This night is full of ghosts

they whisper through their veil of tears

how lost they are, how left behind.

They visit me in dreams

seem the age of ‘make- believe’

when all of us were young ‘n free:

those days are past

‘n now I’m here, counting minutes

grateful for my dog’s soft breath

yet she must go before me now

strike a path that I’ve not known

until the hour I join her.

This too will end:

the sleepless nights

my heartache & your pain

palpable fear evaporating:

tinting the air like poison gas.

We too will cease

like the rain after a stormy night

all sadness washed clean.

Who would have guessed

these forty years would pass so fast:

chapter following chapter

each page a gilded jewel

no regrets, & there you are

so tall & silent in your skin

the skin I wove & wear

within my own cells.

So many lost to us but still

you carry vengeance like a right

it leaves us powerless.

We breathe the same air

we see the same light

we cannot pretend we are not alive

closer in dreams than daily life.

I say again this one last time,

‘This too will pass’

like the stars that shine in endless night

we will always be together.

A path revealed

neath rich black soil

a hidden glimpse at

long gone lives:

a pair of gloves

some rusty shears

a wild rose tree

says ‘they’ were here.

The garden wakes

in summer song

the blackbird cruises

dew drenched lawn

the shades of those

who’ve gone before

shimmer glimmer

disappear.

Here you & I

are passing through

plant golden apples

of the sun

the cherry blossom’s

sweet caress

shows how we stood

& paused a while

then turned our backs

we too are gone.