Thank You. Twice a year, I pull ‘round
the same old bend, a pit spinning round
and round my stomach.
I hop the fence to lay ribbon-tied
flowers. A petal falls, and I dream
that my friends and I graduated together;
they also come home to see
the school play about faith healers
while a crucifix watches.
Jesus is the only one looking me
in the eyes as I drift down dimly lit
halls, and I wish you were here, my friend.
You understand; I grew weary of self-denial
and her life intertwined with mine
henceforth. I won’t lie to you and say
I was never angry at those cloaked
in the wings of false angels, or that
it doesn’t hurt to remember. But
you left the light on and the door open.
I think of the solace upstairs, of poems
about flying cats and weighing dogs;
the act of catching fallen stars,
holding them in open palms,
and tending to the divine light within;
of quiet knowing; a shared
affinity for words and the distance
between them. The play ends and
I stand alone in the parking lot. In the
fluorescent halo of the streetlight, I think
it may be possible for me to forgive.
| Set Apart Space, boundaries defined,
both in written word,
acts in kind,
connecting to flesh and bone
linking to the divine
where clamorous voices are stultified
denied.
Whispers reverential have sole access to the
mind. Enter the communion of spirits,
only two can hear
the language silence speaks,
a code which binds the other
closer than a sister, a brother. Time to dwell here.
A shared experience–
imparting the inmost thoughts of the soul
to paper or companion
and the separation from the crowd
echoes as in a voluminous canyon. Authenticity blooms,
rooted in nourishment of its soil.
No need to press, fret, or toil.
Vulnerability emerges unafraid,
for confidence rests assured
any debt has been paid. Protection guaranteed,
no condemnation allowed
on outlier, alien, or loner,
for the flaws one bears
are embraced on the pages and
in the heart of this purified place. Allure of intimacy awaits.
Just reckon the reward
worth the risk.
Failure bears the moniker:
Opportunity Missed.
Rebirth, regeneration occurs
away from the overwhelming scorn
of those who have paid no similar cost,
who overlook the burdens one has borne
and pain, scars of relationships lost. Tethered twins with cords
of loyalty and trust,
fidelity of feeling is a must,
for this is an area put aside
where a small taste of heaven abides. |
