Rose early, fixed me a cup of coffee
Sitting on my back porch
Watching the awakening sun
Filter through the grove
Bringing light and a trace of warmth

Once again miss your sleepy snuggle
And sweet morning kiss
My arms felt especially empty today
Would have been our 40th
Vile cancer took you some 5 years ago

Sometimes, I wish I had not risen
Just lay in bed with dreams of you
But life screams the futility of that
Rue we had no children
But a few friends remain

Am I becoming more like the silent trees
Less able to speak with others
Lonely citadels to the noise of the day
Half-seeing and half-feeling
If only I could pull up the covers of night

Gulls squawking complaints
against the ocean
washing o’er tasty sandcrabs
with its perfunctory motion

On barefeet, I trod the damp
and crunchy sand,
drawing closer to the water,
smelling the kelp infested land

Someday I’ll travel far
Sail to distant places
Wash off this grit and tar
Find what another shore replaces

In the meantime,
breathe deep the morning air
Feel the awakening of day
Subdue this wanderlust prayer

The horizon will be there tomorrow
No urgency to flee
The ocean e’er eases my sorrow
I’ll always yearn for the sea

the dark night blinds me
yet I see not in day’s glare
my eye needs shadows

fly atop my hand
brings a brisk reactive slap
oh merciless god

summer laughter sings
until winter brings its chill
icy silence forms

time for me is near
born in water, die in sand
a blink in God’s eye

Not any choice of word
Can capture song of bird