unencumbered

 

 

 

pare away the unnecessary
the self-serving elements
pull off all want and need
neither requirements
nor conditions
may remain

love unencumbered
will meet no
boundary
on its way
and this
must
find
its mark



reunion

We gave in that day
to laughter
long and delicious,
not at all our usual
smile-then-back-to-business.
No...

We lifted up a rare and
precious music
together surrendering to
simple delight
as the canopy of green spilled
innocence down in droplets
of blessing.

But walls that had so long contained
my spirit, built stone by stone
of remembered pain,
mortared with shadows and secrets
by long labor of my own hands,
fell away
some way
in this Sharing.

Startled, my smile began to falter…

In that moment,

I saw you

for the first time
in years

and my heart swelled
to sudden pain,
unaccustomed
to the light.

ashes, ashes

chestnut curls drift
in lazy whorls
strangely
slowly
to the floor
time itself
reluctant
to touch her

but hair will grow
again not knowing
how relentless
is this blade

   clothes torn
   hair shorn
   nothing left
   to cut

reluctant fingers
relax their hold
cold clunk
of steel on counter

   ashes

she turns
from the mirror
seeing nothing
hearing nothing
feeling blessed nothing
near the surface in this moment
but the urgency of ashes


   there must be
   something here
   to burn



~jws
reworked from 2006 version


Linking up to dVerse ~ Poet's Pub Open Link night.

offering

I hold

the weight

of this day’s

silence

one more

heavy

offering

to place

upon the

altar

of stones

stacked

high

each still

throbbing

with living

heat

of all that

would be

spoken

if not for the

crushing

severity

of this

sacrifice

I have

required

of me

and I struggle to remember

the why of it.

(From the archives, April 4, 2009)