Ally

Sleeping warrior stirs among the ashes
Strength returning.

Battles enjoined
For allies still standing deftly by
For his survival now assured
They live forever behind him.

Sword sheathed, shield set aside, he rests
In knowing.

Regalia no longer worn for conquering hills
For charging through valleys
For protection against all manner of deaths,
Still it shines in waiting.

Rumbling as if a deep tremor in mother earth,
He rises to the new day
Of his strength.

Warrior still.
Champion now.

Himself finally.

A Fall of Splendor

You remain hauntingly wrapped around
My thoughts
As if a beautiful vine of perfect
Chardonnay-in-waiting.

A hint of your beauty
Lingers
On my soul’s palette .
The bouquet christened

With care and wonder,
your heart’s and mine.

Subtleties only imagined
Become vintage rare
Yet there for the tasting.

You are dawn’s unspoiled
magic
Living waters poured
Deeply through you
Filtered in life’s rich soils.

I toast my good fortune
In holding forever
The simple hint of
Complexity born of
Mourning mist and summer
Sun. A fallen leaf enduring.

Harbor

In quiet harbors, we became the still waters
For hearts solidly moored to each other.
Mirroring the world around us, others
Tendered themselves in our paradise.

We loved with gentle waves of belief
Entrusted to the anchor that is our soul.

I am now adrift.

Reflections gone, mooring vanished
I ebb without resistance toward
Life’s open oceans. Horizons
Have lost their heaven, skies
Their expanse.

Our sextant sees no stars, our sails
Inhale no wind. I am left to mend
The cloth, climb the mast, raise the flag.
Discovery has no more passion, reasons
Any enticement.

I no longer wish to sail.

Raindrops Dancing

raindrops dance
before jumping up from tin roofs to
laugh on their way down to
making smiles
in the small puddles
on the sidewalk.

trees reach for them
birds jitterbug in them

clouds clap their arrival
grass turns green with envy
as droplets glide from the heavens
to anticipating souls collectively
arranged as nature.

We humans carry umbrellas.