Shapes of the sin that we could not excuse

Weary we wait in this dismay

All held to love when love gave way

Where pleasures cease and embers die

In hearths whose hearts have long since strayed

And all our friends have chosen sides;

Archives of love and its labors sustained

Patching a pair where all passion had waned.

Imminent ends go unperceived

If we count only miles achieved

Missing milestones slipping by:

One last day hand in hand ungrieved,

One last kiss barely felt implies

Shapes of the sin that we could not excuse:

Choosing to stay in dismay was abuse.

where I end and you begin

the heat here among hearts and hands
while I am all my grinning you
brush your hair back over and

over laughter when the tricks are -
bluffs and feints and well played plays-
better than anything ever and

how fingers brush again reaching
( for cards forgetting whose turn ) it was
in the while where smiles speak and

then this is just the slightest touch
which asks 'how much are you alive
in hopes I might reach out in kind' and

then in boldness brush again
all we are is sifting through hands
where I end and you begin

She flew through her seasons

                                                   she flew through her seasons
And as her aim fell short again she reasoned with her demons
To stay in bed and leave unsaid the words that she's kept close
The breaking in me says to leave but I don't want to go

She packed her half of what was left and booked a morning line
The last words spoke a wisp of smoke as half her heart took flight
She's known for half forever hearts on fire never last
And still she longs for burning love and leaves behind her ash

We can't forever spring and summer love, you must agree
If love remained our lives unchanged then why should seasons be?
But when it's good it's understood it's certain not to last
For all the clawing in an autumn never lets us rest

She settled into some new skin where she could leave her shape
And wore the hope of she who roped new hearts about a nape
When weeks have passed since she was glad to recognize him there
The shapes the same but brand new skeins once more she shakes and swears

If all you see is ending please love look the other way
I don't want lies, and each love lies and aches to make me stay
I must have dreams; I cannot dream when you won't let me free
You'll find home but not with me and

lady writer

I don't suppose it's proper or
Permissible and I'm not sure
You would not hold it against me
Flippant, truant, and so sorry

But the truth of the matter here
We've seen three seasons of the year
Though time flies and memories fade
Lady writer, I wish I'd stayed.

Perhaps it's sad, this heart set taut
I tied my sails in sailors' knots
( You taught me to tie sailors' knots
But not to turn about the spot )

This picture just won't fade: the way
The hair fell down around your face

One last time.

As evening drained away we laughed

Left our impressions in the grass

All nervous craft the shadows close

About our hands between our clothes


And Adrienne's consumed by this


I know


She takes me in she takes my hand

And whispers soft I understand
That if this ever comes again
It won't be for a while

Then


Make me what you will and take
Only what you need and leave
Something left of me I'll need


To carry on with this when you

    Have gone

Where she held fast to my hand.

I overheard softly from outside
Half the heart you had ever allowed
The love affair lost in the spotlight
And the dream I remembered out loud

I saw you there heart strung and singing
Wearing faces that remembered mine
The notes you had wrote for me fading
And the memories washed out in rhyme

I've long since forgiven our ending
But I couldn't have been less prepared
The half of my heart you left ringing
And the wonder of seeing you there

Toward absent lovers always

At seaside white caps waiting
All my footsteps to unveil
The heart-shaped places water
Might then settle for a spell

I watched the wash erode them
And the water back to waves
As long as I keep walking
I'll leave more along the way

Toward absent lovers always
Love's tide ever stronger flows
Water, love, and gravity
We can't forever hold

Some times for ever

Of all I've left unsettled in an anthem of goodbyes
    I think of your dismay
    and what's become of me
        a peal of thunder far away
    and slips from memory

Of all the panoplies I've seen of fading days and skies
    adrift in summer heat
    and stuff of younger years
        between those things that make life sweet
    and softly disappear

Of all the moments left behind let this be kept alive
    a day in your home town
    and night beneath the world
        an unpaved road; the window down
    and autumn hair unfurled.

Draft Aut 2014.