Lush cow parsnip lined the disappearing path
rain came, with cooling mists kissing lupine flowers
A sacred land the path's end - ruins of Haida totems
born of ocean, emerging man
of shells and sand
earth and air
clan of the
raven

In death, perhaps we are like water
making our way ever deeper from sand and sky.
Maybe we fly, linger and hover awhile
and the dream of becoming a bird is real.
Maybe we are stars, floating oceans of night skies
moving toward divine light in swooping waves
pushing upwards through embryonic waters
spilling over the soul
again and again.

red
it is the clay of hills
cathedral clouds of sunsets burning
the weeping that calls you home
it is the fire within

gray
it is the ashes
blowing from your hands
the sands slipping, back to earth
a soul sifting, a balanced scale
awaiting your rebirth

Laughter like tears echoed
streaming down through canyons
her soul to look upon
rivers, mirrors
wings to fly
home

Oh, sure I could lose myself in gardens, oceans of flowers
but not today, today I have reserved for the revelations
of the soul, the deep calling of watery waves
I dive below, rocky ways and slipping sands
sifting moments of this day, searching
for unknown pieces, that break away
feeling a longing unnamed
glints of gold reflections
all these connections
that carry me home
and away

Salt rim and cake
we ate and drank
drowned and sank
our souls and bodies
wet washed in this lake
too late to wonder
we wandered
another day
away.

Through wooded fog
fades the day, abandoned to the grey,
lost road, lost home - belonging to no one

Pictures found upon a mantle, dust and charcoal,
photos framed in rusty metal,
sepia shadows, a broken mirror

Collections of rocks and bones,
letters and sealing wax,
china cups, stained and cracked

Musty pages of paperbacks,
remnants of a life long ago.
Memories, pressed flowers of fading bells,
little relics, loved
so well

That time in spring, the sweetness
the yellow green of emerging leaves
the popping and exploding
the bright shattering of petals
lilac flowers in our hands.

Walking the woods with you
tracing deer trails for hours
along the rocky river bank
and in the sycamore forest
we saw the silver shining trees
impossibly branched and reaching
mingling in the vast blue sky.

In the deeper woods, mysterious birds
sang incessant songs, ancient and forlorn
always their singing is reminding me
of the endless beauty to be found
always a deeper feeling of love.

This morning rain
autumn - cool rain falling into afternoon
hills, layers, fog nestled in
Clouds, mists  become one
so far off, never a thought
the sun

Logs, wooded hills, we climbed
to view, our souls, some moments
in panorama we find
we touch our truths
divine

Is it tomorrow yet?
a day when I fly away
over a boundless sea of changing tide
beyond this twist of worried mind
beyond lost days of winter's reign

Is it tomorrow yet?
a day when I go seeking my truth
connecting to the calling of my soul
awakened to find I am awash
in nature's garden paradise

Lost and found upon the sand
knowing true paradise
is soulful, deep
within

Long road, cool ocean's sun
Bare feet, warmth, sinks the softness
Drives my soul back home






road trippin (song) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYaZdWdhAg8

I think you are of clay
of red earth and water
smooth formed and forged
a vessel for holding fire
a warm copper bronze
sculpted, divinely poured
of ancient Roman origin
descended from Apollo
born of pure poetry and music
you walk the earth, a skilled hunter
with bow and arrow

Water trickling, grooved patterns of bark
darkening drinking up
Bright yellow creeping
maple leaves losing green
fallen or hanging on

A wind gust
little rush of swirls
tiny leaves come to rest -
wakes the nightjar
from her evening nest

Wet wings, flickers fly
stellar jay looks on,
Roses withered, ages gone
petals on the
ground

rustic rain
brown-yellow hills
crows circle a carrion ****
I've come for resurrection to bleed against the sky
thirst of deserts longing, cool water washings
bones, abandoned skulls - sun bleached white
prayer offerings for an earthy altar
here where death is hallowed

rustic rain
brown- yellow hills
crows circle a carrion ****
I've come for resurrection to bleed against the sky,
thirsts like deserts, cool water washing
bones to soak
skulls abandoned, sun bleached white
prayer offerings for an earthly altar
here, where death
is hallowed

I have traveled home
I am nearly reborn
sitting with ancestral bones
a warrior's path - alone
sifting veiled dust
of the past

Crows fly, blacken skies
thunderous drums
my heart in sync
amid this sacred
burial ground
this raining red sky
the blood of teardrops cried

She was speaking
butterflies floated from her lips
fragile wings
caressed your mind
together, entwined
you flew

fragrant petals were her pillow
a scented garden filled your room
you were dreaming,
roses soft, laid
upon your bed

a morning of golden sun
compassion, salvation
of sacred dawn

they were barren
void of masks
becoming utterly
love

rustic rain
brown-yellow hills
crows circle a carrion ****
I've come for resurrection to bleed against the sky
thirst of deserts longing, cool water washings
bones, abandoned skulls - sun bleached white
prayer offerings for an earthy altar
here where death is hallowed

Cool cloud shrouded air, here where I find myself
surrounded by giants, legends, these mountains
I am miniscule as one grain of sand
the people here are giant, green saguaros
holey, with birds that live within
they are fit with wild reaching arms
guardians of the desert land
anchored, deeply grounded
in this whirling vortex
unhurriedly they grow
blooming yellow flowered
with petals that pale and fall
they are true friends
that I have come
to know

Sailing on the star streams reaching past the trees
looking for reflection in moons of lily seas

Crossing wild oceans of tumbling rocky waves
that toss me in the air, with no direction leading, spinning me away

Til in a dream I find you, last night so calm the water, smoothed my fever
lovely kisses rang, fragrant music ever sweetly sang

Until I wake to find, morning brings a crashing wave
you've sailed, swiftly fading from a silken dream

The perfect slanting of sun
tundra cotton leaning northward
salmon spawning homeward
golden grass - waved in winds
The cast of red autumn's spell

Ocean - lilting azure waves
sway of moon, clouds to hide before the tide
night touching blue - the earth and sky
caressing light - the darkest sea
only a moment
only salt rain

First the soft biting
lips and all the rest
your hands, this landscape
a smooth curved road
of breath hot summer, the swelter
this endless sky, an ocean to discover
salt water of my lover

Over by the wild fields, crossing wired fences
climbing into view, we saw the sandhill cranes
like airplanes, impossibly winged
they weaved in and out of sight
stalking tall amid the grassy screens
prehistorically made and in the green
of murky shallows to wade
warming in the sun, they come
returning every year
and we can feel the air move
in a giant swoop, a flapping wave
breathing heavy winged
we sighed, at their precarious lift off
the feathery snow of sky
alas, the distant birds 
silver streaking by.

The road seen, then not seen, the hillside hiding
then revealing the way you should take,
the road dropping away from you as if leaving you
to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up,
when you thought you would fall, and the way forward
always in the end the way that you came, the way
that you followed, the way that carried you into your future,
that brought you to this place, no matter that it sometimes
took your promise from you, no matter that it always
had to break your heart along the way, the sense
of having walked from far inside yourself out into the revelation,
to have risked yourself for something that seemed
to stand both inside you and far beyond you,
that called you back in the end to the only road
you could follow, walking as you did, in your
rags of love and speaking in the voice
that by night, became a prayer for safe arrival…

by: David Whyte
excerpt from SANTIAGO

Blue, sea green night
the moon's gone missing
lorn shore, footprints and broken shells
my heart an empty ocean to fill
without you my love, further
than the planets and stars
how long this ache
of blood and cells?

She said it was wisteria, florets draped
framing her windows
vines climbed overreaching the rooftop
swallows flew by, just before night skies
twilight flashed orange, pink in lavender blues
fading into black
a vision soon of sparkling
starry moon
jasmine flowers to float upon
evening's scented pond

Who writes of me
without pad nor pen
or scribes with sharpened knife
a belly of lies unfastened from sheath
deep that bores the core of heart?
Illusions swift they swim
in waves as shoals
spawned from
tiny minnows.

Breathless sky
how silent clouds collide
leaving me to charcoal gray
teardrops will rain
today

Tomorrow how the Spring
sweetly sings of cloudless skies
blossoms will rain, fragrantly
the orange tree

and still
no matter the weather
gorgeous birds unwavering
will sing in secret codes
seemingly knowing
more than I

Seed soaking
dark soil of days
split apart, shed the self
you've planted
touch the earth, so clinging
brush the dirt
your freedom singing

Words, images, little things that would not let me be
pulled, tugging for awhile
I felt them, knew them too,
spoke of deeper knowing,
stringed music playing violins
words, colors flooded in

The paper, the paint
a page, no thought in mind,
crooked smile unrefined,
thick the brush strokes ever bold
eyes, pooled mirrors of soul -
I dared to look
within

Walking the dirt path, down around
the gold brown hills that spill into the orchard
apples baked in the oven, sun of summer
and in September they are done
red, we dressed with honey cinnamon
the air was bliss, the trees, the ancient harvest
with baskets full, the way our hearts overflowed
this was a place we called heaven, but now you are in the trees
in the sweeping fields of turquoise seas, in the stars that never cease
here, where you once imagined and could only dream to remain as ever

Watching long shadows
some slipping under fences
tricky summer suns
like to play me dumb
or glare me, half blind
sometimes I run
or sometimes walking backwards
looking where I've been
in the heat of day
only a dream to sway
under the cool
of moons

Long night
curtains dark the gloom
creak the steps to her sleeping room
solemn woman walks these woods
transforming limb and bone
in feathery flight she delights
to grace a moon swept pond
her whispers weave a song, to call her lover home
entwined they float the woodwind air
until the night is gone
Shapeshifter lights the darkness dawn
to shed the dreaming night
now slips away her lover
and fades the glorious swan

Blackbird your wings like ashen skies
iridescent as blue morpho butterflies
the impaling of your sharpened eyes
all knowing, you cackle
shapeshifter Yaqui man
desert bird, a grackle

Stirring, you stare me down
shaking mesquite leaves to the ground
the air is thick grey sage
smudged with prayers of peace
a wish to cease
the wars we wage

a vision pure of heart
this message of love unfurls
breathe peace - peace
in this world.

Pale white or maybe slightly gray, blue
looking through - little holes, grains of sand, blowing through
tossed about this stormy day, ocean spray
you can't hold, lapping waves.

One day whispers will caress
your ears, salt and tears
You may break or drift,  you can never tell
storms of love, pearls
and shells.

Who can think straight
spinning in seas of shells and waves?
Tireless tides play a game, of dragging in and out
marooning or tossing one about.
Many sailing ships adrift, you'll see passing by,
or weathered wooden boats, some row and row,
to the edge of earth, foggy
never dreaming they
can fly.

Sleeping among fiery fields of summer, senses undone
colors walk among, her lucid dreaming,
red skies of watercolor suns

Trees, unfurl leaves of dreams
that rustle and awake you,
no windows, only a meadow amidst
shadows of kings, the hills
rise beneath blue mountains
sweeping to the  sea

In the spring of warm grassy lawns, silver threaded
song sparrows high amid the bright lily bowers
they fly gold drenched in the morning hours
in the deep peace of this sanctuary shelter
we are far from the city's maddening swelter
here beneath shade trees and roses, we sip tea
we float soft as petals, a dream life in these hills
smell the ocean rain, blue the way the sky spills
we walk scented jasmine trails back home
come to rest in each others arms
before this resplendent day is gone
with nature becoming one
connected to all things
we are never alone.

From this island
water and more tiny islands
heavily treed with Douglas fir
landing ground for ocean otters
while orca whales glide by
spout and spray
the beach, broken shelled
puddled wells of tide pools
filling, spilling over again
brown bauble seaweed mingles
round algae rocks, barnacle shingled
here where the air breathes salt scented
water running wild with salmon.

Today only clouds
white, blue, grey
always they hover
mingle in tallest trees
too far my eyes
to see

winter sky
pale light
soft, silent
diffused
passing by

everyday
I think
and
dream of you

how you speak
to me
never knowing
my name

Today the rains came, without any warning
I watched droplets forming, pooling on the ground
the trees dissolving into palest fog
into the quiet of this forest, void of birds
traveling off to some secret world
perhaps to some cavernous mountain hollow
with glorious wings, I dream to follow
through the darkened woods, hidden by ferns
through harrowing clouds to be one with birds
with gorgeous feathers, downy warm
among the flickers, pheasant and crow
to be an evening silhouette in the alpenglow
a skylark winging in a painted sky.

Celestial, indigo
sparkling stars of fire
molten rings of planets round
the silent sailing clouds
float across a sallow moon
hung in a sky of glittered jewels
diamonds, opals, pearls

Oaks, groves, winding roads, all the twisted branches
Gnarled reaches of a wrong direction
Acorns and disappointments
some on the ground, some hanging on
I came to gather mistletoe, or kiss the earth and sky
Nomadic tribeswoman, a newborn deer, lost and found
We have fallen asleep together, the deepest peace I've known
Now crows dancing on branches awaken me.
I am alone, with our heartbeats in perfect sync, the deer's and mine

White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests grow;
The wind dies out along the height,
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree,
Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills
Apace, and all about
The fences dwindle, and the hills
Are blotted slowly out;
The naked trees loom spectrally
Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods me round;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals
Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runners and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far a-field;
Then all is silent, and the snow
Falls, settling soft and slow.

The evening deepens, and the gray
Folds closer earth and sky;
The world seems shrouded far away;
Its noises sleep, and I,
As secret as yon buried stream,
Plod dumbly on, and dream.

Archibald Lampman

Music came singing to the sky
It seemed none could sing or fly so high
maybe some birds
like children's laughter
a forgotten eternal spring,
a happiness
that comes and goes 
forever calling
one home

As if out from a tunnel
the first light deafens silence
wings unfold the soul - whispering
Plain truth in words unspoken
so precious the moments
of being unbroken

So soon the rains come
wet, washing
another path  
home

Certain roads will beckon, haunted in their calling
enticing dreams, caress your head in pillows soft,
surreal, they wield black magic
leaving you stranded on roads unimagined, to unravel
dragging home, long through
dirt and gravel