I Knew A Man From Salem Who Lived In A Very Old Home "My Partner Died Last Year," He Told Me, "And Left

I feel far from you for the first time The first time the oceans have mattered The first time the world has felt large And vast, and endless, and where are you?

When you have been here in my heart And I am searching and scavenging Scouring and raving mad in my uncertainty Like you are around me but not here

Like we rowed in separate little boats Me by the shore, you off on the horizon You were always just out there by the sun But you have drifted into the light, away

I always felt you in my mind but it is quiet I tell you tales that you don't hear You have interests and friends I don't know For the first time you feel like a stranger

This poem got away from me How cliche It's something all poets will say So am I a poet at all? If I'm just letting the words fall Where they may?

(I wouldn't describe myself that way)

I am floating in the earth's Ink, a night dew

My eyes have turned a kind Of lost dark blue They are someone else's eyes I have never seen through This particular hue

This is not my color I am so blue So blue, so blue

I'll slip behind these navy Stars, just to avoid the view

Ashes to ashes I'll get your ashes next week And hold you as dust

What are the laws of nature? Can you tell me? I can only think of one That energy cannot be created Or destroyed That it can only reconstruct One form into another

So what makes a flower bloom? Did I give the blossom My energy? I assume it comes from somewhere Within the soil, the stem But let me believe I can transform Into a beautiful thing too

There are Monarchs in Mexico Where kings and queens still reign Lording over salvia and milkweed In their glorious campaign

Yet nomadic in their nature In summer fleeing their domain The Monarchs journey ever north Old royal kingdoms to reclaim

The dynasty will carry backwards An intricate floating train Resting upon their paladin trees The ruling of Monarchs ever arcane

The time I spend alone Is so precious and Soul filling, it is needed

My time away is a Haven, a grove A quiet reserve I call home

And my heart is so full Of myself, known, I Am satisfied, quenched

I am far from her now That longing, if it's there, To be near her is rare

I am laying in the tall grass On a cloudy afternoon The air is still, The grass does not blow In the wind or on a breeze

It is quiet, the birds are quiet There is an ant crawling On my arm, there is a Cottontail munching on Nearby dandelions

The gray clouds are peaceful They don't promise rain Now there is also a Small beetle on my shirt They are claiming me, these bugs

They are accepting me into their World of the tall grass Where the rabbits and moles live Where life is slower I will go inside later

Forevers do not stretch Over an infinite Unimaginable amount of time Like circles that Were never drawn with one Line beginning and closing To create an eternity

Forevers have lifespans Just like eras and people When a person says Forever it is only as Long as they never change When I say forever I mean I hope to stay the same

So when we finally evolve When we grow and our Lives begin anew with Our atoms refreshed We let go of one forever That unfathomable infinity Closing just like the circle

I feel a kinship with birds and spiders One eats the other The smaller one is feared The larger one is adored

A bird is artistic and beautiful A spider creates beautiful art A spider catches its prey in the art A bird catches a spider for a little snack