Far From The Darkening Day

We could be driving to anywhere,
we could be driving home.
One thing I know,
have always known,-
we never travel alone.
They say every highway leads anywhere,
that all these roads lead to Rome.
One thing I know,
have always known,-
Rome wasn't built out of foam.
As yet we drive through the darkening day,
all the way forward not shown.
One thing I know,
have always known,-
we will not get there unknown.
We could be driving to anywhere,
we could still aimlessly roam.
One thing I know,
have always known,-
everyone wants to get home.

Ruby Gold Ring

The ruby gold ring that my Grandmother wore and the teeth that she took out at night,
and that orange fluffy cat that would purr round my legs on the porch with my hair permed up tight.
These thoughts are crocheted like the dresses she made for that drawer full of small plastic dolls
in her house I recall, with that angel food smell, and the brown panneled wood on the walls.
And there was an attic with boxes and dust and with rafters too fragile to climb.
but all it contained even then had decayed,
every news clipping ravaged by time.
 How quick we dismiss the details we most miss from a life twenty years out of sight,
But I still remember the ruby she wore, and the teeth that she took out each night.

Ours

Last night, you left the nozzle on;
the busted one out front?
Sometimes we turn it barely on
and can't quite turn it off.
So I have put a bucket there
right under where it's dripping,
and I will leave another near the gate
that can't quite shut.
Some rust is on it's handle
near the clasp and where we swing it,
some rust that browns the mystery
of water mixed with time.
These clank and drip details
that wrap their way
'round how to get here,
and don't forget the pigeon scratch
and tractor in the yard.

Tonight the Sky

Tonight, the sky was lavender,
as violet as my dreams.
As purple as my love for you,
and deepening, it seems
impossible.  The darkening
that hid us here from view.
Impossible that it could grow,
but still it grew and grew,
even down on this Earth so cold
it seeps into our bones,
where we have wandered longingly,
now finally not alone.
I don't just wonder at this bond,
deeper than words can tell,
reflected in clouds above;
but that I loved you well.

While we slept, unaware

Here the sun rose above where we slept,
pink and blue
rising through
what we'd kept
in our minds, in our soft little heads,
rested down
as if drowned
in our beds.
Comforted by the covers we wore
since last night
when the fight
left us sore
as the light also left and the dark
grew so black
on our backs.
The last spark
of a thought drifted out of our brains
only deep,
deepest sleep
could remain.
Here, before even one whispered prayer,
sunlight crept
while we slept, unaware.

In a world that was always this dark

On a night that was always this dark
In a world that was always this cold,
there was light in the distance-a spark
and something you said about gold:
That it's here, underground in the rocks,
but deep, like a mile or two down.
below where we stand in our socks
in our own little house just past town.
But we never could dig very fast,
And I don't think we'd get very far,
for our drive and ambition would last
just until we were dirty and scarred.
On a night that was always this cold,
Where we see a dim light, just a spark,
There will always be deep unseen gold
In a world that was always this dark.

Something Shivers

Something shivers in the night-
not from sickness, cold, or fright,
past the curtained moon that lights
all the world I can't make right.
Something dimly shines. My sight
darkening now what once was bright.
Close them 'til the pigeon's flight
lands them safe on wires who's height
makes me dizzy. I just might
stay and watch them.  Or I might
close the window. Tuck in tight,
pull the covers up, don't fight
what here shivers, what may bite.