Contorted

I long for you,

But you long for someone else.

I deny the one who wants me, 

Because I want someone else.

    --  The human condition

I think my body knew you would not stay.

Distance

Mother, you always call to say nothing in particular.

You ask what I'm doing, and where I am.

And, when the silence stretches like a lifetime between us,

        I scramble to find questions to keep the conversation going.

What I long to say the most is:

I understand this world broke you  --  it has been so hard on your body and mind.

I don't blame you for not know how to remain soft with me.

Sometimes, I stay up thinking of all the places and things and people that hurt you,

         And, you never care to discuss.

I come from the same aching blood, from the same bone.

So desperate for attention, I collapse in on myself.

I am your son.

I know that small talk remains the only way for you to tell me you love me.

Because, it is the only way I know how to tell you.

        

You look like your mother.

                                            I guess I do carry her tenderness.

You both have the same eyes.

                                            Because we are both exhausted.

And the hands.

                                            We share the same wilting fingers.

But that rage  --  your mother does not wear that anger.

You're right  --  this rage is the one thing I get from my father.

                                            

To fathers with daughters:

Every time you yell at your daughter out of love,

You teach her to confuse anger with kindness.

Which seems like good idea; until

She grows up to trust men who hurt her.

Because they look so much like you.

How is it so easy for you
     to be kind to people,
            he asked.

Milk and honey dripped from 
     my lips as I answered,

Because people have not been kind to me.

 

Wintry Desert

The wind blows cold The sky pale grey The sun hidden. Winter comes to the desert. Snow falls in the mountains Frosting them icy white A beautiful sight against the palm trees.

 

Bloom Within This Lonely Desert

To see your face again, resembling the warm radiant sun.

After a long, dark, cold and lonely winter, holding you in my arms again.

Soothes and heals my damaged heart.

Since you departed, my life became an empty arid desert.

But, now your here, and blooming in my lonely desert.

 

Winter Wildflowers and Desert Plains

A riot of color, revealing the plain as you drive the vast ways in the High Desert.

Vivid and broad, the landscape evolved, painted in hues of the flower. Viridian and gold, violet and blue, the dirt itself reflects a golden sun, sets off a contrast, a vision of hues, no other place on Earth. The California Golden Poppy, occupies the space as the everlasting colors transform, the majestic camouflage of winters embrace, defying the rules of the cold winter norm. Deprived of water, for the desert's their home,they challenge the grace of the source, emitting small buds against the parched loam, life's promise, a powerful force. Life will out, and new beginnings begun, a testament to hold in wonder, for winters drought, under our burning sun, cannot deter these flowers.

 The Parting Cup

Of all the money I ever had,

I spent it good company.

And, all the harm I have ever done,

Alas, it was none to, but me.

And all i have done, for lack of wit,

To memory now, I cannot recall.

So fill me the parting glass, 

Good night an joy to you all.

Of all the friends I have had,

They are sorry for my going away.

And, al the sweethearts that I have ever had,

They want me to stay one more day.

But, since it fell unto my lot,

That I should rise and you should stay.

I gently rise and I’ll softly call,

Good night and joy to you all.