Tag Archives: Relationship

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?

Next to One Another

The vanishing disquiet of my heart
reminds me of the sacraments I missed
long ago; replaced with sacred moments
different from the last.  Others may look
upon how I search for the symbolic and say,
"It just didn't work well," but we never came
to any agreement on anything where protecting
our own wishes, desires and dreams mattered.
How can you tell if people are not interested?
How many bad looks does it take before
the fascination of slowly coming together
becomes, and even overcomes, anything
folded into two parts laying next to one another?

Again

Come, let us make futures for one another.
Without our knowing
the snow will turn to rain again
And back to snow again.

If all we know of delight
comes from our wishing for
what we deserve or even desire
then being in the presence of the one that loves
will be more than enough again.

Imagine being the only guest for one another
after meeting for the first time
and then to meet again
in some present future where
the rain turns to snow and back again.

A Love Letter

I said, "I have decided to give my life
the title 'Extreme Experiments.'"

She said, "Funny, I don't consider
myself extreme or experimental."

I said, "But you have given me
the possibility to recognize
a grander perspective."

She smiled.  "Two people.  Peculiar
lives.  Some shared space and time
spent in each other's arms makes
all the difference."

I smiled, too.  "I had no idea this
conversation was going to turn
into a love letter."

She said, "As one brilliant mind wrote,
'We complex people cannot retreat
to blockish simplicities.'"

“For it is…here a little, there a little…” – Isaiah 28:10

God of bits and pieces,
God of the whole,
who allows the length
of time to pass unabated;
gather up the remnants
leftover from forgotten meals;
mend the fragments
fallen from our hands;
unite the untidy
workings of our minds;
for we are caught up 
in the little we have here
and in the little we have there.
Amen.

Seeing each other for the first time:

An incredible encounter of tingling minds,
inspiring both to move beyond flirtatious
eye-play to a deep place of wanting to know
and to be known.

Distance and separation between events
during this time drive despair of not being
physically close away as fear of severing
any relationship dissipates.

Initiative to share the same experience rests
on the intensity of always returning together
again from being lost to the other as great
events happen during evenings.

Perfect Edge

Knifing my way around
the edge of the sqaure
pan of brownies, I say,
"Everyone wants the middle piece."

She says, "I am not a middler,"
while grabbing two inches of crisp edge.

I grab one whole side of edge,
"A perfect relationship is found
in sharing."

She smiles, "We both love the edge."

I say, "And eat the middle
if there is room."

She declares, "There is always
room in the middle between us."

Love Poem

Washing dishes I hear the piano
     - or - is it the sound of vibrating strings,
          - or - the meeting of felt and wound steel?
From the tenderness of notes
     - it must be - 
          the slight pressing of your fingertips
on ivory.  
     - Those same fingertips -
          - curled -
          - resting -
          - on my chest - 
an hour ago before you awoke.

Petal Me

"Take your time with the one you love
while avoiding the sucking rush
of the vacuumer of souls.
For Death is the only one who waits
at the end of that vicious pull."

She said, "There you go again.
Turning a romcom into a tragedy."

I paused and said, 
"The only good thing to come out 
of constantly being disappointed 
is becoming good at assuaging 
the disappointment in others."

She said, patting the cushion, 
"Come.  Sit back down.
Here.  Next to me."

I said, "The world is full of roles 
and a role is but a gesture in time."

She said, "Some say love is like a rose.
Leave your thorns in the kitchen.
Petal me."

Garden

Cultivate a willingness to increase 
your imagination of surprise
for the possibilities 
we create in each other.
Standing in the middle 
of a dormant winter garden
the location of carefully arranged bulbs
planted over seasons and years and ages
remains unknown until the work of the sun.
We are each other’s god.  And, like god, neglected.