Sand-crusted catacombs of dismembered dreams
Settle beside memories of the child who grew up

In rocky Harpswell, Maine. Not many beaches,
Only a foggy stretch beyond Morse Mountain --

But I used to stand ankle-deep
In the water, wait until my toes sank

Into crystalized Earth
And bubbles from Littleneck clams.  

I’d stand there until goosebumps spread upon
My blanched legs, rising up, up, like the artificial hills

Of Maya Lin’s Storm King Wavefield.
Now, when I lie alone,

Misplaced inside a vacant Manhattan studio,
I surrender to sirens and accelerated lives.

Peace comes in painting – thick oil,
Violet and claret on stretched canvas,

Depictions of neon signs and cityscapes,
Cheap t-shirt stands on street corners,

And 24-hour coffee shops with “specialty”
Blends in little white travel mugs – selling

To flocks of strangers, strutting like pigeons on cement
Sidewalks, pretending they belong.

With you,
The color blue is never sad.
The north winds are cold,
But there is no chill.
The sun is a friend I had not noticed,
Beaming.

With you,
My hands are woven
And the grass is weaving
A great blanket,
Safe and long and warm
Like your hands,
When they cover,
When they touch me
Like my lost, new found friends
The sun and the sheltering
Earth
And the autumn winds,
I no longer dread,
No longer fear,
With you.

I feel lonely
So very lonely
but everyone is lonely
So i know i'm **not alone

so you stand there
with this quiet ache in your soul
of confusion, losing your way
wondering if you ever can find
the right place for you to stay

and I want to tell you
I know it can be so hard
feeling lost and nowhere to be found
thinking you are the only one
who ever lost the sight of the ground

and I want to tell you
I have taken wrong turns too
down the paths of regret and shame
but it isn't too late now
your past and future are not the same

so stand there for a while
be still, lift up your eyes
I know the journey can seem so long
but you are not walking alone
there is a place where you belong

I sit, procrastinate and wonder
How my country became sundered.

Could you tell me, dear,
Where our bones will rest
When the sea swallows the earth
And the sun swallows the sky?

Will we lie atop mountains?
Poised as prayers to the stars,
They could surely keep us
Among their frozen peaks.

Will we lie upon sands?
Warmed by centuries of sunlight,
We could bask in the fires
Before burning alive.

Shall we sleep beneath oceans?
The secret worlds of silence
Could hide us from the end
And carry us with the currents.

So long as I lie with you,
The stars can fall to the pavement
And the cities can collapse.
There is peace to be found in your presence.