Rich Words

When Dreaming

The snow can fall in drifts that become
the pink cherry's petals
the sky can slide
between azure and indigo
or even echo the shouting yellow
gold of the sun in the glint of the rings
we gave each other
the single twist of warm metal
against the bronze and cream of our skin
the clasp of our hands a Moebius strip
unending, ever changing the day

when you look into my eyes
and see all the green of the sea
the fathomless truth
and I see in yours the reflection
of my own hopes, this long sojourn ending
in the touch that begins the next

your shoulders are broad
your skin warm and honey-soft
your hands possessive and gentle
taming a fearful heart with a stroke
down my mane, the river of hair you so love
to smell, to bury your fingers in
and breathe poems into

the neverness of the dream protects us
holds us true to our course
the wind blows as it may
but we are guided by Polaris
and the music of the spheres
wave-rocked on a keel wrought of the few breaths shared
the sighs of such lovers lost in time
and knowing only that when all is right
soon will come
and we will have our time

When Then

Misted rain, soft and springy,
June. Already? Our chance has passed
Was it ever really a chance

Or just a date I selected at random
When you pressed for the answer
When?

May!
I said, May, flustered and
A little mad that I had to know
When, when?
A month too far distant (in December) to consider
It might never come to pass…
May has fled
And now… it’s June

You are still there and I am still here
And we stand staring
Looking across
This chasm of space
Cut by time’s white water rapids
Growing deeper, if no wider,
As the weeks, and months,
And then the years pass.

We dream but refuse
To plan for the essential eventuality
We dream loudly, we dream frantically
We reach across and feel the phantoms of each other
Held tighter than lovers
But if we do not step forward

If we only ask
When
And do not say
NOW!

It might never come to pass.