Still, Dover Beach

The ebb and flow of love,

smooth pebbles tossed

against the shore,

leaves unbelievers lost,

rough tumbled in its roar.

Pale specter of the world,

its shadows fall

on darkling plain;

White cliffs will still loom tall

ere crumbling once again.

And melancholy night

in timeless paths

across the sky,

are stilled by lovers' words

though long centuries pass them by.

For rivers of our time

still interweave
with currents past;
Covenants conceived,
collected like sea-glass.

One note hangs in the air:

the channel's cry

at end of day,

voluminous with life

before its sweet decay.

And there still hangs the moon,                                 
on Dover's tide,

its plaintive song;                                               
Eternal notes abide.

Sea of faith still moves as strong.

Old Sophocles could hear

the voice of time

within the spray;

And now the voice is mine,

lest my words be washed away.

The ebb and flow of time,

a love sea- tossed

against the strand,

retreat and then return,

back to the moon-blanched land.

      

Somewhen Between

I'm somewhen between

the veil and the day

the color of singing,

the cool sound of blue ~

Somewhere I lean

against breath of the sky

and touch the horizon

that curls into you ~

Sometime I gather

the scent of my dreaming

and fold up the night

in pockets of sand ~

Then sweep up the notions

that rain from the darkness,

tumbling like fire

to the palm of my hand ~

Vertices

I
keep 
you in this
triangle with me –
it is a closed figure, true.
And why not a circle? Here, we can 
find our place in all things & meet at vertices ~ 
or retreat to our own side and look
across forever into each others’
eyes. We can know a true
beginning place. Then
know an ending.
And it will
be ex
act.

Boy

I crept down stealth

Pathways jagged he left open into secret places

boy hiding

When I touched him

Ready to run

When I woke him

Ready to be in my arms

When the dark and quiet hid him in love’s openness

I pretended not to know his name

Pretended not to know

Four score years and more is a long time to be alone

ungrown

Pathways jagged we have traveled

Entered whole and left fragmented

My empty spaces

Voluminous

Fill him

Fissures filled with hurt like putty gushing

He blocks entry with my bareness

Takes my nothing and turns it into mortar and brick

Yet something seeps

And now he’s left the scent of his long sleep on me

And what am I to do with that?

Earth Trembles

I am Earth.
And Traveler,
I can feel you in the twilight

I can feel your steps coming to me
treading to the sound of my heart pounding
crossing mountains

I feel your hands
dark fingers exploring milky crevices
your open palms pressing on the cool and moist

soft face against face
climbing higher
your body strong against me
crossing mountains

I feel your thirsty mouth
drinking from me
and I give more to quench you

I feel your breath
hot, moving swiftly over restless seas
touching me like moonlight on waves
your breath
hungry and humming
heavy and hushed
stirring dust in hot deserts

fields sway like music when you exhale
trees bend low at your impatience
waters swell

the moon moves the tides in my hips
you open your arms and the sun rises in them

ebony shroud blankets white flesh
frost melts away from me
sweet dew, slippery lips on lips

Earth trembles
mountains crumble beneath your gaze
beneath your fingertips

Seas rush in to me
and leave in the sweet rhythm of our selves
your breath, still music,
heavy in the air

Gaia quakes
exposing secret places
dangerous and beautiful

Traveler, I still feel you.