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Two standing tree trunks First look like paths in the snow From a high window There is no denying I have often walked in circles Every time, though The circle was wider I will not pretend To have never looked backward Having lost the way I once looked forward And it's crystal clear I have many times lost focus And found myself staring Into space deep and infinite Golden sun backs away And colors the forest in its leaving Bare tree in winter A squirrel climbs up the trunk A few snowflakes fall The roses with which day so often greets you Have faded Away into the clear blue Now fully awake, you take deep breath, And try hard to keep your own promises So you can rest easy When next the sun takes its leave Evening's spell That turns turquoise to translucent sapphire Also turns your eyes upward Til you fall into a wide ocean One by one, glistening pearls Surface from the deep Of dark and infinite space On such a night The sky is clear and not empty Embedded in midnight onyx See brilliant faraway stars Other nights, A curtain of clouds is drawn And a fog surrounds you Catching faraway light That illumines the path you walk on earth On a clear day, The dawn brings you roses In a golden vase On a misty day, She comes draped in platinum And bearing pearls One day, late in winter Its rough crust of tiny diamonds Fallen from a silver canopy Has given way A soft golden light creeps forth On the branches, in the grass Below the blue gaze of a sunwashed sky Where a warming sun arises Sometimes I speak my poems Into the silver mists of morning Or at evening let them rise Into the permeable sapphire sky Believing nature and heaven That nothing ever is lost Leaves return to earth As small diamonds fall from heaven The snow recedes And in its place rise violets Spring petals go to ground As the sun scales the sky The bright sun hangs back And leaves turn red and golden Birds glide on a pond While sunlight falls from the sky Gold nuggets in jade When the summer sun draws near, Rise like the tall grass to meet it And then don't let autumn fall by the wayside Without turning to your true colors The following winter, when you sleep, Don't forget to dream And then don't let the spring pass Without awakening I hate it when the world ends The sky will not stop falling The earth wobbles under my feet And opens up not quite enough to swallow me Waters rise not quite enough To float away on On what's left of the ground I stood on I can no longer walk Where those pieces of the dome above Have punched a thousand holes And tripping across them The only way forward Turns into dancing Once again You've been thrown out of a garden Landing with a thud on the untilled earth Lost in an enchanted wood That for a while will be your home Around you delicate and unruly flowers Tended by the sun, the wind, and the rain Of a kind the upright trample underfoot So you rise and make your way And when later you stumble out the other side A garland of wildflowers on your head You'll have stories to tell you did not foresee When you walked your last garden path Don't hold your breath So hard Nothing can take it away Nor clench your hand So tight Nothing can alight in it If I stay in this life Because I am not quite finished tasting cherries Call me shallow all you like As for me, I will drink deeply Of the tang of this mortal earth Walk in morning amid a thousand fallen petals Pink and still gleaming with raindrops And then at evening on sunset-painted sand Before the tide comes in If I fail to reach the heights Before being swept to sea I did not leave here empty And to the last am free Going forward I am afraid of nothing Looking ahead Beyond what is right in front of me Let all that's left of past bitterness Be trampled in the sweet earth As those who illumined my path Before theirs branched off Propel me onward Don't mind the sun Shining loudly Shouting brightly Its golden glare spilling again and again All over the earth's surface Where it might find you Uncovered Just ask the faraway brilliant stars, Around whom revolve worlds you don't imagine, That in morning disappear from sight Behind a clear blue veil Drawn by a new day's hand The moon, on the other hand, Knows your secrets And, with one sharp beam of light That holds back no true color, Pierces your chest Where you locked your dreams away For a little while Long ago If you want peace Don't leave those dreams to quietly haunt your sleep Ot be the odd dull ache in the daytime Instead, fight your way with them Into the world you reside in That in it you will truly live Crossing the bridge Turn long enough to the side To watch the stream flow There is something to be said For a clear and golden morning When a rising sun lights a world Wider, and wider still, Than you have ever dreamed When a story might unfold Longer than the one you cast, Stumbling out of sleep On a screen of silver mist Above blossom clouds A snow covered mountain stands Far away, still Violets are strewn In the grass at your feet And still you miss the snow Leaves blazing gold and red Confront your uplifted eye Still you miss the sun on your back Snow falls on red leaves Before blanketing bare woods Then dusting pink blooms First snowflakes fall In a fountain not stilled Before frozen time In this world, be like a lantern Swaying in the storm Lighting a way forward Or a censer swinging That weaves and wafts its smoke heavenward The fragrance from your smoldering heart Embracing all on earth Stones that are lashed By cold and crashing waves Become soft, warm sand From platinum skies A million sharp, chilled diamonds Become a blanket I give thanks for the woods They give us breath And you cannot survive without inhaling For the ocean also Because to never have your breath taken away Is not living Again welcoming the violets And again, missing the snow a little One loose leaf rises Into the clear autumn sky For a last dance When does a new year start? In spring, when the soft white blanket recedes Laying bare the fallow ground? In autumn, when the north wind jostles you Because now it is someday? Or is it really in middle of winter The earth just quiet enough You can hear heaven speak? A heavy rain falls Into a silent fountain Still waters churn deep After the sky clears Look down and see heaven In a single drop |