A good friend

spoke with anger

of another friend,

words slightly violent in nature.

(In my mind I cried out

"But that is my friend

you are talking about!")

I held my peace

and listened to my friend.

Because people are evil, she said,

A small sad laugh, bowed her head.

I couldn't quite follow, though I saw her path,

The dark passes where she'd been led.

But for the love

I would follow, I would.

Because of the love,

The world tips to the good.

Though I die, though I ache,

I vow to try to live awake

To the power of love.

May it overtake.

Sometimes I have the sense to keep still.

I find myself wanting to answer,

but stay in the silence of listening.

Her pain is too large to console,

so I stay by her side and attend.

No words can make this better.

And later alone

with my pain

in the dark

I wonder

Does God sometimes have the sense to keep still?

Stones Stay

Stones stay.

Trees fall,

Winds blow away.

Rocks remain, stones stay.

Friends fade, faces vanish,

All white turns to grey.

All black turns its back,

But stones stay.

My words will disappear,

Every word that you say,

All we remember is doomed to disintegrate.

Stones stay.

Stars fall,

Moons roll away.

My heart, turned to stone, may stay.

What I Took

Ah, yesterday I took I took a lovely soaking bath,

a walk, a look, a breath,

a glass of wine, a needed break,

a book from off a shelf;

a picture, time to smell a rose,

a hike, a moment, a nap.

At night I took me to my bed to rest from all the taking,

to ready me to take on life again upon awaking.

A Walk in Fall

And shall I die

And leave this world?

And pass away?

(I walk on leaves,

The woods pass by)

And shall I pass

From here to where?

(Leaves fall from trees

That used to wear

Green garments now discarded)

And shall I someday see?

This world and I have parted.

I am not threatened by

young hawthorns;

I will take their gentle stab wounds

or walk around.

It is the very force of life

that seeks to pierce my skin,

the first shrub in this clearing,

leading taller trees in.

Coyote tunnels under fences

do not make me feel defensive.

Not farmers only,

we are stewards of this land

where once the creatures flourished.

I have a field that beavers flood.

And so I go and break their dams,

undo their architecture,

well researched mudded spans

that created wetland farther

where I thought to field the land.

I return to open,

they return to heal the deed.

This battle there are some days

I would willingly concede.

While yet this steward lives

there will be hawthorns and coyotes.

(The beavers are negotiating

against bills I have to pay.)

There may yet be concession
 and wet lands where now lies hay.

Reading books

Sometimes you read a glorious sentence

That lands like a heavy thing

In slow motion with a cloud of dust

As it hits the floor of your mind.

An exceeding heavy thing

That you relish the thought of having discovered

And you walk around it enjoying the magnificent

Every corner of it.

Then you underline it

And turn the page

A richer woman.

Indoor Tree

Outdoor tree, but not like other trees

Indoor tree

Why

You lose leaves

I open for you

The blind

Light coming

No forest floor

You stand in

I stand in

Loose leaves

Dear migraine,

Sometimes I have you

Sometimes I fake you

Because it is easier

For people to take you

As reason for staying at home all alone

Than the fact I'm depressed

And cannot face goin'

Out publicly having to put on a face

When all I prefer is my solitude place.

Dishonesty's easier

And maybe more kind

If they only think headache

And not ache of the mind.