embraced by sun and moon

when the dusk arrived this new year

the Sun lay down not unlike last year
wearing its golden crown with crimson trim
laying a fiery blanket on the day’s landscape
if to say… i lay to rest now to sleep and
dream of yesteryear and letting go of its
burdens, its travails while my friend
the moon sprinkles sleep dust upon your
weary eyes and tomorrow another new day
shall evince with a breath of verve to
make new memories 

let me awaken once again, if i may, in 
your arms and the warmth of your smile

so that my day will begin in the same
rhythm and balance that the spirit of 
which holds the stars in place and allows
their brilliance of their intrinsic make-up
and that i may open my eyes and witness the
light coming from the dark desiring to hearken
the wisdom, that Love is the answer

alone under stars

in the cold of a new years day a single

leaf dangles, dances alone, whereas  
not long before, others were
hanging around flickering, fluttering  
in the sharing of the wind

soft rays of sunshine make this leaf's

skin sheer, exposing a web of veins
which show through of vulnerability
calling attention to the innocence of
its curves, a lady standing in her sundress

left alone, to belong wanes,

as others have now departed
to carry on nature’s cycle, yet,
this single leaf clings on, dancing
in solemnity and solo, under stars

and like this leaf, i too, stand here

in a gentle breeze thinking with
fond memories, those now departed,
vulnerable exposing the curves of my
soul in this seemingly vacuous place 
yet, their love in my heart does not wane

i cling to these precious days left

and those still with me, cherish and
hold on to these moments tightly,
knowing unlike the solo leaf in Nature
a departure of others rejuvenate with Spring

alone, i witness this starry night

merry stardust

we are but stardust particles

floating about in the dark
thinking we are more and
curious as to our relevance

this moment in time, every cycle,

the world is introspective and
looks within to where it’s going
and where it’s been

stands before a mirror so as

to review its moral attire,
fitted from its narrow choices
of colors hanging in its closet
mandated by its religious writ

from the angst of our concerns over

our relevance and value, we disparage
and minimize our peers and other life forms
thinking it elevates us to, 'superior'

in the fear of death of our 'selves'

we incorporate into our religious scriptures
the savior of our souls convinced to be
true, then he or she our scripted savior,
will judge us then of this greater value

little do we know of value in the eyes

of the 'one' that's the universe spirit.
so by this it shall be said:
be kind to one another for in the
great expanse of time and space
we are but tiny stardust, in it together

let us all, in this cycle of our year,

enjoy our particular celebrations in peace
and calm, share our oneness and our common
wish that our souls be given the eternity of love   

missing you

standing here looking out my window  

faint of red, green and yellow gold light
glistens and glimmers through the fog
in the dark of a winter’s night

a tiny single snow flake lands upon a pane

reminds me of how slow a dance flakes fall
covering copper leaves of trees and the
sparse verdant splay left of autumn’s nest

peering out onto the powder white

giving light to the night, i think i see
small paw prints strewn in the snow
where but too short a winter ago
you and i had played

your voice in my mind resounds of song

words in mellifluous tone pierce my heart
i shed tears in memory of an anguish from
your lament because no wrapped gifts
lay underneath our evergreen

but too young, my words, couldn’t come

to let you know the preciousness of love
the gift of birth you had already given me
that was not laying underneath the tree

wind blows brisk now, frost on window’s pane

an arm embraces me o’er my shoulder,
a kiss upon my cheek, a cup of hot cocoa
warms my hands and my love stands next to me

looking out onto the still and peaceful calm

i ask from my heart my soul that in the still
of this night covered winter’s white
you’ll see me standing here, missing you

the dance

love inside me sometimes feels

i have more within than most
as the stars they wink and the
moon smiles just for me  

the crimson light at dusk

of the days’ sun, so too, waves
in its departure as if familiar  
while displaying a veil of gold
onto curdled cotton figures
soaring across the sky azure

a wind gusts friendly, lifting

skirts of trees as they sway
whilst my feathered friends
hang on to barren arboreal tips
whistling for my ears to hear

soon the autumn’s russet dress

around its shoulders wear
a shawl knit of white,
a cold vapors breath
moon beams make glisten
the winter’s night and the gray
shadows ask to join me in the dance

the human toll

a winter storm of cold has come

the soul of frigidity nips at our toes,
gray covers skies fill our days
leaving frost and chills the nights

ere to dissipate the damage

of this cold of hate and deep etched scar,
leaving behind a pain filled heart,
with tears of a battered, tattered soul
of self imposed human toll

but life amends and shall once again

revolve around to face the sun’s warmth
whilst the nascence of a new morn
shall reawaken with life's song
and will redress of spring
correcting what's gone wrong  

how dare you interrupt

how dare you smile at me

cause me curiosity
tease my heart like a test
take my hand without request
upon your cheek i’d leave a kiss
when you don’t see me
i sigh in comforted bliss

how dare you look up at me

with those puppy eyes
ask of me to share
love without condition,
place your paw upon my knee
to stroke the softness of your hair
as you lay your head
upon the heart of me

and mamasita, how dare to fill me

with memories of how you cared
you placed upon my shoulders
a blanket and a warm embrace
you changed my diaper
and combed my hair,
when some called me names
you’d wipe my tears of despair
for the many that did not care

how dare you interrupt me

depleting my lungs of breath,
speeding a rush of blood
through me and to my head,
my heart palpitates in a race,
not to drown in life but to tread

how dare you interrupt me with love  

this is what ‘thanksgiving’ is to me: my wife, mi mamasita, my pups jaz and jules (i miss you so much), to  friends who are still by my side and those who have departed but at one moment in time we shared hearts

 

merciful spirit

in a quiet space and moment, my thoughts

are harkened, trying to understand why life
has taken this turn where so much hate
and anger is dictating day after day in the
world around me and in a moments reprieve
i reflect upon my lineage of simpler times

i rise from a land of old

play in valleys paved of brush and stone
herald of feather crown wear and
ask of many gods depending on my
diurnal needs thus how the sun ascends and
the moon rests in its darkness overhead  

my soul consumes the riches of the forest,

breathe the air that blows the berries from
the bush and when cold, my wrappings
are of the garb from whilst the meat
i eat and i drink from the glistening stream that
runs down the side of the mountain god

my family of Nahuatl from Aztlan would labor

to build with carved stone laddered mounds so high
so as not to reach the sky but to be eye to eye
with the mountain god so that we could ask….
wherefore are we to be many suns and moons from now,
will they remember us and this of simpler times

oh spirit of old, who used to embrace my soul

when the moon would smile as it watched
the sun rise in the eve of day, transcending into
a life of simple joy and contentment, unfurling the
dark shadows with light where wisdom resides,
please wrap your arms around me and tell of
the stories of yore, fill my soul with love once more

  

opening my wings

my wings lift from their sides

the air beneath them lift me
onto the stairway to heaven
for i’ve come to this journey’s end

loved in depths where my heart, before, didn’t know

drank the tears of sadness until full
the howling wolf’s soul and me sit side by side
and watch his home burn to the ground

having heard the voices of despair

the asking for an open hand  
the flow of tears for someone to care
and deaf ears to listen if they dare

as i rise up and soar away from the mire on earth

i here the triumphant sound of wind,
the ocean waves clap and the mountains
whisper, the osprey and lion sing and roar to life

i do not say goodbye nor wish to see you cry,

would like to tell you why, it’s time for me
to fly where the universal spirit resides
along where all our souls soon will meet
giving the color blue to the palette of the sky

a dream

a dream  renders in joyful moments

some from memory, some surreal
 
eyes open and all seems the same
waft of the day is much like yesterday

body rises, stretches from its resting place

muscle ache, folds, wrinkles, a time lapse face

the day is grey, the autumn breeze is cold

hold the hand of love now and of the old

walk this day with me , breathe deep

pick not a flower, leave for the sun to grow

let the humming bird sip of its nectar
let bloom with color for the eyes to keep

 

the eyes of the soul

behold what lies within

from eyes of the soul
as they visualize a world
of beauty and love but are also
witness to and of their absence 

this is within all of us and if we

reach with extended hand, take 
hold and embrace these riches

within, for when we consume love,

and when we embrace beauty
we become such and to this
end, so too, will our progeny

tell a man this not to be true

and they will prove you wrong
for they will go forth and
reject the disdainful of destiny
and thus shall change the universe

giving life a chance

with a slow step i stroll

in a world that has erupted.
little rest for quiet or silence
where empathy, calm and peace
reside

my fellow species disdain all,

their own kind and life itself.
they’ve chosen anger and hate
where destruction is the fiber of
their bed spread, caring little
for the warmth and security
their children might seek

and the earth’s saplings are

being trampled with no regard
for future growth and so the earth
is showing us its anger reminding
us we are but visitors in its abode

terrestrials, the birds,

the trees, the rivers, the seas
are the attire it has provided
to cherish and wear and avail
of its nature, our care

prayer is not the remedy

nor is silence or capitulation
loud voices should raise and
action should follow to usurp
the swiping angered tail that
is destroying all in its path.
we must pounce on it and
sooth it with a stroking hand
of knowledge and wisdom

show the universe of our resolve

that we beings can walk amidst and
with each other in soulful pride and
sharing it with all of life. whilst
we become an emitting light
as we traverse in universal space
showing of our wish to reside in
perpetuity with our ancestry of stars

love lies still but not quiet

a crisp cold morning shall greet me

i shall not complain for when that chill
titillates my cheek i shall praise the day
as it awakens me to see the sun glisten off
the frost atop leaves of trees and a sheen
glittering off of the grass giving the day
a pleasant moment of ethereal

colors of russet, orange and yellows ornament

the trees, teasing eyes of a beholding taste of autumn,
their leaves sway and flicker in the cool fall breeze.
amidst this charm blue jays squabble over feed
corn hanging from branches. a red headed
downy woodpecker chirps as he munches on
black oil seeds in a bird feeder while little claws  
of squirrels and chipmunks can be heard scurrying
up the bark of trees and the choir of whistling
exchange by the warblers, cardinals and sparrows

i breathe deep this spirit of life

while reflecting upon those no longer
by my side, i channel this beauty and
let them know all is well but miss them greatly.  
surely they sense my greeting soul as i embrace
the thoughts of how in this wondrous moment...
love lies still but not quiet, in my heart  

love here and forever

you are the air that i breath

thoughts of your lovely face
pressed against my chest
in a warm embrace, smell your hair
your eyes peer into mine
and your smile fills my space

when your absent i cannot focus

i cannot eat, my breathe labours,
my hopes, my dreams are empty
into a void colored black and white
indiscernibly of day or night

i think of you and hear music

my heart races with its beat and
reminds me of your sinuous form  
dancing to the mellifluous sound,
your hair flowing around and around

you have captured my heart

the essence of my being is intertwined
in a wondrous snarl, inseperable
this world has but a temporary hold
until our souls go into the beyond  

of all things temporal, love is not one

ti's in the after as it was in the before
into the eternal we shall travel on
where all of time and space abide,
on gossamer wings of love, we’ll ride

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

my friend, my boy

my heart is tugged by inconsolable pain

like ‘angel falls’, tears fall from sleepless eyes
yelping cries come loud from inside my head
my love is wrenched from within my soul

he lumbers about without sight or sound

his insides in discord and spins round and round
the verve, the joy seem to have waned
oh spirit of love, shall i release him from his pain

if you do not hear from me for a while, my friends

i am residing deep in the darkness of my soul
am cogitating upon the choice i must make
asking the universal spirit, his soul to take

if i could i’d exchange one small moment

of reprieve from his angst from the turmoil
he seems to live in his dreams and then
i would pray to his angel to give him peace

soon, all too soon a calm shall embrace his soul

he’ll dream the good dream and walk amidst
the river’s bank where he used to chase the geese
the squirrels, the leaves, the swirling wind

my friend, tell those you meet in your heaven

of our walks, of our talks, how we held
each other when no one else was around
i give you half of my heart to take with you
until our two halves meet again, my boy

calm and content

when corners are rounded

sharpness of edge are honed
the prickly of vitriol is mitigated
anger and hate, atoned

contentment in a life of extremes

is the soft breeze in the dawn
the glitter of but a few stars
winking behind the cloud covered sky

solitude provides room and space

to the charm of nature’s heraldry
and the songs of the ocean wave
while in it's wake the osprey play

in quiet and calm, a spring of knowledge come

this fruit is gathered in wisdom’s abode
and all other distractions no longer matter
for there’s love of peace and the peace of love