Linda

It seems darker now,

now that you’re gone-

The breeze reminds me

of the breath you exhaled

so often in sorrow and

loneliness for someone

we both loved so much.

Twenty years ago

we said goodbye

to your sister, yours of blood

mine of fortune.

Your ashes  scatter, filling

 the emptiness she left behind.

Just when I learned of you,

and why your precious

beating deadened the silence

of loss, you were whisked away

in the dark and I never had a chance

to say goodbye.

Baby Girl (for deverse-May 31,2014)

How it swept me away

like the tide

watching you build castles

in the sand, forever blue

lay beyond.

 That moment

 took my  breath away

 held  tightly, deep within

 knowing I would always

 remember that August day.

Your laughter filling the

 sky, warming-

 more than Sun

The clouds came in

our family distraught

with illness, sad days

filled the blue.

But here we all are

embracing the memory

of your childhood-

 you taught us how

to love baby girl.

Now reluctantly

we let you go

knowing you will change

the world, as you have

changed us.

Redemption (for deverse-In Haphazard Fashion)

Shadow cast

in the luminous flicker

of a feigned smile.

How the voice coils

in retreat, waiting on

itself for a carefully

chosen word-

In hopes of warding off

the pernicious warmth

of a lie told to bar entry

beyond the door

where all I have hidden

waits for redemption. 

Memorial Day

On a stillborn day,

silence weighing heavy

fracturing freedom’s wing-

How they fall

soldiers in a field

fighting someone else's war

not their own-

That battle lay bleeding

on a distant land

overgrown with thorns,

piercing the heart with

unspoken goodbyes

As warriors surrender

to an unsung song.

What Lingers When All is Said and Done (for deverse, questions of identity)

It’s still there,

The emptiness-

Woman I never knew

still remembering

her stormy eyes

clouded by an illness

I never understood

Even now, all I have

ever learned doesn’t feed

the silence between the hours

When I lie awake beneath

an all knowing moon

set in a mysterious sky

illuminating a darkness

It doesn’t tell me

the things I need to know.

That child felt alone

the woman I have become

still tries to fill the shadow

my mother left behind.

Cradle

I remember the scent

of each one-

How it created a longing

to cradle them close to my heart

where their beginnings were born.

 Feeling tiny hands

 caress my face,

 whispering stone-set love.

To rock them gently

through all the turbulence

as the earth revolved in sync

with the endless sweep of time,

forcing me to let go

bit by bit-

The ache

it leaves behind.

Secrets (for deverse-May 6 2014; Trees)

Forest-

dark, thick with

rooted certainty-

echoes of an old song reborn

At the mercy

of currents

in thoughtless motion

pushing

 into the deep hard places

sharp with memory.

 Limbs holding truth

 bound to earth

 giving breath

reaching to sky,

 whispering leaves-

shedding secrets.