The under shell of
the tortoise looked
like a sunset.
Blasts of color:
orange, maroon, burnt sienna.
I caught them in
the garden at
sunrise, eating a
tomato or chewing into
a head of lettuce.
They always looked so
serious.

I was just a
sunburnt boy, with
cutoff jeans and a
straw hat.
I caught toads too.
But when they peed on me,
I let them go.
I loved that land.
Ponds and streams,
fishing and climbing trees.
oh,
sweet, green
youth.

Sun rises to bless you with a new hope;
And moon smiles at you
To let you know that darkness isn't always a woe.
Stars dazzle to make you assure ;
that you still glow in someone's heart.

Clouds gives a huge whisper to make
you understand that not everything has a dirt.
And Every star houses a secret ,
a whispered wish from far below .
And all those hopes and dreams
are what causes them to glow .

So when you're in the darkness
and you gaze into the black,
do not fear the emptiness,
nor the shadows at your back.

~
black tie, bare feet,
a walk through dandelions,
following the scent of wine
and mirthful promise

phosphenes and paresthesia
—slow dazzle motif;
the bluebird of happiness
echoes in a shallow bay;
pieces of places to claim as theirs:
moth wings, flower petals,
and blades of grass

seduced by eventide,
unhurried mouth(s), lips searching
and soft, all words seem to have
a few extra vowels;
sudden ubiquity
to collisions and slippages,
cultivating suggestive shapes
from aleatory arrays
of objects and forms

in the surf they mingle and link,
emancipating adrenaline;
they love like they were
water for life
~