Bedrock
Long before our hearts met
There was hidden camaraderie
Between our eyes
In shared laughter
Stolen glances
Inside jokes
Hyperbolic hilarity
Tempered with tangible truth
Marco (prompt 26, Hour 21)
My cat crept into my heart on little fog feet. I saw him born, but
he knew long before I did that we were meant for each other.
Why shouldn’t cats know in the way humans know
a relationship is lasting? He did.
He showed me love is a gift, not earned.
He gave me the joy of recognition each time I entered a room
He taught me that he loved gravy more than food.
He let me know that he was more important than my computer
simply by stretching out between the keyboard and the screen.
He hunted wild mice fiercely to prove he could provide.
He trusted me. With purity and unquestioning love.
It made me a better person, living up to his belief.
He had nine lives that big grey lug. And he used up eight
before he let me know he was about to go.
He was 21 when he died, as trusting as he had ever been.
His frail old body too weak to move, he could no longer lick.
His fur matted. I knew he didn’t like that.
So with him lying on a pad, too feeble to lift his head,
I brought hot water and a cloth to bathe him.
I could almost see him smile.
Then I swaddled him in towels to keep him warm.
When I returned a few minutes later, his little life was gone.
Born in my bedroom, and died in my bedroom.
He knew when to sit in my lap and comfort me,
and he knew when to give me space. We grew old together.
Maybe that’s why I still think at times I glimpse him
coming through a doorway, or walking into the kitchen.
I half expect him to jump up on the bed and use my arm
for a pillow. He left a hole another animal will not fill.
Maybe that’s why I have his ashes in my closet still.
Only a pet lover will understand.
Hour 21 – Firefly Reflections
Firefly Reflections
A faulty screen allowed the firefly
to make his way, one night, into my room.
After a bit of daze, and questions why,
about the chamber he began to zoom
Soon enough he found the glass mirror’s shine
and gamely studied his reflection there.
Did he see someone equally as fine?
Or only a rival’s repugnant stare?
We know ourselves when our image we see
and grasp, a bit, how the science works.
But do we like our twin, this devotee?
Or see only our blemishes and marks?
19~21
cover me
in dewy grey fur
like her
lick the snowdrops
from my belly
(i brought you a mouse today)
The poison tree by William Blake
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath and my wrath did end,
I was angry with my for:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears;
I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
The stillness of the body if my foe
Should have brought my body to glow
Had it been sowed with a conscience
That was not covetous like mine.
How much I long see him back
But life once gone never come back.
Why did U sow the seed of anger
That charred both of us together.
I never wanted him to live
Till the time he was alive
Because anger was right there in my mind
Gruelling what was suppose to bind.
Now I regret my poisonous anger most
That took my friend so close
Only because I refused him to respect
More than my ego divine.
Good times
Telling stories
of the adventures I had
years ago
reminded me of the years
i have behind me
And I remind myself
of how many years I have ahead of me
and those good times only seem like a small collection
of what is yet to come
I Found You P2 (poem #21)
We have reached it
The stepping stone
Our future is all that awaits us
And our future is all that scares us
I know this is frightening
I am quivering just as you
Yet way deep down
When I look at you
I know our love is true
It scares me more
The thought of losing you
Then looking toward the future
Because life without you
At this point would be no life at all
I couldn’t stand to lose you
You’re my person
My best friend
The one my heart longs for
We sing together
In perfect harmony
The love that God has bestowed in us
I can’t believe this is happening
I am so beyond blessed
I finally found it
What I’ve been praying for
I finally found him
The one my soul sings for
I found you
And I won’t ever let you go
Balance
Balance
Corpus Cristi is tomorrow, noon on the dot.
Church bells will chime, ringing in people who will flood
the pews and spill into the aisle, standing room
only. I rub my eyes and blink real hard, making
the bright lights blur. Stayed up all night writing
poems that wouldn’t leave my head, imprinted
on my heart. I stare at the marble floor, tracing
the little rocks with my eyes, trying not to fall
asleep, the homily’s words just a buzz in my ear,
an echo in my heart that I fail to hear.
Like Rumplestiltskin’s Daughter
When you were a little girl you had no quarrels with the world. Life seemed so much simpler then in the warm embrace of family and friends. But over time life disappointed. The truth you’d known became disjointed. The trust you’d had had been betrayed and you have suffered since that day. I hope you know that you belong. That in facing your struggles you’ve learned to be strong. You’re now teaching others some lessons you've learned. You're turning your pain into good in the world.