I feel your arms around me
as I think of you today,
and like so many other times,
send letters as I pray.

You left us oh so long ago;
a lifetime, so it seems,
and often visit as I sleep,
if only in my dreams.

Your spirit still so present here;
so oft you bring me calm,
and with this heav’nly letter,
send my love up to you, Mom.

Your final words, “I love you”;
you mouthed them in your sleep
then drifted off to join the realm,
of where we all will sleep.

My hand I held upon your brow,
we said our last goodbyes,
and blessed you as you left the room,
as your soul took winged flight.

Though twenty and some years ago,
you left us far behind,
a silent space inside my heart,
is grieving still, I find.

The heavens cry for us below,
who struggle through the times we know,
for us to waken from this night to day.

While sadness wraps and clothes us all,
the silent death whose lives befall,
uncushioned in our quarantine we wait.

As sorrow leaks from out our eyes,
we’ve no one left to heed our cries,
though many of the world have tried and failed.

And while this nightmare plays its game,
we watch in horror and in shame,
as mirrors to our souls this virus holds.

My broken heart, now aches for you,
I long to steal away your pain.
Your life, yet touched in shades of blue,
and gray amidst the falling rain.

While days now seem as if surreal,
and energy has been erased,
allow yourself the time to heal,
and wrap yourself in love’s embrace.

But life is brief, no guarantee,
for what our future will foretell,
so we must live beyond routine;
embracing ev’ry moment well.

So when our time has come at last,
to bid our life on earth adieu,
with no regret we leave the past,
to dance on heaven’s morning dew.

So though your heart is bleeding now,
and pain surrounds your ev’ry bend,
your grief will lessen, this I vow,
and peace will find you in the end.

I’ve buried you upon the moon,
along with all my secret desires.
I’ve hidden you away from view,
protecting my tender heart.

The secret lies we tell ourselves,
so we never have to face the truth;
the lives we lock behind our doors
and desperation of our youth.

I’ve banished you to that life of grey,
bereft of me to dwell on you,
and shades me from judgmental eyes.
releasing me to live in peace.

From first we met, I knew you forever;
your soft, sad chocolate eyes dancing with mischief,
your hands, moving to the ballet of a silent flute,
and your spirit singing in harmony with mine.

I’ve loved you more than words could express;
from a lifetime away, as from a distant planet,
your spirit gently washing against my shore,
speaking to me while I live life alone.

I’ve loved you most, throughout this dream of life,
though our walkabout was a lifetime apart,
I’ve heard you calling in the wind, the trees,
and always in my heart, urging me to come home.

Waiting for the springtime warmth,
to melt away the snows,
I see the green of springtime growth,
break through the crust below.

Through long and frigid winter months
and dangers that were fraught,
our northern states have braved the cold,
that mother nature brought.

Through banks of ice cream frosted snow,
that wrapped the land in white,
the brave green shoots of newborn grass,
peek through with morning's light.

The cold is lifting, none too soon;
it’s fled before the melt,
and left this wanting, summer soul,
rapt with the joy I've felt.

The sun pours out it's tender hues
over this monochrome land of daybreak.
as muted cracks of chartreuse blink
at me between the buildings to greet my day.

In the first light, before the streets busy,
mist hangs over the land,
softening the stark edges of man
on this island of soft nature, lush with life.  

Surfers aloft, atop curls that wink back at the heavens,
their bodies silhouetted against the eastern glow,
Ocean waves ripple against the golden powder beneath my feet,
as I become one in spirit with this sunshine island.

We raise our cries in unison at the rain
as it pelts heavily on our lives,
drowning our tomorrows
with its dreariness and gloom.

Clenching our fists to the clouds,
we lift the voice of frustration,
as we wait for this perfect storm to abate
and give us solace.

As we huddle amidst the shelters
of our convictions,
we hold our breath and wipe
the wet of anger from our eyes.

Red shards of this broken heart lay strewn about underfoot,
after a lifetime of battles and war.
Once strong, protected behind walls of iron and steel,
my resistance rusted amidst neglect and abuse.

My heart shattered, I lay fallen before my foe;
leaving me vulnerable before love’s arrows,
I’ve felt the sting of battle in love and war throughout life.
Once a singular crimson, a tender puzzle lies.

Yet, with time and love, its scarlet cracks have been sewn together,
like lead between pieces of stained glass in windows;
broken fragments replaced with colorful hues,
and prisms of light dance with reflected beauty from within.

Chocolate; that dark addiction,
with its rich sweetness;
Belgian, French, Dutch; a triple cocktail.
Little does it matter which is offered;
all, my taste buds’ Achilles heel
and shared way to my heart.

October moon, oh harvest moon,
that’s come and gone but far too soon,
for summer sings its last goodbye,
within the stillness of the night.

When shadows fall beyond the trees,
when life still stirs within their leaves,
and music of the evening cries,
within the stillness of the night.

Far from the realm of everyday,
stars dance the moonlit night away,
and lovers' hearts each still descry,
within the stillness of the night.

October moon, oh harvest moon,
within the stillness of the night.

Like a gentle, warm summer breeze,
you brushed away my tears,
and kissed the bloodied knees
of that child so long ago.

You hugged away the broken heart
of this teen, growing up before you
and almost made me imagine
a life in which I’d feel whole again.

With loving-kindness you listened
and soothed the angst
of this young woman,
struggling in a world alone.

And as we said our last goodbye,
you gently smiled away my tears,
quietly reassuring me we’d meet again
someday beyond the clouds.

Now, your spirit has found me once again,
like the memory of that summer breeze,
softly brushing away the tears of the child I hold inside,
and whispering of a mother’s undying love.

In a lonely place where blackbirds cry,
where the brave young hearts lie down to die.
Like summer blooms in fall must bend,
those lonely lives in bleakness end.

The cold gray autumn days gone by,
in a lonely place where blackbirds cry,
The heaviness where sorrow grows,
where ghosts of those who’ve passed are known.

Your spirits call across the way,
lamenting days where life decays.
In a lonely place where blackbirds cry,
where such young lives wave sad goodbyes.

Now with the past you’re laid to rest,
your shadows and your sad bequest.
At last the blood has all run dry,
in a lonely place where blackbirds cry.