RiverWoods

Ripples

                                It is this way ~

                                                                                     I listen

for the way

your words

skip like pebbles

in pools

stirring silence

spreading joy

Yellow Goatsbeard

Cool and cloudy

over soft earth

and all these

new beauties   

in summer

bloom

Beyond

How do you let go?

How do you spend every last wish

waiting your turn?

When he finally called -

his voice breaking the silence from beyond -

was it gentle?

indulgent?

urgent?

I only ask because I heard you

say a little sharply -

What?  What Dad?

Like a child answering a call home late to dinner,

bluffing.

Did he answer you with words?

Or in the tired, hopeful hush of your last

breath?

Full Bloom

We take the less travelled path today,

the dogs and I,

and there,

suddenly,

from dead leaves

beside the trail

in full bloom

springs this first

slipper

of the season.

Her Eyes

These lilacs, he says,

are the color of her eyes

the day we wed,

the color of her eyes

the day she died.

These lilacs,

blooming on the bush

he grew from that shoot

cut from the roots

of her own father's

garden,

transplanted

to the home they

made

for fifty springs.

This Last Day

For you

these spring violets

bloom

along the path

this last day of April,

day of remembrance.

What I know now is this -

you lived long enough to find me

you lived long enough to love.

Blue River, Spring

Spring comes in blues and greens 

with the dogs running

and the mud drying

and the trees budding

and the birds singing

Parting

 

Warmer days bring hints

of warmer days coming.

Last winter

you were still here

and I didn't know

the exact day or time

we would part.

Now I know

it was spring

and the Lady Slippers had not yet bloomed.

Depths

You didn't ask

what I believe and I could have

let that stop me. 

Now

here you are, freezing me out

when for a moment

we could meet

before film and glaze

are ice

and this window

freezes

you there and me near.

Storm

Now I know

You will forget me.

When you remember

When you come

searching 

You will find

me

in the swift soft silent

secret snowfall.