Courage

-------Courage-------

When I find the courage 

to let myself be seen

I will 

finally

see you.

Until then I will remain

with the candle in my hand

fumbling through 

darkness 

for a match.

-------

So Completely Filled

-------So Completely Filled-------

The peaches and cream colored sunrise

I watched on hilltop this morning

made me hungry,

so I started back

toward home the long way.

Through the forest, along uneven trails of earth and stones

and the river; the quiet, winding river 

I have traced so many times upon my lovers back;

each curve and bend

a fractal ode to the persistence of Life's pattern.

This memory kept me warm

as the air turned grey and cold

and followed me to my little cabin,

wherein awaited a fire

and a cup of bitter tea.

Sipping 

   these 

      slowly

my insides rejoiced 

like a valley replenished by a flood,

and I wondered

on the temptress, sugar,

on the satiety of movement,

and how the graceful ways of Nature

can fill one so completely.

-------

Within

-------Within-------

Throughout 

the entirety 

of my life

I have known 

only great women 

and men.

Some 

have put on disguises

or change their names,

but Love has taught me 

how to listen

and where to look

and no matter how clever

one's efforts to hide 

may be,

their Light 

reaches out to me,

like a beacon through the fog,

saying, "here I am,

here 

I am."

-------

The Earth Turning

-------The Earth Turning-------

Our lives spin around

upon a fine 

and fragile point.

Over and over.

The tide turns a broken bottle into sea-glass.

I have walked through graveyards in Spring,

down dark, forgotten trails

lined by nettles and wineberry,

over hills, alone

and into hollers,

and I have been kissed

by the greatest 

beauty 

this world 
has ever known.

The sun will rise, no doubt.

If you sit quiet

you can feel 

the Earth 

turning.

-------

Longest Night

-------Longest Night-------

From the longest night

a beautiful, little seed

rises with the Sun.

-------

A Rose

-------A Rose-------

Sorrow 

need not be 

just a thorn,

but a gentle reminder

to take care

with the awesome 

beauty

at hand.

-------

Vocation

-------Vocation-------

Know me

as I know myself

better in the garden.

Forgiving my name to the Earth

and my plans to the movement of the seasons

I dig

bare-handed and grateful to the cold

for this chance to feel.

I am here

and very far away

seeing and unseen

like a memory on the surface

crouching humbly before death and life

and planting seeds

into a thousand years

of rebirth.

This is spirit taking shape.

Know me

true.

-------