What binds us,

is not

 

blood & bone & tears

 

it’s not, a golden ring

or common history

 

it isn’t pitter pat

of children’s feet:

 

what binds us is

stardust lost between

 

the mystery of sleep

the bright awakening.

 

A hand upon a cheek

 

a whispered prayer

your ankle touching me.

 

It can’t be stored

for future gain

 

or dusted down

& packed away.

 

What binds us is this

moment

 

lost between

 

the echo of the owl

night rain on shutters

 

a drowsy glance

your face in sleep:

 

& lest I settle for another,

a love less deep

 

what binds us here

as lovers

 

we cannot grasp

& keep

 

it is settled in the

chambers of my heart

 

it beats its own

sweet beat

 

that Universe

remembers.

 

 

 

 

We cannot touch

what we have left behind:

 

tears and years have fled

in drama. No regrets

 

‘’No regrets’’

 

She dips her head &

sighs!

 

A lie!

 

We cannot smell the scent

of yesterday, those summer’s

 

stretch behind like lace:

a dragonfly, a hummingbird

 

a beach of coral, so many

‘’You’’ & ‘’I’’ 

 

I try to listen to those years

a snatch of song, a young man’s

 

stride; a key in yielding lock

a whisper in the night.

 

We cannot see, what’s left behind

a solstice moon, a furtive fox

 

my dreams, where love comes back

to haunt me.  A photo in a frame,

 

those struggles to the death have

vanished now in peace.

 

Here time marks us with its stamp

so dearly won.

 

I cannot taste you now

a sherbet in the shade

 

a hint of salt

on waning wave

 

I cannot reach you now

but with these words

 

gently.