Could you reach out to me
With even just one shred of urgency?
Pain, desire
Some kind of emotion
That speaks to me of your tune
So acutely set to the vibration
Of your heart.
Draws havoc
Across the desired pages of my mind.
Keeping me awake and suffering
As my candles burn down low,
Offering me a little glimpse
Of how brightly you glow for me.
Tag: awake
Time Doesn’t Stop (day 2829)
It’s hard
Each morning’s steps
Each routine task
Each day hours slip on by
Yet each day wanes,
Loses it’s time,
To begin again another.
How does this rhythm
Speed up so
How do we slow down time?
How do we fit
Each task we wish
Into one full day
So that the next
Anew and awake
Shall meet a whole new list.
Restart (day 2778)
I lie in the moment
Awaiting collapse
Remembering your face
So important to me
And a smile to my lips
A beat to my heart
A memory returns
One to restart
As day shall return
One to remember
One to awake.
Twitching in My Heart (day 2735)
There’s a funny bone in my heart
That keeps twitching when I wake
When I’m alone at the start of days
Trying to understand
What took you from my open hands
To the rocks outside my door
And every one I see out there
Says the same thing back to me
A blankness that hadn’t yet been made
Close spirits in the sky
That rumble back and forth aloud
Language I cannot translate
That takes me back to my awake
So silent here I cry.
Everglow (day 2547)
I woke into the everglow
Afternoon of an eclipse moon
Sitting by myself I was
Lost and transient
I thought of the tide
Could you take away my glow
Every night I sit upon
Your cleansing salty row
I thought of my sacred moon
Rising in the Pacific Sea
With every breath I take
Bamboo cracks awake in me
I thought of the time it took
To walk my trail I’ve come
I landed here in spite my past
Though rich it let me run
I thought of how long it’s been
That I’ve been dreaming of
Now that I am here dug in
I’ve no more an empty glove
Awake Seed (day 2450)
Who falls awake at night
Who lets the dreams stay away
Who brings the evening deep inside
Furrow brows some more
Who has time to wish away
Pine tree growing on the land
Little death beside a hearth
Rose denied its breath
Let wisdom become silence here
To tired awake at night
Needles upon the forest floor
In a hand, a growing seed
Grown (day 2276)
I’ve grown accustomed to pains in my soles
Boots tied tight and laces frayed at the ends.
I keep stepping over large trees
Under foliage so green
And I see old men walking in each bough
Sharing legends with my awake eyes
That keep my mind wandering
Through swamps and glades of spruce
Like a lost soul with a purpose;
A message written on sacred parchment
Enroute to all ends receivable
– Some unaccountable, some trustworthy,
Some in a jam and just looking for a way out –
I like marching and I’m good at it
And I’ve got my home about my back.
Caveman (day 2129)
I was influenced by a caveman
A landscape with two carved rocks
And fire to keep me awake at night.
We were inseparable
Two rhinestones in a yellow cup
Dead blind in middle earth
Losing daylight hours
In our metronome;
Lessons influenced
By a better man.
Home again, paid again
Leaving marks upon little stones
Giving a poem to memory
On a midnight string and there you are
A stonemason and a better man.
Moon at Midnight – Part XIV (day 1988)
I was with Blackfoot
I knew that before I had seen them
I was in their land, after all,
And Frank had told me I would most likely run into them
Or at least see evidence of them
Luckily he had mentioned
That he had a good relationship with them
And I could easily use his and Amy’s names
To start with a good foot with them.
As I walked with them to their camp
One who introduced himself as Moon Cow
Asked me a few questions about myself
And relayed them to the first man I had met
Who I learned as Mountain Chief
He asked me what I was doing with Frank
And also why I had gone,
“Such good kitchen!” he laughed
I guess they were fond of Amy’s cooking
And regularly stopped in to see how the family was doing
Frank had told me they always have space
In their front lawn for a camp of Blackfoot.
When we walked in to camp,
Moon Cow led me into a big tent
With fresh Bison hides hanging beside it
And a young woman arranging things inside
For us to sit down comfortably
Moon Cow relayed questions to me
And then interpreted what I said back to the others
I could tell some of them
Could understand what I said too
By nodding of their heads when I answered
And Frank had said he didn’t speak Pikuni.
They asked many questions about animals I had seen
And if I had come in contact with any other tribes
Many questions about various Armies
And if I had heard any news of their movements
The whole while women would come in with various plates
Of what the group had killed while out today
Before they had found me
I could sense there was something happening
That they didn’t quite lead me on to
But I knew that things were getting hostile
Between them and the various soldiers of allegiance
Coming rather quickly into their hunting grounds
Calling it their own
The Lakota had been sending runners to implore their assistance
Fighting the United States Army.
I kept myself awake
Long after I felt I was starting to fall asleep
Somebody threw a warm bison pelt over my shoulders
And led me kindly out of the big tent
Into a tent a short walk away
Where my pack awaited me
I could see the big swollen moon clearly
Lighting my doorway and inside
I could tell I was safe for now
I wasn’t worried
Mostly because I knew the integrity of this tribe
Instinctively, when I first met them,
They were friendly people.
Alone to Dream (day 1872)
Alone is what to be would be
If I were out at sea
Amidst the waves and blowing wind
Setting my sails aglow.
Alone is what the songs would sing
Should I not hear your voice
That sang about morning chores,
Music to my ears.
But alone amidst the evening’s set
Should never find me awake
For dreams take me floating away
With ten friends upon adventure.