Poetry

There is a heart
behind this shield of fear
with its aura of hatred
pain and ambition
commerce has nothing to do
with the gift
you gave me
at the office
and at home
you probably caught me
red handed
in a dream
or two
over the years
the gift of time
with the trees
and herons
the collective solitude
of song birds
singing farewell
with joy
at dawn
if we could only unchain
ourselves
from ourselves
and not insist we all
suffer the same way
to live
through a lifetime
singing a memorized song
I will not build my own coffin
around me
with salvage wood
from the dumps
of despair
the material is light
the essence is light
but we are most often
heavy with impossibility
I have no quarrel
with squirrels
or the other absences
which I stopped reading about
accounting for
in an instant of lightning bugs
and they were gone
from the landscape of childhood
this is my folly and fondness
and most high regard
not the meditators and commentators
but those who know how do what they
always knew
let go
move on
and give away everything
to follow nothing or no one
but some strange feeling
within
there is a heart
here
under the grays
that knows no fear
the lowering everydays
we put past us
there is an island with a heart in it
a sun with a starless night in it
and friendships that make ordinary speech
a miracle
*
 
life is always astonishing