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Cliff Perkins Jan 12
All white beneath, all blue above
All crystal in between
Where blackened spires reach ever higher
Entombed in frozen tears
Holding tight with all its might
Ice clasps every limb

Too soon the sun shows his fierce face
Now each tree flames afire
A narcissus and Icarus
Their beauty brighter, higher!
But beauty’s price is sacrifice
Tis come the judgement hour

The fairy world the storm unfurled
Now meets its moist demise
A southern breeze stirs tops of trees
Stand still - you’ll hear the cries
Losing their cold they lose their hold
Letting loose with sighs

Their tinkling sound heard all around
Sharp shards of broken glass
Each limb and branch an avalanche
To forest floor below
Comes crashing down from oaken crown
To kiss the melting snow
No wonder we chose spring for Easter
All nature joins in resurrection
Today, I found blood on a feather

The reckoning keeps coming faster
Invention killing all connection
Dead bees among the heather

Life and death and in between
A crazy quilt of paradox
Shall we be ****** or saved?

What in heaven does it mean?
Was Jesus crazy like a fox?
Is joy doubled, sorrow halved?

Not knowing gives me chills
Two calves playing tag
Romp over verdant hills
You can live three weeks without food
Three days without water
Three minutes without oxygen

Which death takes longer?
There is a simple test
Hold your breath.
Go slow, like the old dog
Lying at your feet
Sitting on high bluff’s edge
Perusing all the lake

Chase not God with words or thoughts
If you do she’ll run away
Like fairy queens and forest nymphs
Fearful of your brash approach

Be the patient lover
No tearing loose the blouse
To satiate your ****** urge
So never feeling hers

Sit stock still on the red oak
A hundred plus years old
That lies now like the old dog
Toppled by the storm

Listen like he listens
Look longly, like he looks
Taking time to take all in
Things never learned in books

Don’t say a word to the old dog
And he won’t say a word to you
Sense the peace in his silence
Look long into his eyes

Follow his example
Trust he knows the way
Words are the Devil’s workshop
The old dog knows it well

After a while you’ll thank him
When your boredom turns to grace
When you quit thinking anything
And thus see God face to face
Early morning brought her
Sunlight from the water
Footlights for the forest
Highlights on every leaf

Hours pass before us
Quieting birdsong chorus
Stealing dew from flowers
My mid morning Grief
Cliff Perkins Dec 2024
I folded towels differently
Before you came

I still fold them carefully
Although you’ve gone.
Cliff Perkins Nov 2024
Thank God the wind was right
And I was sitting still
As she tiptoed through the forest
And slowly climbed my hill

She, a ballerina
Practicing her dance
Quietly closed our distance
Daring to take a chance

Pricking up her black tipped ears
Flashing tail of white
Straining to see what I might be
Eveready to take flight

Now she dares come no closer
Slowly lifts her head
Holds me in her doe like eyes
"Are you alive or dead?”

I was alive, (or so I thought)
Until that moment came
When her soft gaze pierced my side
‘til blood and water ran

There I died a thousand deaths
A thousand times rebirth
One quick turn of her small head
Moved my heaven and earth

In that infinite moment
I finally learned
All eternity
Is in each moment born
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