My eyes alight softly on pale velvet waxing,
Grace as weightless as a tilting feather,
Orbiting gently between tender arches,
Caressing the space that binds two hearts
And minds locked in a tidal waltz.

Waning, my gaze traces supple curves,
Outlining a crescent body
That reflects love’s radiant glow.
My pulse quickens, scarring the surface
With each rotation birthing a new phase.
Yet my sights return to distant beauty,
Teasing my soul to reach and embrace my muse,
Yielding to gravity’s ceaseless pull
Until we collide in a fervent embrace,
Two bodies merging in love’s ardent flame,
One forever bound to Earth’s eternal core.

Stolen by the wings of a canary,
Soaring through clouds
And weaving through hidden canopies,
Is a song known only to the sun
And certain flowers.Trapped, the song pleads
In early morning
And in the dusk of shadows:
"Hear me sing, O lonely forest!"
Yet no one answers her call.

Frantic, the canary ruffles her feathers,
Searching for a single ear,
One soul to hear her precious
Color held captive.Yellow stole the canary,
Its hue seducing her,
Staining her white genesis golden
Through months of dancing
With swaying southern honeysuckle,
Chasing the setting sun,
Soaking in every sweet note
Of yellow’s orchestra.

Defeated, she finds a secluded tree
Atop a barren mountain
And sings one final time:
"Hear me sing, O lonely earth,
For I have claimed your light as mine!"
She spreads her petite wings,
Each feather a ray of sunlight.
"Hear me sing, O mighty mother,
You alone have listened..."

Then, the canary weeps,
Her tears dropping notes of yellow,
As her feathers fade to pristine white,
Unblemished by envy’s hue.
At last, she finds her own song,
Whole in its quiet truth.

The pain sours as the milk spills
Rancid subjugation to the rejection
Of a cause without its mode
What positive devolves into negative
A multiplicity of being that sheds light
When consumed by dark dawn
Where clouds bring rain in a permanence
Detached from loving life in full
As the moon wanes to new
Betraying a sky desperate for a clearing
To wash free the trapped potential
Inherent within striated cumulus
Begging for a release that allows breathing
For an inner compassion held captive
And bright sun dimmed by the regret of day
Sadly passing in multitudes; a rehashing
Beyond that of moving skies crying
Tears of forbearance belonging to trees
Drowned under weeks of relentless monsoon
Desperately gasping for a mindful remedy
An explanation for a cycle that perpetually
Stops giving
•••
I breathe out pain only to receive it again

We all stumble through life
Lost on winding trails
Disconnected from the destination
Which pulls the soul
Down a path barren of beauty
Where downed trees create barriers
Roadblocks which lead to detours
Into the rugged wilderness
A trial that tests the mind with adversity
Begging the body to halt its course
To cool the crucible that has bled
Molten rivers carving ruts
Into an endless circle
Leaving us lost and out of breath
Desperate to pause and recover
The stamina wasted in a maze
Of our own creation
...
Until finally, a beam of light
Breaks through the dense canopy
Proffering warmth, peace, and solitude
Beckoning a return to the tracks
Worn by the forgotten footsteps
Of a different time
Too distant to elicit recollection
Yet somehow familiar and welcoming
For those seeking the forbidden happiness
That we have trapped within a sadness
Foreign to the natural nature
We had suppressed in order to feel free
...
Long have I sought the trail I thought lost
Turns out, all I needed to do was turn around
And remember I am not alone
Just simply facing the wrong direction

Minds claim to know that which is not.
Foundations... they are broken and they rot.
From the rubble is found a truth stronger than life;
To understand that knowing is nothing but
Standing on our understanding.
Now we 'K'now

There she laid down her wearied head
To rest one final time under the shade
‘O the wiry willow

Beneath, her thoughts spun webs of distant times past
Where honeysuckle wrapped tendrils round
The rugged walnut

Smells of various mountain flowers after a fresh rain
Accompanied the familiar tune of birds singing
An ode to the swaying oaks  

A soft breeze warmed the chill of biting winters cold
Sending shivers down her frail frame
Skeletal like the barren birch

She blinked in time to barking angry squirrels
Displeased with the lack of fruit
Left by the poor pawpaw  

Vision, already blurred by cataract, began to fade
As the mountain consumed the setting sun
The light filtered by forlorn firs

It was time.  

Long had she waited to join those that had gone before
Patient to be reunited with her love long lost
During the spring of blooming dogwood

Distant, she could see him, strong and proud
With effort she reached out to her beloved
A mighty hickory  

Exhaling, she breathed her last.

After her life, Diana, goddess of the forest
Let grow a grove of various mountain trees
Surrounding a single rhododendron  

Her life, a monument to the nature she loved.

Fireflies dance beneath the moonlit sky
Their fiery tails blazing thousands of suns
Flashing in harmonious rhythm
Sung to a song known only to spirits of the forest
Among trees rooting themselves to a verdant chorus
Swaying in soft waltz as the wind caresses green boughs
Groaning under the weight of the starry firmament

<A reflection from above to what is below>

An infinity of dazzling diamonds winking in starlight
Tune themselves to the melody of distant earth
Bathing the world in grey-washed relief as Luna glows
Illuminating the newborn fawn that prances in sync
With his mother’s cautious attention
Her eyes reflecting love in full as the moon veils her young
Beneath the light of midnight

Behind her, a chirping symphony of raucous crickets
Reaches a vibrating crescendo echoing across the land
A ringing accompaniment to the throaty bass of the wayward toad
Whose steady thump excites the prowling fox
Pouncing in a furry pirouette to seize the treble
Of the screeching barn owl that cuts through the night
Spinning in a controlled dive-bomb of deadly talons
Searching for their late-night victim whose screams
Lend lyrics to nature’s masterful play
Weaving life beyond the blinding daylight

In the distance, a lone whippoorwill cries in anguish
As the sun rises and dawn brings an end to his song

Whip
Whip
Whippoorwill