Instructions on living, abridged

Laugh like a lunatic
Love like a child
Grow like a weed
In a garden gone wild

Forgive like a priest
Bend like a willow
Dream like a lover
Asleep on their pillow

Plan like a fiend
Trust like a dog
Hope like a sailor
Lost in the fog

Before the sun even rises

By the back door, my boots suffer waiting
while I contemplate my coffee's secrets.
No straight lines in the curling steam that falls
up like Imagination's waterfall.

By the henhouse, chickens chuckle fowl jokes
and goats debate which fence to knock down next.
A dog, still dreaming, claims truce with a cat
for a few more moments, just to keep warm.

A parade of geese inspect the farm yard,
strutting with all of a dictator's pomp,
then trumpet their summons for me to scatter
their corn.  Another day of work begins. 

Such things in flocks will come

What is the color of hope?
Is it the burst of fire at a hummingbird's throat?
Perhaps it is the blue of a bluebird's wing,
or maybe it's a subtle, nightingale thing.
What is the color of love?
Is it the coral at the neck of a dove?
At times it is oriole hued,
and other times is finch-gold imbued.
Is peace colored like a bird?
Is it, like a heron, large but seldom heard?
Or, perchance, like starlings small
in a feathered flock with raucous squall.

She sings the spring

She sings the sunrise new with liquid song 
and flips the dew from her renewing perch.
Amidst the woods in spring still growing strong
and branches freshening on oak and birch,
she wings her way, summer's dusty herald
announcing coming warmth to field and wood
and calling trees to spread their emerald
to shade the floor that sleeps in winter's hood.
The spring arises with her melody 
and stretches out the creepers cramped by cold.
She limbers up the limbs upon the tree
so sap will flow like blood, while moss, like mold,
will creep and spread in silent forward rush
unlike the singing, winging, flying thrush.

Night thoughts

Night births thoughts solemn in their quietude.
Darkness wraps around ideas and stills their flutter.
Beatitudes ring forth in repose, the cock crow of evening.

The rose, reaped

Scarlet petals drip,
like blood,
from the cut blossom.

Glassy dew falls,
like tears,
sparkling in descent.

Thorns claw for life,
desperate and ineffective,
while sap weeps bitter injustice.

Summer rain

Clouds rolled in on that hot summer night,
Sitting there with you, babe, every thing felt so right.
At ease, at home, at rest, in your embrace,
seeing the love in your heart by the look on your face.

All at once, everything let go,
like summer rain.

An outrush,
this cold, this heat,
not knowing what to feel, what to think,
in your arms, feeling your heart pounding,
hearing mine echo in time

a steady drumming of two hearts combined,
like summer rain.

Your taste on my lips lingered with the rain,
your breath on my neck brought me back again.
I'll never forget that warm summer night,
when kissing in the rain just seemed so right

Seasons

See the shadows flicker;
See the figures dance.
See the people laughing;
Why don't I stand a chance?

I am who I want to be,
I can't be any more...
Yet while I stand here,
you walk out the door.

My life is dead. My life is cold. My life is winter, frozen and alone. Yet...

The frozen earth will bear no seed
until its broken by Man.
The germ is planted and will grow.
Do you think it can?

The flower will grow, it must.
Fed by love, watered with hope,
It spreads its leaves, tenative.
Through the darkness, toward the light I grope.

My life, once frozen, is becoming thawed. Cold tears run down my face. The hard earth is broken.

I reach upward. I climb
ever toward the Sun.
My heart is heavy with doubt,
but my journey has just begun.

For I am but a flower, silk petals
faded leaves, independance. Still...
I depend too...Earth, Water, Love, Sun.
From these I need to take my fill.

I'm warming up, I'm spreading out, I'm opening up, I'm reaching out to you.

But you leave me crushed and withered.
Dry and dead in the parching heat.
My support stiffens, trys to hold me up,
but I can't help slumping as if beat.

I try to stand, try to shine, try to care.
You are gone. I wilt, fade, die, languish.
Maybe I can grow again, maybe I'll just stay,
A wilted flower on the leaves, so full of anguish.

God's country

If I could chase the setting sun
and dance among the stars
and hear the wild eagles scream
I'd know that I am yours.

If I could feel the western wind
and taste the ocean's spray
and lay upon the dune grass
I'd know I'd be okay.

If I could hear the mountains groan
beneath the redwood trees
and smell the feral forest scents
I'd know that I'd be at peace.

Desert blooms

Anxiety grows in my soul, a cactus in the desert.
Panic blooms with a whiskey burn, seeking no peace.
Storm clouds brew on the horizon while lightning flashes.
Ominous rumbles herald the storm, promising cold rain.
Thunderous guilt weighs down my heart and soul.
The storm front overtakes me with hissing and sputtering.
Dust washes off me and forgiveness refreshes my spirit.
The desert blooms, coming alive dressed in hope.

Sunset

A sinking sun sets the world on fire
Your word is spread before me
Night's tapestry unfurling below
And grace bursts up like a sapling tree
Dusky clouds cotton the sky
The life I lived is unraveling quickly
The world beds down, awaiting a new dawn
Hope and love start weaving my complexity

Dreams like trees

Dreams like trees
nurtured, sheltered, grown
planted in fertile soil
in hope and ability sown.

Chance like lightning
hot, merciless, death
fire forking from the sky
rending our dreams in a breath.

Pain like flames
destruction, agony, despair
burning through our lives
choking smoke obscures the air.

New hope like seeds
striving, reaching, spreading
takes hope in our ashes
pushing back the dark dreading

Dreams like trees
bigger, stronger, truth
rooted within our sooty ground
more resistant to the flames of youth.

Driftwood

Driftwood 
Gnarled satin secrets
Grains waving
Crashing frozen on twisted shores

Driftwood
Eroded patina shapes
Deep craters
Eating twisted wormholes

Driftwood 
Smooth silken ribs
Pale shafts
Twigs made mysterious