Errant Musings

There were giants there

Where winter stood and moon bled

Silver snatched          shining and         through

The glass with the hatchet

And the man walked back down

The promenade faded       padded        soft

By feet from the highlands

Where the snow lies light but 

                                                         whispers

Unyielding

Never one to fold with a good           finger

Pressed wafer and gold                        on my tongue

Honey                                       on the run from a

Giant with a hatchet           padded

Faded silver of a                     soft moon

Glass bled                        shining where man lays 

                     unyielding

And winter whispers back

      walking

                                              down

                                                    light-pressed gold

Where honey runs 

             In the highlands and

      folded on my tongue

You taught me the language of love

When you told me never to say ‘I love you’

We started with ‘Ohayou’ and ‘Oyasumi’

We exchanged letters with superhero emojis

There is so much to still say in silence

So much to still show when far apart

Manuka honey and 4 lemons for a cough

Home-cooked food for quarter close

I learned your native tongue too

So I could understand your mother’s smile

So that each character I write

Would carry both love and promises

I carved a space for you in this new language

The word ‘lovely’ will always be yours.

I love you with you a world-ending love

An ‘I’ll let Tokyo drown for you’

Kind of love.

I heard your voice this morning

I felt the world grow dark as

The audio expired

I felt entropy engulf me

(I changed my settings now to never expire)

Your inflections flicker with ephemerality

That which can be lost is all the more precious

That which is lost is invaluable

I tried to seal the melody, the lilt

In perpetuity

From RAM to REM our voices linger and fade

Words are compressed into impressions

In my dreams you are abstract, you are

The sound of the wind rushing through bamboo

          in Arashiyama forest

The scent of sakura blossoms falling

          in Tokyo, by the river

The excitement of watching a great bird soar

          in the mountains of its youth

We cannot help but forget

All things slip from our grasp

But perhaps the impression of you

The strokes and curves and lilts of you

Will transcend even me.

I love you with a world-ending love

A ‘stays with me til the end’

Kind of love.

It's September now

Arcturus joined Venus and Jupiter

On the horizon

I saw a star touch down at dusk

In the hills

The hills of my youth

Where I never had a chance

To fall in love

I can't gather myself

A minor seventh splits my heart

My solemn spirit seeks solitude

Amidst celebration

All I can think of is you

Just an abstract longing

A seed blossomed in your light

A love I didn't ask for

But always wanted

I asked God for a second chance

A third really

To love with abandon

To taste what it felt like

When he pursued my heart

3 years I ran from God

Now after you

Through the pain of waiting

I will say not my will

But his be done

Teach me Lord, to love

Walking with you is

Sneaking lonely moments

Carving out a separate continuity

A quiet correspondence is

Easily lost in the din—

Even my good pilot strains

To hear these machinations of love

Has it not even been a year?

The lights outside Urth yawn

As if traveling lightyears

Were a mundane task

When everyone finally left

It was as if time had stopped

We danced words in retrograde

By your gray mini with the

Red racing stripes (your idea)

Your gray flannel, knee length

Green eyes, deep—

You looked so warm in the lamplight

Yellow pooled at our feet

The edges a fragile boundary

Between us and the world

Walking with you leaves

A puddle of light wherever we stop

To look into each other’s eyes

A condensation of the world we share

My surface tensed against yours

In warm conversation