cycles

it's true. hurt people
hurt people. i know because
i've felt it. done it.

41

forty-one years of
forward thrust, hope-after-hope,
believing in more.

Your birthday greeting
came a day early. All these
years unknown by you.

From my window the
year's first snow winks. Leaves, ice-bound,
mirror my moxie.

I'll see you here and
there. We'll be cordial, noting
what we felt ... now gone.

With hope against hope,
I'll take my treasures and hitch
up my skirt; onward.

And on we plow, with
heaviness as joy. Leaning
in toward Love. Trust.

(for T.L.)

With giving of thanks
I count you notched; one of
life's tethering gifts.

(before the party)

Your fingers on mine
are warm as we clear away
old death and decay.

The breadth of me goes
unseen. Lonesome, I prospect
for seers. Witness.