You & I

I saw the leaves floating gently to rest 

And the old man sitting quietly

Gazing out across the ocean water 

Embracing all of its beauty one last time

While he waited to be taken away 

I thought, life is so brief and full of longing

That the end of our days would be kind

And the result of our journey 

A reflection of how well we have loved 

Even of how well we have lost 

I know that I don’t want to die yet

Because I only just met you, here

And although happiness is ephemeral

I should like to know someday

That we had built some of our own 

“With you I move through deep water, as in the night dream that called to me

The one where I swim in the darkness among the imposing, silent monoliths

In search of something that makes sense

With you I lean into what is unspoken, the undercurrent of quiet knowing

More powerful than speech, illuminating realizations that bubble to the surface

Guiding my instincts toward home

It is not a action, it is a letting go

A surrender to the ambient water and immersion in its ancient wisdom 

Pulling the tides of past and future to a place where I am finally whole”

Do not awaken love before its time

Before she has time to cocoon

And heal in that liminal place

Where lessons and full hopes

Are joined in a living wisdom

That will guide her through 

Each beautiful day with you

With a renewed confidence

That enables her to embrace 

This union unencumbered and free

With expectancy for things to come

The center of who I am is with you 

Where undulating patterns of that life that surrounded us 

Then fade to grey in the shadow of our bright union 

And time is counted in the distant echoes of the same song 

Which played in my mind the time when I first met you

And wrapped us round and round in gentle sure ties  

That quiet the well-worn wishes we fervently held

I express my love for you in sign language

Because speech is far too vulnerable 

It feels more intimate than speaking

Feels embodied and brave

Just like touching hands with you gently

Tracing your fingers and feeling your warmth

These are things I have never done before

That feel more profound than words

You came in a dream to me

One so ephemeral and sweet

Featuring a snowy landscape

The picture of Winter happiness 

With skates and cold and red noses 

With fingers rubbed together fast and warm 

I saw myself meander through the crowd

Eyeing the lights and trinkets

Reminding me of the night we met

Then turning, turning, always turning, to find you

Holding out my hand for you to take

Off to continue on our way

On solar winds we fly

Wings spread without a care

Passing each storm with ease

And delighting at the sight

Of beauty’s vistas flitting by

To soar ever higher 

Where the sun’s swelling blaze

Causes us to marvel soberly

At the fragility of life

And of the steadfast Wind 

That finally lifts us up to touch

Our promises written in the sky

You complete the pictures in my head

The youthful visions of intimacy

Painted with the chaste strokes of an ingénue

These images, once marred by distortion,

Are now peacefully congruent

Depicting the seraphic figures

And pastoral rhythms

That signal a return to wholeness

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Heartache