I Grip The Windowsill Too Tightly As The Dark Clouds Pour Heavily Over An Angry Ocean Crashing, Spraying,

I am with you in the morning When you are waking, Still sound asleep beside you, Cats curled around us As the light of dawn is breaking. I am with you in the evening As you begin to drift off, Eyes heavy and sleepy. Stay in my arms, I will hold you So you may rest deeply.

But soar freely, my dear, I will never hold you back As you fly through your days, Over the earth and over waves. Whether the day is cloudy or blue Some days I'll fly beside you, One of us a hawk, the other a dove. Other days I will be the wind Simply the air beside you, Or below you, or above.

Follow your heart, wherever it Takes you, to each experience That transforms and shapes you, You can take my hand with you Or leave it be. When you are done wandering And long to be held Like the sea holds the shore, Bring your weary, tired bones Home to me once more.

You and I stand at the Shop counter We are buying a Freshly baked blueberry pie To bring over to your Brother's home towns away

You stand patiently In your thick woolen Overcoat, in the many layers Under your violet skirt That has faded to lilac

The shopkeeper counts Our shared coins And you look at me With the warmest eyes On this blistering afternoon

You look at me so innocently In this small, warm Bakery, like looking At me could melt the winter From our hats and mittens

You say thank you to the Kind man with the Graying mustache in The coziest voice I know as if it were my own

We walk down the street Down to the train, where You will sit close Beside me, and it will Not be the pie that warms us

My house was built under A dormant volcano For all my life, decades Spent in its looming shadow It has slept soundly

My house is barely furnished I keep bags packed And ready by the door Never have I slept soundly Or ever truly lived here

I search for meaning In places where there are Many conflicting meanings, Where there are too many words And all the words are in Different languages.

Still I try to define Emotions that are multiple Emotions, that are vast And endless, that expand And shrink, and exist In a world outside myself.

I traverse dreams That I create in my mind, Where people relate to me In ways they do not actually Relate to me, where we Are all who we need To be to each other, Where we are vague and I am Lost in the details.

No one reads an open book They only tear out handfuls Of their favorite pages Give the binding a final look Tossing it into the fire That scatters then rages

Stories of magic hidden A life so private Gone up in the smoke The erasure of the forbidden Secrets of the temple ashen No wondering mind to provoke

I cut off my hair And the great weight of my life Fell away with it

I swam with Fish from Other seas Other creatures From fresh And salty waters Knowing In the depths Of my heart

That All I really Wanted was To settle In a quiet Backyard pond With you

I am sitting at the window The sun is out but it's chilly It's a lazy golden afternoon The neighbor's chickens Have escaped their coop again They're wandering down the street Stopping at bird feeders And pecking at the ground

It occurs to me after minutes Of simply observing the Peculiar way they move their heads That I have no thoughts in my own That I am completely mesmerized By mindlessly fleeing fowl It is a good day for watching And doing nothing else at all

It's in the way you tuck your hair Behind your ear In the way you speak your words Soft and clear In how you make yourself feel close Like you are here The way you navigate the world And hold your fears

It's in the way you tilt your head In photographs The way you light up when you're glad Your sneaky laugh It's how you say what's in your heart And don't hold back How you are strong and hold your own But don't attack

It's in the way your forge your path No compromise When you let me walk with you I get butterflies I love to see which way you go Every surprise Love is in the way you dream Watching the skies

Love is how you've looked at me With kindest eyes Love is when you hold my hand And don't patronize How you've been vulnerable with me Not afraid to cry It's how we let each other breathe Without cutting ties

Ink spills across the page Quickly, compose One painting, one color From crimson to rose

You scribble your passion Inside the hues In galaxies, in thought Declaring your views

So drench the paper Stain it with art Brush strokes of the mind You're a writer at heart