life shakes my hand

when the heart holds the hand of grief

it reminisces upon the days of yore
when life was gentler, foot steps softer
the breezes would ride on a subtle day
quietly onto the night’s shade to rest
the weary eyes, a tired soul to lay

the day shines of gold as the heart is warmed

a soul dances with the clouds as the sky touches
the ocean blue where the dolphins and orca
spring out from their abode displaying to the osprey
how two worlds can be as one

and as time avails long the hour and the day

but months and years race by too soon ravaging
from us without notice a piece of where love
is stored and shared at will with temporal beings
as they part without goodbyes only naked
memories left behind

but life is not swayed by the wind

it bares no bias toward a flower, a tree,
a mother, a child, a bird or a bee
tapping time on its shoulder to reclaim its fruit
a recycling of the balance in the universe
giving birth to another me, another you

‘untoll’ moment

the candle flame flickers

Its light pierces the dark
It dances about creating
moving shadows of objects still

my thoughts stream seemingly

inside my head as sad holds
the hand with joy, fear with peace,
calm with anguish and loneliness
stares and stares at love

a feeling of flux enters my soul

the wantonness of chaos as
i descend into an abyss such
the nature of the universe
i am a microcosm of its being

my heart beats hard and fast

i listen to its gurgling roars
like tiny ocean waves ebbing,
flowing into designated chambers
marrying with oxygenated breath

my soul, my incarnate being

transcend into a place where
all the voices ever spoken, music
ever played now reside where
there is no space or time

i’ll remain here for a moment

my memories have no place to go
what is salient no longer matters
as tears have ceased flowing and
the ache in my heart no longer tolls

life's path

so many paths i’ve taken

observing many a tree, cherishing
many a flower, in the many hours of walking by

i look around, watch the swift of wind

play with the daisies and the violets
and the pansies as they dance to and fro

every morning’s yellow radiant light

awakens to my souls delight
for another stroll into the night

today i walk another trail grey clouds

follow from above as my eyes witness
with the years, now a different shade of light

thus i wonder, on those paths i've walked,  

the pansies and the daisies, from before, are they
still dancing, though delicately now, in the wind ?

*dedicated to an artist, a grandfather, a father, a husband, a friend lost to tragedy but remembered.

  in life’s path we encounter many a flower. later we walk a different trail and wonder if that flower
  from before still sways in the wind. to find out a swift of wind has taken it to its resting place

   tim macdonald, RIP

love’s commitment

quietly we sit side by side

back and forth we rock while staring

into the mirror of lapsing time

arms around each other much like

identical twins conjoined at birth

as we embrace we look at our reflection

into each other’s face that stare back at us

now with folds on our cheek and brow

our smiles evince of dignity amidst the grey

 on the edges of my hair line and on

hers still with the same flowing beauty

she has displayed all along always next to me

so quickly through time we’ve traveled as

both mothers, a brother too young and a 'pup' our

child recently departed leave us with their memory

and still within us we breathe their breath

we reflect upon our journey hand in hand

with a promise to each other made so many

moons and suns before, to be apart nevermore