turningworld.ca

Seasons

the spring grew jealous of the summer

for summer’s days are long and lingering

the summer yearned so for the autumn

to wear her burnished leaves of red and gold

the fall thought only of the winter

and how it lay beneath the soft, white snow

but winter was content to be the winter

and give its dying days up to the spring

 Summer

love, but a whisper,

a hint of honeysuckle

in evening air...

who would notice?

lost in thought,

the desire for all that glitters,

while gold goes unnoticed.

like a barren tree whose leaves are gone

I wait for your return.

defeated by summer,

the days that would not end,

lost in longing

I fell into an autumn of dis-ease

clothed in gold and auburn...

I sought your smile

in the distant reaches of dreams.

spring was impossible,

winter’s child...

the damp smell of earth,

the returning light,

quiet and alone I planted seeds,

roses and honeysuckle,

that your presence might be felt

in the last scent of summer.

In This Life

can the tenderness

in the small moments of night, 

that fall with exquisite ease,

convince our minds to yield

to the stillness in all things

can the light,

that rises without effort, 

that fills the sky with cadences of blue and grey,

of cream and silk and yellow taffeta,

touch,

in flickering shadows,

the yearning cries of our hearts...

can the air,

dizzy with honeysuckle,

sweet with articulate scent,

take all the tears we’ve ever shed

and toss them, like petals,

in its swirling winds...

can the small drops of rain,

so fragrant and defenceless,

fill our eyes with their gentle sorrow

as if to say,

you are loved, you are loved...

can the immovable move;

can the unendurable be endured;

can the day wed night;

can the grieving forces of loss

witness the endless birth of the world.

in this life,

is there something outside

the limits of finite things,

or just echoes fading in the evening sky...

calling softly,

to a lover,

farewell

Clouds  (for Toni)

I read the letter that tells me you are gone,

expected, yes but...

I walk to the window look out on the sky,

across at the mountains

where traces of cloud hover

gracing their peaks.

I look out on the world and think of you...

I remember, how we would watch 

gentle wisps of cloud paint the sky

with broken strokes of cream and crimson,

drift, with serene abandon,

high above the teaming world.

how we would watch the gentle hues of ivory 

turn to grey, turn dark and nebulous

in the brooding sky.

watch the sun return,

burn away all trace of what was there,

that seemed so real, so alive...

watch the light shift to twilight, 

the soft light of evening,

and fade...

now I look out on this fading day

remembering the light that lay in your eyes...

remembering your smile,

your laughter, your steady gaze...

and the tears that clouded your eyes

in those fleeting moments of grief.

and now I feel those same tears wet upon my cheek,

but only feel the echo of your warm embrace...

whatever the mystery of our being,

you abide still here with me,

here in the deepest recess

of my heart...

until the day I journey too

across the wide expanse of fading skies, fading time,

beyond the distant reach of life, of death,

and all things in-between.

Regrets

I too shall have these...

the hawk harries the ground

and feathers the grass 

with wing swept wind,

seizes her prey

in a moment of pure grace.

life is wild,

storm tossed wild

and calm as night...

who can turn from one,

to the other

in a dying breath?

only the crows

ride the currented air

before the storm,

hurl themselves into flooding winds

with empty abandon

and I watch

from stillness

as the world unfolds in my heart

Devotion 

I can not tell you why

I get lost the way I do,

in the shadows of shadows...

in the seduction of stories

that seem so real,

that hold such promise...

that yield nothing

but more shadows.

I can not tell you why 

I mistake the ghosts of dreams 

for flesh and blood,

that I forget,

that I so utterly forget,

they are only phantoms...

while you simply wait, 

wait for me to turn 

from shadow to light,

wait with the patience 

of absolute devotion,

wait while eternally revealing

your miraculous presence,

in the staggering beauty 

of this world,

alive beyond all measure...

I Have a Friend... (for Joel)

I've crossed land and ocean,

mountain, dale...

watched stars gazing

on moonless nights.

I've sheltered the rain beneath my coat

when her tears were everywhere,

when the skies were endless.

and I've called to geese in flight

to take me home.

I've held crying children

frightened and forlorn...

seen the precious light

fade from a mother's eyes...

I've lived in tents and tenements,

in broken houses, 

beneath fallen skies...

and I've called to forsaken lovers

to take me home.

I've passed ancient ruins,

like remnants of my heart...

slept beside the mountain's shadow,

when the moon was pale and dark...

I've made meadows my home,

forests my keep.

and I’ve called to quiet rivers

to take me home.

In this world I've known 

hearts that are kind, 

that are wise,

that are true...

but I've not known kinder,

I've not known wiser,

I've not known truer,

than the heart of my friend...

I have a friend

and his heart,

oh his heart could cradle the world..

somewhere

somewhere beneath the surface

of calm and turmoil, 

of sun and rain;

beneath the business and distraction

that define our days;

somewhere beneath 

the little pleasures and pains

of living in this world;

deeper than memory,

than dream,

than joy and grief,

lies love...

it is there

we truly meet...

there where life,

in all its vagaries,

makes sense.

there where even death

has a place at the table.

it is there I keep you

my precious one

there were I truly live

where I sing amongst the stars

sleep amid the meadows

that sway in the wild abandon

of life and love.

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