Spring brought this burst of life
Its colors now unseen at night
Blossoms, now shadows
Play symphonies of fragrance
That recall the morning
Robbing the moment with musing
Of beauty known earlier
When light danced here

The mind, for a moment, lost aim
Fooled by exciting air
To expect a return of day
Safely brought to reality
By an orange glow,
Inhaled curls of dulling smoke
Night has work to do
Still more tomorrow...

Lacy steel over black water -
A boy once wondered
If it was a way over
Or a step closer
To soul-lulling sleeping

A launch to lose
Wrenching torments within
A rain-swelled flow of
Dark currents to wash
When other remedies had failed

But warm water laughed
She rushed through open skin
Easing weeping wounds
And, leaving scars for tomorrows,
Returned the repaired to surface

To see the dim haze of street lights
And maybe the moon in fog again,
To fight to find a handhold
Up over the steep bank
Soggy shoes spoke
All the way
Home

In the garden we danced,
My eyes and the butterfly,
Singing among the colors
Grace alive, a laugh
Kissing sun draped blooms


Too soon came the chill of fall
When wind-flung loose withered leaves
Mimicked the movement
They'd eyed in envy
The butterfly now gone.


Winter brought its ballet
In showering flakes of snow
When frigid ground braced against
Swirling pirouettes
Of beauty in ice


I hurry past my garden
With no time to linger by
Only in dreams still see
The butterfly dance
Her gentle waltz of summer