Wasting Away

In the evening
When my day begins
The promises and chastises of last night
Lie somewhere at the back
Not forgotten, but diminished
By the drone of the morning

And all I do
During the evening when my day begins
Is wait for the night
To renew the vows
That help me sleep
And survive the drone

One of Us

In the beginning
Mere sustenance was an afterthought
Beside that river and under that sky
Each day we conquered all

The tides responded to his words
The clouds to the whims of his breath
The pace of his outstretched arm measured
The ascent of the sun and the moon

I – affecting nothing and no one
A reluctant bearer of truth
Just sat and heard him speak
Fearful of his touch

How well he could see the stars
But didn’t account for their delayed sparkle

Fame

Rose
Fragrant and with a deep blush
Fairest among your kin
Only your muddy waters know you
Only they hearken to your song

Later – when shriveled and gray and lost
Your worth in your remains will be discovered
And all will hearken then
Blind to this other
Rose

A Certain Friend

We spent the entire evening
Speaking between silences
About art and sports
Literature and cinema

Our minds like the proverbial peas
Savouring the similarities
That overcame the awkwardness
And offered refuge from the mundane

But I fret over the day
When interests and facts fail
And the mundane is all
That can break the silence

How shall we speak then?
Our hesitancy might undo
The best of our efforts
Leaving nothing and no one

So accepting the failure’s familiarity
We’ll dream about the triumph
That might have been the beginning
Of something unfamiliar but eternal

Soar

Two birds I know
Much dear to me
Are afraid to fly together

Often do though
Yet later separate to their nests
With reluctance but for fear
Of hurting and being hurt

Yet in flight
Glory is theirs and unmatched
And though blessed are all voyeurs
I
Long to fly beside
And let my eyes
Reflect what they are blind to