Birdie

You would be pretty
on a sidewalk to dreamland;
on a sidewalk to anywhere, really;
a sidewalk to where I have been
or have not,
a sidewalk along where I'm going.
And it would ache less,
my sweet little bird pretty;
the ache would still hurt,
but just less.

Scattered Ashes

Let it die
in the glorious light of the fading sunset.

Lay it down
on the deck of the boat where you caught all those fish.

"Now we're here,"
says the man on the board with the oar and the paddles

Ashes, ash
and a few clinking teeth in the water below.

"We have come
to this fast moving stream here to scatter these relics.

"To reflect
on the life once contained in this dust."

-says the man,
As he opens the box, tips and empties the contents

and the wind
blows away the remains of a someone we love.

The Light Before Leaving

I'm passing this light
from my place in the world
to the place in the world where you live.
The light, before leaving,
dips nearest as if it had bright goodnight kisses to give.
"And here is some gold shaken out. I was holding right here in my pocket of blue.
But I have no use for it where I am going so here, take it! This is for you!"
I'm passing this light from my place in the world
To the place in the world where you are.
By the time it gets there, I'll be darkly aware that I miss you.
'til morning,
Bright Star.

At Sunset (For Kate Spade)

...so lift your eyes to see it pass,
cause some things,
some things just won't last,
and "Glory!" 's just a word we say
to mean "The light along the way."
So lift your eyes and watch her now
cause some gifts,
some gifts aren't allowed
to linger longer than the light.
So, Up you look! With all your might!
Or you'll have missed her dying glow-
cause some girls,
some girls,
some you know,
and love the best and value most
and cannot fathom as a ghost
were all the gold the sunset cost-
(so she will never then be lost-...)