What have you brought?
No more than I need.
What I have sought?
To let my heart bleed.

What have you done
But let me be wild?
Trust in a woman
Joy in a child.

You say you’ll love me always
but can that love express?
Inexplicably connected
we connect without success.

Play dates, texts and evening swims
You hurt to hear me now,
so one must find the reasons,
then things can fix somehow.

You suggest you see what’s best
by having stopped to think
of reasons why we must not try.
You sent me them in ink.

Head says I need less neediness.
Head says you need more trust.
Head says contact is much too soon.
Cold turkey is the best.

But after saying all you think
you ask twice for response.
and signify a little wink.
that takes my breath and sense.

And since you’ve left me senseless
and broken me apart
perhaps our love I can express
without my head but heart.

Now I know not of reasons-
things we can control.
I know love has its seasons.
I know I feel your soul.

I know naught that can be taught.
I know just what I feel.
I know there are no rules for us.
I beg borrow and steal.

And what is real and what is dream?
And how can one decide?
And when to stop and when to start?
And when to end the ride?

There are no answers in the mind
They harbor in the soul
How do I feel about time to heal?
The word “heal” comes from “whole”.

The soul knows naught of “either or”
It sings the song “both and”
It knows naught of right or wrong
It forfeits for The Friend

I see two trees twined in the wood
have rubbed raw one another.
I see them healing one on one
each giving each their cover

So if I ignore what you implore-
to give you time to heal
and instead of time I give this rhyme
that rings like your bell’s peal.

That fills the room like our first Ohhm
that stabs you to your core.
Let us forgive and let love live,
and row toward the roar.

The teenaged brown eyed seeker
Reads Elizabethan verse
Like an ancient incantation
To slake her ***** thirst
For her own Beloved
But the words seem more a curse

Why is it “Lord” and “Father”?
Where has Abba gone?
All that Kingdom, will and power
Turns the daily bread to stone
And the evil and the glory
Leaves her so alone

Lovers know temptation
And deliverance!
But must hold equal station
If they are to dance.

Your talk of my trespasses
And Heaven where Thou art
Your “hallows” feel like gallows
Around my trembling heart

Your words have left me broken
To shed my tears alone
For I can never love you
While you sit upon a throne

I just wanted the paper
To grab and pay and run
I had places to go
and things to do

But the guy behind the counter
had a funny name
so I took a chance and asked
“Where are you from?”

He laughed like earth’s first sunrise
And said “You gotta guess”.
I could not leave
unless I played along

His degree is in physics
But then he quit that job
So he could be
a gas station cashier

Taking up our money
Taking up our time
Taking us to places that we fear

Taking up our worries
Taking up our cares
Charging us nothing but good cheer

I wanted to keep playing
I didn’t want to leave
But there were people
backing up behind

So I said I’ll see you later
And knew that I spoke true
Knew I needed
this man so fun and kind

So if you’re in a hurry
Have too much to do
If you see my smiling man
Say thank you to Ebu

Sitting on the deck
Hot humid afternoon
Gin and tonic
Melting fast

A whisper of a breeze
Begins

Approaching thunderstorms
What did my Grandma say
Too much wind to be any rain
But at least cool air

I walk down to the lake
To see the show

The deep water has gone dark
Reflecting the trees
A green that is closer to black

And clouds too
More black than grey
With El Greco tumult
Making them boil
Like Shirley Temple’s hair

Some bird
A tiny speck moving closer
To ride these wild currents
As they increase speed across the open lake
Then meet with the huge trees on the far shore  
And burst upward
Giving awesome power beneath the wings

Ecstatic over this opportunity
He whirls and twirls
Others join him
They cannot contain their joy

Then like all things
This too is gone
Normality returns

But in those dying breaths I swear an oath
I shall remember this

Rumblings of expectation
Herald something crucial
About to burst forth from the blank page
Like Lazarus from his tomb

Words emerge like crocus tips
One here, one there
Promises of what might come
If all goes well

Stops and starts
A promising phrase
A natural rhyme
Become false prophets
Die upon the vine

The cursor
Wanders aimlessly over text
A pilgrimage for meaning
Nothing points the way

Like a vague dream
Snatches here and there
It fades into oblivion
And will not come again

One foot slow
Then another
Held in air
Settling soft on leaf litter

A sudden freeze
Stock still
Seconds pass like hours
Eyes, ears, legs
locked in tense suspense

trip wire
pin pulled
dog explodes
furious fur
toward the waiting squirrel