Divine Self-Expression

I said, "Imagine removing fear
from all decisions we decide today."

She said, "You would burn your finger
or walk straight into the nearest wall."

I asked, "Would there be anything left 
holding me back from making the change 
that most needs to happen?"

She answered, "There are poems that can
be found in the movement of the leaves
blown by the unseen wind."

I said, "Any love can survive until one
comes across an unexplained drawing
in cryptoglyphic writing on the walls."

She said, "We become the chosen language
of the divine seeking to express itself."

The One Question

I remember summer days 
when birds crowded the feeder 
and more walked below 
pecking at fallen seeds.
Somewhere a preacher asks 
of those listening with ears to hear
to draw the meaning of scripture 
out of the mythical realm 
and into daily experience.
Do the birds hear the same words?
The secret given to us at dawn,
does it still remain quiet and secure
after we have given it away so many times?
Though the words of the questions
remain the same, they can be rearranged
in infinite ways to provide the answer
to the one question always being asked:
Will the birds feed today?

Said and Done

I have written about joys lived
and unhappiness suffered 
for many days and years.
The pages break time down.
Line after line ties my body
to ink on bound paper.
The spirit travels by moving
forward and backward
between today and the past.
I hope to not have to choose
with my last act of free will
between becoming a drop 
in the ocean or remaining myself
or vanishing into nothingness.
Some sort of combination
depending upon my mood
sounds nice.  To not have
sunsets and the laughter 
of a beloved surrounding
me on a calm evening
seems like a loss.  Will I care?
I hope so.  And, after all has been said
and done, I hope that my cares
blend with the cares of others
in some peaceful and decent way.

Off

Last night a book
leapt off the shelf
and fell open to a page
that I have not read in years.

Sometimes I take my eyes
off the mist
pocketed in the ridges
and valleys below me.

The morning song
of the birds gave
the crickets and frogs
the day off.

A breeze blows
off and on
stirring the fine hair
of my daughter.

The words I write
are meant to be
peeled off the pages
of these seasons.

We All Must Go Too

I remember when a daughter
magically became one year older
so that she could ride a horse
with her older sister.  

Such precise alchemy
occurs only on paper
when a pen writes one number
instead of another.

The rain will continue
to fall outside my window
and nobody will know
when the wand waved.

If one girl is brave enough
to step through her fear
and join her sister in an adventure
then we all must go too.

Unlock

I try to follow the inner workings of those exhibits
found in places where history is stored.  My eyes,
though, lose focus.  Shrieks of joy from children
delighting in balls bouncing and the turning of gears
while levers move up and down urge me on 
back to when I saw with purer vision.  I know that I too
once held my face to the glass placed between myself
and the larger mysteries of life that were duplicated
before me.  To some it has been given.  To others
it has not been given.  In which crowd do I find myself?
A long time ago someone handed me a set of keys.
I have yet to find the doors which each one opens.  
Perhaps I will wait until company arrives and together
we will unlock fate and hope.

I Hope You Feel Better Soon

Writes a daughter on a small note
in her beginner's handwriting
lines veering up then down
random letters capitalized
because a child sees important things
where bigger people fail to look. 

I do not remember 

what ailment or sickness she saw in me
which called her to pour forth care.
A cold.  A bruised bone.  A headache.

I do not remember.

I pasted the note in my journal
and now some two decades later
I come across her words
my mind tormented and anguished
by choices made though not my own
which I remember with each breath.

It has been twenty years for me
to begin to feel better soon.