This is the place I asked you
Forever
The crisp cedar breeze
And Yards below
The pine canopy holds
Her breath as I reach for your hand
This is our world and nature
Hides her shadows amongst the roots.

This is the place I asked you for a future
The damp cedar air
And yards below
The pine canopy shudders and
Turns color as I grasp for your hand.

This is the place I asked for forgiveness
A harsh cedar wind
Bites but is fair
And miles below
The pine canopy cries and
Sheds her needles
As I search for your hand.

Time shook
And the shadows hummed
An ancient cicada song
Their heavy red eyes aware
The open iron gate clanging
In the wind - off beat.
After you were gone
There was no wasted breath -
No echoes.
No footsteps searching
Just emptyness
Like a two gallon stone crock
Drained.

It’s now two years
I still see your presence on Facebook
Mutual friends are reminded of your favorites and groups you followed - I see you daily.
Friends wish you happy birthday
and wonder how you are doing. You are a ghost.
If I knew your password  -id ask friends if they could see me in the room - tell them the next sound they hear is me -
I know you would laugh and maybe you are here
smiling; knowing someone was thinking about you -
ghosting.

Yards before us the smoke pillars call.
Feeling triumphant I allow an exhausted smile,
Imagining the call of the drum and fife -
A cease fire echoing
Over the formidable fields.

Moving shadows turned faces pale
Flashes of blue and certain sound,
From the east rose a line in sudden bound.
I stood tall against the wall of fire steel and hell -
Swallows fly overhead.

Before me hidden an amazing sight
Pain like an avalanche frozen
Through till I cried
One great stroke stole my fight
As scalding water seems icy.

Envious hot lead tore through my side
Splintering a rustic fence post behind
Me - filled with life overgrown like
The rivers edge a beautiful divide
Attacked by creepers.

My knees forget old pain
Before me I see your face
And I breath last words - your name.
And my hands are like mountain air chilled by rain.
Your eyes speak love.

The sky is gray.
Reaching out for you the ground catches me
And the cold earth feels comforting.
For you I fall today.

I saw you walking away from the sun
In the stinging wind and a coat of dust
Through the star juniper and bitter sagebrush.

We watched the sun spider for hours
Splayed out on the concrete wall
Like an ancient relic unearthed -
An Alexandrian myth.

We laughed at the thought of death
How does it bite?

I knew your laughter was deceptive;
Something hidden, aromatic and bold,
A breathless groan uttered
By the old -
Obscuring sadness.

I still looked away
And you were gone.

By the fire
The son shut his eyes.
Words traveled slowly
Like dying stars wandering
Into dark corners of the night.

You were done - said your part
You saw the light,
Set yourself down on the
Frozen ground.

You hardened your heart
Said it looked better in stone
As you kept your eyes open to the flame.

I dreamt about a poem
Covered in cotton sheets,
Hanging from a clothes line.
And the air stirs,
The clouds pass by
Whispering somber utterances -
Words not meant for man.

And I walked out in frustration
From my bedroom morning light
Down the backyard porch steps
Into the wind
And said nothing.
I said nothing to the shadows.
Spoke not a word to the clouds.

Alone and forgotten
Waiting for the words to dry.