You eliminate the darkness in my life,

     Brightening my day.

You ease my pain,

     Healing what remains.

Despite your shattered heart,

    Which  I did not believe held room for me,

           You came to comfort me.

I know one day we will unite,

      Finding the happiness we both deserve.

The rising sun points the way,

     Tomorrow our separate journeys begin.

Not so far away in time or place,

     Our desires and dreams await our embrace.

We built our house next to a tall tree,

     With the entry facing the morning sun.

A wide porch surrounds our home, 

     That welcomes all who come our way.

On that porch we watch

     The sunlight filtered through the tree’s leaves,

          And the moon snagged in the tree’s branches.

In the evening,

     We stroll the pasture

          Observing the goats and horses at rest.

               Fireflies arise as we meander down to the stream.

Returning home,

     We light candles

           And dance to the internal rhythms of our love.

Moving on

Passed through the crossroad

Difficult choices completed

Storm clouds recede across the horizon.

Goals in sight

Fears abated

Destiny assured

The sun much warmer here.

Laughter fills the air

Love and friendship provide the foundation

Hand-in-hand we head toward home

Rocky journey finished.

Complete and fulfilled.

Goodbyes linger in the air.

     Thick like fog making it difficult to see.

Knew the day would come,

     Where those things I held so long,

          Must be freed.

Clearing skies ask for my surrender.

I will not turn back,

     Freedom and love beckon me.

Climbed mountains, sailed the seas.

Jumped from aircraft, skied the slopes.

Fought in a foreign land, nursed my wounds.

Taken high risk chances, survived each one.

Now I face the biggest challenge of my life.

Pursued and loved wonderful women.

Ridden horses, slept beneath the stars.

Awed, humbled by the Milky Way.
Slept on the ground, and in the grandest hotels.

Now I face the biggest challenge of my life.

Crossed this country many times, lived overseas.

Participated in the birth of my beautiful daughter.

Buried my father and mother at their special place.

Scattered the ashes of my best friend and his loving wife 
     where the river meets the sea.

Now I face the biggest challenge of my life.

Now, 
     I decide where my journey takes me next.
     I learn who will join me there.

     My freedom will be complete.
     I live for Now.

My biggest challenge?

To live the life I create for me, 
     Unencumbered by those unable to live, love and commit.

There are moments in one’s life

     That alter you and set your course forever.

Some are subtle,

     Some overwhelm because you never saw them coming.

No one asks for these changes.

     How you respond, determines who you are.

Let me be still for a few moments,

There would be no place to go,

Nor to come from.

I have arrived in this extraordinary moment.

There is a stillness and silence,

That fills my senses.

Where all things have found their rest,

Putting an end to us and them.

There would be nothing to be said nor done.

For life embraces me in this wondrous place,

And takes me into its arms as a loving friend.

This silence, 
       empty of itself.
 Pregnant with potential,
       entranced by its existence.

This silence offers something
       or nothing.
This timelessness melds the dance
       of past, present and future.

This silence embraces subtlety,
       with thoughts lighter than floating feathers,
            no inner voice whispering.

This silence allows whispers in the night,
       the leaf to glide to the earth,
            the spider to travel across its web
                   and I to forget my whole existence.

It is a strange

this inner voice, that speaks of one thing

while revealing another.

A difficult thing to accept,

saying one thing and conveying

something else.

Yet, we feel what we feel,

we think what we think.

We do what we do.

Can we bridge this gap?

Of course, we can

   Our relationship requires the effort.
           
            We invested a great deal thus far.

Love's mysterious

A feeling of sweet joy

Found deep within my soul

And viewed from the outside in

Love and hate cannot dwell in the same place.

Our blood flows through aging veins.

The need for love and making love never ends.

Now it becomes gentler, deeper and more meaningful with time.

Senses awaken when skin fuses, and lips drink deep kisses.

Though the years may be many, our spirit hungers for love.

Older lovers have experienced what most only dream about.

The dream of an lover -- to have, hold and remember.

If a life could own another life
     A wolf a deer,
           An eagle a fish,
               A man a tree,

Who would exchange a life with me?

Dark in the forest, 
     a path disappears into the fading light.

Soft as moss
     A voice enters my silence.

My hand on bark, 
     My stilled face alone.

Then water, then gravel, then stone.

You can say what you need to say.
     However, I know love does not work that way.

You can do what you must do.
     And, I will always remember what we went through.

You do not know everything, nor do I.
     We are never too young or too old to learn about this thing called love.

I know I am in love,
   And, await your confirmation of our love, too.

Laugh

     Between the sadness.

Unhappiness

     Will flee.

Embrace the rebirth

     That is offered.

Hear my whispers, feel my breath.

     Our beating hearts reverberate.

Close your eyes, kiss my lips.

    You await my caress.

Lost in your eyes,

     My heart is yours.

Tell me you love me,

     Now we are whole.

How did this come to pass?
     Two strangers meeting casually.

Two lovers, struggling to become one.
     Will love overcome their doubts and unite them?

A small miracle....

When you kiss my lips tenderly,

     My heart erupts like a volcano.

The earth spins around as a carousel,

     Kiss me one more time....

Life, it's simple, 
     it's great!
          The clear sun rings a sweet noise.

Listen, I'm not crazy!
     I'm laughing at the foot of the stairway.

Before the great wide open door,
     In the brilliant sunshine.
          And my arms are stretched towards you.

This day that I love you:
     It's today that I love you.

Pain,
     sluggishly seeping into my thoughts.

Unnervingly effective
     in robbing me of movement, joy and love.

From where did this curse arise?
                                                                ...I know the answer.

I created this pain,
     by not acknowledging it at its moment of birth.

I nurtured it,
      with self-pity giving it further life.

By facing it,
      here and now, it will dissipate. 

With acceptance and forgiveness,
     pain and fear cannot exist in the present.

And I will be whole.

With each New Moon,

     Hope refreshes the landscape.

          Banishing fears, and erasing doubts.

Dreams, once set aside,

     Now flourish.

Only time will display the final results.

Now, at this moment,

     Every attention must be paid

          To nurturing what has been created.

And what will be.

Cool crisp air sweeps away the early morning fog.
     The harbor's waters remain glassy calm.

New beginnings, a fresh new start
     The day portends.
Heartaches, misunderstandings and unrequited emotions rise slowly,

Only to be swept away,
     By the fresh breeze of new hopes and plans.

No time for dwelling on the past,
     What has transpired is gone.
What lingers, if it must have life,
     Must stand on its own.

Maybe, love will come this way, again.

The path to this heart is well known.

Just waiting, while I turn my dreams into reality.

Breathe deeply,
     Look inward,
           Center on the Truth.

The blinding light dims,
     As nothingness appears.

Solitude achieved,
     Amidst the cacophony of disruptive, emotive voices.

Truth and Love
     Unite in flight.
          Bound by the silences that bridges spoken words.

Stillness, now.
     Complete within each other.