Draining Memories

Though I fall far from the Pacific’s graceful shores
I swim with my head held high
Through sea-birds and sea-weeds
And crabs at my toes.

A memory I chose to keep
Brings a feather to the ground,
The wind high on snowy mountains
I can see from the shore
With city sprawl developments
Slowly creeping further West.

So I sing to the lapping
Of this cold ocean’s running tide.
My musings of a sandpiper
Leaving its webbed footprints there,
And barnacles in tidal pools
Slowly draining you know where.

Trinkets and Lace

My view is distorted by lace and flowers
That have begun to wilt and burn
But the lace remains timelessly
Arched upon the bow
That keeps the clouds, so heavily
From my memory
And takes me back to a house I knew
Down Coppers Lane, remains.
I still smell the ancient windowsills
So beautifully exposed cedar wood
Grains like driftwood at the shore.
This pleasure reminds me
How much needed it is
To carry trinkets for the river.

Shoulder Right and Shoulder Left (day 3048)

My arrow has found its definite dream
Betwixt shoulder left and shoulder right
A smile so big I knew at once
I could hide in here for more
I knew the depth had only dipped
Into still, shallow shores
So much more I felt I knew
I read it in the stars
That filled my eyes and led my arrow
Around the world and more
And back again to build a home
With a back like yours in toil
And a love that kept us up at night
Your left shoulder to my right.

Riverboat (day 2888)

When the winds keep blowing
What does it look like outside your window?
Clashing hearts wrecking
What lonely clouds could share
And a one eyed ghost singing ballads
Heard down at the local bar
That kept on crying
In spite ten thousand broken hearts
Laying open on the dirty floor
So that in one blissful moment
A riverboat will come a gambling
Setting sail for better shores.

Vine (day 2571)

What becometh of thy games we played
Sleepless in thy night
A distant glow of heart remains
Shall find me at thy shore
Take me to thy potters wheel
Forgive me for a skeptics mind
I’m always on thy vine
And in the richness of a students heart
In the hour of thy test
Plant thy seed to sow this heart
Grapejuice upon our hands.

Red Sun (day 2280)

When a lonely mountain calls her name,
When a red sun sets,
A lake, my heart, listens intent;
A loon calls out for twilight.
And her name is here again
Amidst pines that run the shore,
Where slowly her lines
Run though my head
Slow memories drawn out into the lake
(A canoe silently passes by
As darkness settling in)
To warn me of my heavy eyes
And heart amidst the peaks
Where I shall watch again, tomorrow,
For a sun to lead the way.

Ode to Driftwood (day 1770)

Did you know where my heart would land
When it landed upon your shores
Or did you leave it up to chance
When you washed away my tears?
For when I shared a glance with you
Reaching from skyline, sea, to shore
I was in the midst of lament
A loss that’d shaken my very core.
Yet to my gale, I did wish my chance
To thrive towards another day
So up you came into my bag
For a project of my labour.

driftwood along the shores in Tsawwassen BC