Shatter me
As if dropping a spider
Smash my spirit against your wall
Test my will
If you will
Preserve this moment to memory
Before you make your attempt
Remember me as I am
As the storm rolls in
And this test of wills begins
Where you’ll find me here
Under the stars and just beyond your reach
Salted, baked, and thirsty
Be merciless in your verbality
I beg of you my darling
Only your worst will do
The joke is on you my love
I was already broken when we met

I have a dear friend
for some time:
her name is
Understanding.

Today she told me
it's time to enter
her inner sanctum.
I was anxious,
humbled, awe-filled.

At the doors
of her Cathedral
of Wisdom
I hesitated.

It was daunting,
the mystery, fear
of the unknown
overpowering me.  

An internal
struggle of whether
it might just be much
safer to remain in the
life to which I’m so
accustomed than
risk it all by having
certain comfortable
illusions dispensed with.

Understanding told me
that enter the temple I must,
because loving her is trust,
making  the decision inevitable.

TOBIAS

At the last, tenderly,
From the walls of the powerful, fortress’d house,
From the clasp of the knitted locks—from the keep of the well-closed doors,
Let me be wafted.

Let me glide noiselessly forth;
With the key of softness unlock the locks—with a whisper
Set ope the doors, O soul!

Tenderly! be not impatient!
(Strong is your hold, O mortal flesh!
Strong is your hold, O love!)