave goodbye to labor -
To everything that cannot follow us

___________

It resides where the heart raves
Where the pulse pauses
The blood thickens
And the cadence of one's breath
Beckons

Getting *****  
Never felt so divine
So luminous -
We bend the knee
To drink from this fountain

It dwells where fashion has foreclosed
Radiant as a sapphire
Moments like this shine
Like grace under pressure
They inspire youthful laughter -
In the construct of all liabilities

I am haunted by how few know
That intimacy lies beyond the boundary
Of secrecy
Housed in the hills of vulnerability

When one loves
One is remade anew

_________

It's the echo of laughter in the morning -
Where shadows yield to soft whispers
Which only the heart can hear

The canvas that is your naked back
Is my sunrise
In this fleeting moment I am a song
A rhythm
A kiss
Both spectator and participant

Pleasure has its own burn
Like the heartbeat flicker of a candle
It leaves its mark

The dance of light -
Sleep

The dark

____

The morning is tender
& the world begins anew
Our bodies heavy with the residue of intimacy
Awaken with a delicate touch

We share laughter
We whisper
I bite your back -
Scatter kisses
Around your body
Like the first mist of rain after a long drought
Tracing your limbs -
To the rhythm of our breathing
Closing in on a cadence
Renewed by heartbeats converging
Deeper than any flower can hide

This moment is our interlude
Our sanctuary
Our echo of bliss
Kindling the start of a new day

________

The dim fragility of grace
Begins between voice & lips
Swallowing the distance between us -
We push back the walls of shadow
With a whisper
Tangled in the romance of hope
Which burns at the edge of sleep

Our future, with no voice of its own
Is sent to us as a gift
It undresses us
Passes thru
Like an internal wind
and like the lilac
We bend

__

I heard it in the wind
To leave
And leave again