Watered as needed

watered as needed
bloom long faded, season change
wind's gift is waiting

to bless "the credit"

A moment of clarity, something to be hoped for,
and perhaps to be attained, for a
moment, may it bring with it "the credit"
needed for the days journey.

May the affirmation of life bestow
"the credit" to enliven the step, invigorate
action, and renew purpose. May there be no
time wasted in the pursuit
of "the credit" as an end in itself.

May "the credit" and those with concerns
for it be held in its most fleeting condition.
May those tempted with lesser
affairs grab "the credit", while life allows
freedom of the heart for pursuits
that engorge the entire being
to its intended stature for those
unworried by "the credit".

May "the credit" be recognized as a natural by
product of the truly valuable process of
a life's tasks. Yet, while it is nature's release to
be unencumbered by the gaining of "the credit"
may the joy of giving be always flowing
as that perpetual fountain in the giving of "the credit".

May the eye never tire of seeing those
nearby whose active presence deems
"the credit" be given. May the arms never tire
of thankful hugs that pass "the credit" to
those responsible for acts of mercy. And may feet
never fail for taking the steps to bring
"the credit" to those who labor
tirelessly behind the limelight to ennoble
so many great gifts.

May "the credit" be remembered for its
roll and blessed with a thousand
blessings as triumphs are passed around with delight.

Share “10 Honest Things”

A fabulous teacher & really "bad"mom Stephanie of bad mom bestowed upon me recently a gracious "Honest Scrap" award ~

I do enjoy reading the "bad mom"files, and can hardly ever resist: making my own personal comments, providing unsolicited "guy" remarks, and the playful spirit that Badmom brings to her blogging. For some reason she has pondered the above and deems it "honest scrap"!

Who am I to argue with that!

Furthermore, and pursuant to the terms of this award and with the encouragement of those who have shared this before I proclaim the following:

No. 1 -- I am exceedingly tickled, honored & thankful.

No.2 -- I share the glow by telling 10 honest things about myself.

No. 3 -- I name below other bloggers who constantly overwhelm me with brilliance and baffle me with, well you know that "baffling stuff (bs)" and that I sincerely love.

My ten things you probably didn't know about me:

1. When I was in elementary school I was smitten by "the little red haired girl", (a'la Charlie Brown)

2. I play or have played a few musical instruments: trombone and tuba (hs band and US Army 14th Army Band), Flute (Marshall Tucker style for rock roll band in HS, and one concert with the community orchestra), bass guitar (rock and roll band), flat top guitar (personal enjoyment, praise and hymn leading in church), mandolin - octave mandolin - mandocello (performed Irish music with my own band, Local Mandolin Orchestra, and countless "kitchen music" sessions of old time, bluegrass, fiddle tunes, irish tunes)

3. Have participated in the "4th day movement". (This is one of thousands of these type groups.)

4. Enjoy 3 wonderful children.

5. Ran a half marathon in Nashville, TN last April.

6. My mom's dad (born in 1903) was a casual acquaintance of Charles Lindbergh.

7. My dad's dad (born in 1900) played clarinet in the "Lincoln Mill Band" in Huntsville, Alabama (in the 20s)

8. My dad was a band director, choir director, and performed one season with New Orleans Opera one year in the 1950s. Dad had a lovely "irish" tenor.

9. My mom was a piano teacher, taught kindergarten in our home (before it was part of the public schools), and was a librarian.

10. I spent the next 6 years after high school sorting out who I am and how I would live, it was confusing, frustrating, even required meds a few times, but I got through it and have a life I am thankful to live.

Rules for the Award:

• Say thank you and give a link to the presenter of the award
• Share “10 Honest Things” about yourself
• Present the award to 10* other bloggers whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or to those who have encouraged you
• Be sure to tell the 10* bloggers chosen that you are giving them the Honest Scrap award and provide the guidelines for them

*Or a number that you can reasonably accomplish in whatever mental/physical state you're in

My brilliant encouragers:

The Zen of Motherhood
1 door away from Heaven
Dancing with Cancer: Living with Mets, A New Normal
Slightly Off-Center, just a fraction of an inch
Fence Postings
Southern Sinful Bliss
Beacon of Hope
Softly Spoken
Breathings of My Heart
-Sweeter Poetry
A Portrait of the Human Heart

---------------------
All these blogs have something special to say to your heart!
Thank you each one...
Thanks Bad Mom!

Love Letter No 66 - Relaxed Love

Dear V,
When the brain switches off the busy network of
planning it is like a field of clover bursting
into bloom. Everything colored gray by planning
is brightened with the deep vibrant shades of
love's colors. The baby blues, hot pinks,
yearning yellows, lusty limes, ravishing
reds, passionate purples meld into
one sensation, relaxed love.

Turning off the phone, drawing the
curtains, lighting the candles,
warming the oils, massaging tense
muscles and tired tootsies, all leads
to the jumping off spot. All is peace, it's as
we wished, the quiet tones of
relaxation, basking in love.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

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Haiku - Halloween

Triangular Nose
Sniffing October's last breeze
Hmmm, pumpkin pie?...Brains?




----------------
Click the "Jack-'O-Lantern's Nose" for a recipe idea!
Happy Halloween!

to bless respite

May balance be found for the
urgency of living moment by moment
through time spent reflectively.

May recall be given space
needed. May this action bring
fruit for ripe harvest.
May memory never be
a sacrifice on the
altar of immediacy.

Untapped potential, our
strength and song, awaits
each heart willing to lay
aside worry over now-ness.
May the waiting soon
pass into days of generational
sharing; mutual respect
for life's story on display.

Above all, may respite bring
the recollections needed to provide
confidence to go forward. May
confidence lend aid to
all who step back, take
a deep breath and enjoy the
great gifts of satisfaction
the "life story" has to give.

Love Letter No 65 - Sweeping Love

Dear G,
As the wind sweeps through the fire of autumn's showcase, so the tender regions of my heart have felt love sweep through heartstrings.

Every where there is sweeping: the wipers sweep the water away from windshield, a sweep of the broom gathers dust and debris, a flock of birds sweep into the marsh, clouds sweep over the sky, the moon sweeps the stars from the sky, the sun sweeps at dusk with every color of love.

And how this graceful love sweeps me up, draws me close, and offers promise without words.

And when we are swept up together, the crisp fall
surrounds but cannot penetrate the
warmth created by sweeping love.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG


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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

Photo i-appropriated from ~ghettojack at deviant art - click the link to see more of Jack's super pics.
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All Wet

Summer's mist, Fall's rain
Winter's snowstorm, Spring's showers
Surprise! I'm all wet!

to bless journey

As day dawns within and without,
may the whisper of life bring light
and peace for hope's enjoyment.

May the desire onus divulges
give guidance through each
threshold.

May discovery lead to awakenings
of understanding for the heart.

May arrivals become homecomings
that affirm the journey's validity.

When the heart's condition becomes the
standard for determining the prize
received, may solutions yield choices
of profound peace.

And facing rearward from beyond
eternity, may the end seem
a small step that results in return
to all the possibility available
from day's journey.

Love Letter No 64 - Unfinished Love

Dear C,

My mind has been turning the word over
and over, "unfinished". It means so
much to me, this word and how it
describes who we are, where we are,
how we are in the thick of love together,
struggling with life, coexisting, supporting,
diverging and then reemerging closer than
before and discovering the "unfinished" borders
of life together.

Completion is a fine thing to apply to tasks in life,
well defined goals that are met mean a sense of
accomplishment. Yet, for us, my deepest
hope is for discovery, not arrival.
My hope is to explore, finding happiness,
together each day. We aren't about
"pie in the sky", it's the messy guts
of love and life together where we sort
the dreams one by one and then make
it happen.

We'll always find our greatest wealth, in
"unfinished" love.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

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ember

cold air inflames leaves
liquid embers promise warmth
love colors hot cheeks













i give all away
yet what you've given i have
head against your chest

to bless discovery

may the new day bring with it a hint of daring,
a willingness to risk more,
a hopefulness to engage new understandings,
a forgetfulness that keeps past failures
simply in the past, and innovation to
reach for more.

may the heart of life's discovery bring
discovery that thrills the heart.
may inner discoveries take in
universes and outer discoveries never
neglect the microcosm of the mind.

may gifts of discovery continue to
manifest long past the time when
discovery itself has faded and the
discovered has become part of dull
routine of the everyday.

may memory serve to remind that
all about is discovery and it is
only our entrance into the scene
that brings either a sense of boredom or
achieves fresh delight.

may each day be full of discovery,
to enlighten hope's new dawn.
------------------

To celebrate Columbus Day and the adventuresome spirit within every person.

tornado

sucked up into a storm of love
a sure enough cat 5 pavement peeler
one that sticks pine needles in brick walls
whirling wind of emotional involvement
with other fragments of life spinning in the mix
like some scene out of the Wizard of Oz
where the cow flies by, and the house, and
the socks, and clothes line and all the rest
of life's mundane possessions
sucked in to a tornado of love
cause i was there once
it was good
i remember
don't you
think

Love Letter No 63 - Enough Love

Dear J,
The word is enough. Combine
enough with love, out pops
a beautiful statement. Enough love
is more than the minimum.
Enough love exceeds in
surprising ways. Enough love excites when
dullness strikes a blow. Enough
love prevails should sickness
threaten. Enough love is provision
when wealth may be meager.

In reality, enough love
brings the promise that
beyond every expectation
there is more.

Should I go on? That you
know deep inside
and understand my love,
this is enough.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

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Time

Memory holder

Marking every moment

future's promise - Time

to bless nature's mourning

May nature's own mourning be blessed...
As leaves fall to dark earth to bemoan a season's
passing swept by the squall of a frigid breeze into
crevices or paths to be moved aside in cleaning
or in simple tracing of steps -

May nature's own mourning be blessed...
When the water bursts forth from autumn's
burgeoned spillways pouring forth the offering
of gray skies and windblown landscape -

May nature's own mourning be blessed...
Upon the moon's rising at midday, as it spends
all afternoon pining for the shadows left in the
wintering hardwoods the previous evening -

May nature's own mourning be blessed...
In how the mud dries, cakes, splits into many
large flakey squares murmuring for water long
since evaporated -

May nature's own mourning be blessed...
Picturing ears twitching, eyes glassy unblinking,
the deer standing hidden in the grove waiting
fawn's return, in wonder to what is heard,
be it crashing near by, snarls, growls, metal crunching
bone, receiving a signal to run, experiencing an urge to stay -

May nature's own mourning be blessed...

filters

Filtering billions of genetic
particles per minute,
moment by moment
drawn nearer to each other.

The bolls have burst
with snowy fruit of early autumn.
I love to love you in
the throes of life's neediness.

A bluebird appears,
stout and rich with color.
The mockingbird, red tail
hawk, and the dove, all have flown,

Later, two starlings turn their
attention to one another,
in top of leaf barren tree,
rain floods descend.
------------------------------------

Love Letter No 62 - Breakfast Love

Dear Q,
Mornings are an explicit joy to share. Exuberant awakening is the theme. Shared life means broken eggs, yet, we don't have to walk on egg shells, the omelet of life is full of rich flavors. Sharing is always changing, each day a discovery, a voluptuous meld of smell and taste.

It is the gladness in my heart that speaks over and over; to serve breakfast has become more than a meal. Our brunch, a gracious predilection of giving hearts, proving action of the love feast we share.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG


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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Light Haiku and to bless choice

Wind whistles along,
breezy tunes, free, light, robust,
words include your name



To Bless Choice

May recognition become a sweet refrain
for the song of life. Dependence, seldom
considered the driving force, yet,
bringing harmony with recognition
giving basis for choice.

May the blessing gained in choice
be acknowledged with graceful purpose.
Choice becomes the natural
progression when the starting
point is identified.
May the choice of humility
bring reconciliation.
May the choice of gentleness
yield personal peace.
May the choice of generosity
allow a redefining of abundance.
May the choice of joy
create celebration moments.

May choice bring clarity to
relationship as giving and
receiving work together;
Choice becomes empowered
through resources built into
life's rich plenitude.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
follow the link on the picture
to see more Jack's great photography.

Four Words, Plus One

Humility
Gentleness
Generosity
Joy
Practice

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack,
follow the link on the picture to see more Jack's great photography .

Love Letter No 61 - Persistent Love

Dear N,
Footsteps rise and fall, the heart beat's continual rhythm splits time, emotion cues up persistent love. "No ordinary moments" in persistent love. No urgent denials of choice, no very very quickly actions, persistent love takes care of its own. Vigilance is a factor of persistent love. To watch carefully, no anticipation, perception of need acquired yields a steady response of persistent love.

The breeding ground of imagination is flush with varied response, yet, persistent love takes the reigns and guides action. Dedication to presence allows persistent love to stay fresh and vital. We live, grow, and live again. Persistent love illuminates our darkest moments, colors our brightest rainbows, shades our deepest grays.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG


----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
follow the link on the picture to see more Jack's great photography or visit her web at "Slightly off center"

Music

Universal Speak
Breaks those barriers down quick
Sing, Dance, Play and Sway

to bless release

As footsteps move softly away, the song of freedom within comes forth unbidden.

May an act of motion invoke release from situational anxiety.

May each step taken bring oneness for the journey.

May release be an affirmation that the goodness in life is never left behind.

May release become a fulcrum providing the leverage point lifting life's sadness and losses discharging floods of gracious goodness and fomenting peace.

May the good fortune of release allow personal favor to extend the fecund growth of harmony and love.




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Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
follow the link on the picture to see more Jack's great photography or visit her web at "Slightly off center"

Love Letter No 60 - Common Love

Dear D,
This presence is touching me, like a parachutist touches the sky, like a diver touches the water, like the lion touched by the lion tamer. As if we fell from the heavens and landed in the same backyard.

You show up poking fun at yoga, I poke fun back. Then I find you never went by your first name, and it is the same as a dear family member, my own poppa's mom. So I drive 75 miles one way to see you, and when you look up at me, your arm goes out for an embrace instinctively.

The common culture of life, homespun touches it all. If we aren't two peas in a pod, well, kick me out of the pod please. And on top of that, in all life's struggles, thankfulness is our common song. How wonderful, how uncommon, what a comfort!

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
follow the link on the picture to see more Jack's great photography or visit her web at "Slightly off center"

Chaotic Haiku

Distractions all Day
Perfection waits Patiently
Step aside, Salute!

"When everything is chaos in life something perfect is being born, the chaos will keep you distracted so you don't mess it up" - Anne Lamott

to bless encouragement

May the gentlest of humility guide you to
encouraging self talk. Statements such as these
(and more): "that will help my friend", "this may not make
a huge difference but look what a joy", or "inspiring one
smile made my day".

Encouragement, a simple friendly sort of love,
giving that gift enriches life.

May you express the gift of encouragement at
just the time needed to lift up a friend, whether
you know it or not.

Love Letter No 59 - Relapse Love

Dear Bond,
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months:
In the seat of emotion time
dilates, stands still, then moves
forward again. The heart knows nothing of
the abyss of linear living. Tingle, sparkle,
tease of interaction balance without
peril, as remembering arrives. And with arriving
the inner presence longs for renewal,
knowing the search for belonging
goodness was completed then
restarted. To peer into the past and conceive
a future is a gift, to share that gift is life's
treasure. Relapsed perhaps,
respected and loved, always.

With deep and tender affection,

LarryG

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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

Note: A special person was met on a special day, today's love letter celebrates that connection.

Karen’s Song - from a Wednesday List

It’s the time, the place to talk this all over,

Feeling calm and warm to be here with my lover,

This is about understanding, mutual point of view,

And showing plainly through action how feelings are too.

There’s safety in numbers when two means us,

Specifics worth sharing, the less the fuss

Emotions of hurt, anger, embarrassment trying

Masking the plea to save living love, it’s not dying

Let’s give into the moment and let it last forever,

No limitations or interruptions come whatever

With fingers entwined no problem big or small

Can come between the grip won’t let us fall

Then out in the open, the worst wasn’t so bad,

We’ll rekindle our memories of good times had.

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See the post on The Happiness Project for the inspiration for this poem.

a Wednesday Haiku

Appearing Today...
Back by Popular Demand!
Right Before Your Eyes!

to bless a chef

May the new day greet creativity with fresh inspiration
as ingredients begin to meld under skillful hands. May this mix
bring to fruition a satisfying story that can be told
and retold through the sharing of the dish.
May purpose established through the grinding of
mortar and pestle prepare an eloquent
statement of joyful savor.

By the effort made over chopping board, pots, skillets may
wondrous ingenuity express to the senses the
wealth of the chef's value. And if so moved, may
written word record the methods that is the skeleton
of the dish and the road map of those who would
follow to that happy land promised
through a wonderful reflection.

May every good feeling within come through in the
making of meals. And may the hands that prepared
be always blessed by those who receive the benefit
of their labor.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" yesterday. I enjoyed it very much. I left the theater with the impression that there is a deep pleasure we can each claim through the sharing of a meal that we prepare with our own hands. It can even give a joy to the time of reflecting afterward when we have to clean up the mess

Love Letter No 58 - Butterfly Love

Dear K,
It's the stillness of the forest with stream, of a field with grass waving and clouds breezing overhead, of the park bench near fountain's bubbling, a quietness where I can feel me being me, each beat of my heart bringing rhythm to my thoughts of you. And then, the butterfly spreads wings, drifts, flits, floats and lands on the hand. The wings pulsing open and closed as my heart thrills to sense your presence with me. Wasn't this small comfort what I had been hoping for all along, a breath of air, touch of an angel, harmony in the song through the willows, a serene request that ambition be laid aside.
Then, quiet as a suckled babe, I lie still, full of hope, on your breast and listen, to the stillness, the winds, the bubbling, the quiet love, the butterfly flits away.

With deep and tender affection,

L
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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

This one goes out to Kay over at Loud Silence, the recent post is Still My Heart.

Very inspiring and great work Kay!

--------------

"While there are many left brain activities that make contributions, Happiness is ultimately a condition of the right brain, that is, a state of existence." ~ o'hOgain

---------------------------------

Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
Follow the link on the picture to see more of Jack's great photography; visit her web at "Slightly off center" .

First Day

Fond of you God is.
You thrill to hear the "Hello".
God charts your voyage.

Happy Picture

There is a challenge over at Gretchen's Happiness Project to choose "8 Auspicious Symbols of Happiness". I chose 9 because it makes a symmetrical collage :)

Love Letter No 57 - Wildfire Love

Dear A,
Fire inside is burning out of control! You lit it, fanned it, fed it. Now it's loose. Wildfire, burning in my chest, scorching my guts, searing my heart. It's inescapable when flaming up spontaneously from the inside.

Douse me with water, it vaporizes. Try a chemical drop, but that's no help. The sting of red burn continues, then fried nerves go numb as love's wildfire uses up the fuel of my angst.

It wasn't a ring of fire to fall into, it was the flames that burst forth that spread a ring around me making me unapproachable. Only the love you bring enters this circle of fiery heat.

With deep and tender affection,

L

PS: "Many waters cannot quench love" ~ Solomon
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Love Letters are a Thursday feature.

--------------

to bless a cancer patient

A disease may require special attention, may impact the circles we move in and through, never does disease define the person,
it says nothing of longings in the heart, of the distant hopes or near objectives of an individual's plans.

May cancer bless the urgency of being in the moment, without dominating the conversation, or changing the purpose of each day. May life's abundance be marked by thoughts, words and deeds that contribute beyond and in spite of the context of an MRI, CT scan, PET scan, blood marker or spinal tap. May invisible faith, unsee-able hope and irresistible love overshadow the physical outside of pain, diagnostics and treatment.

To be in the moment of every experience brings its own victory, and may that victory channel energy of healing melded in physiology and sparked by psychological immunity.

May you know the strength of friendship's love through prayers, calls, visits and cards. May positivity dwell deep within, subjugating bad cells to the body's remarkable immuno-response. May cause discovered bring cure conclusive and complete.

And should healing involve death, the door that leads to life beyond mortal bonds, may the confidence of life's enduring cycle nurture peace within. May loved ones share a held hand and hug as the soul seeks rest and the embrace of love eternal is enjoined.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems unfair that any would be called to an untimely early stage of life death, but death is a bridge we all walk across eventually.

Love Letter No 56 - Tossed Love

Dear L,
Never, ever, ever did I think it would be me, and
you, and a hearts tossed. But that is precisely
the situation. I understand too well now, this was to
be expected, put in an impossible milieu,
tossing a heart aside, like infatuated driftwood
on love's shore, is the final option.

It seems a hurt forever. It is on top
of everything that has piled up in life.
Yet, cynicism has no reward, inspiration says
give 100% when it comes to love.
Show the world you want love, a special love,
one that creates the willing heart and throws in
completely; a love that will not walk away when storm
clouds brew.

Know this, I miss you tragically, it hurts
inside. Oh, if I could fix it, I would.
I know I will do all in my power to
make it work should love happen to any degree
that compares with this painful past. It is
burned deep into the conscious.
Love, so precious, and
forever love whispering
to an aching heart.
Even tossed, love's dreams still live.

Written through the tears,
With deep and tender affection,

L
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*The picture has a link to the product shown.

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to bless intimation

As sand shifts in surf
shadows move with sun's
intimation of day's progression,
may the sands beneath your feet
always speak the truth change brings.
May subtle textured support
and skillful adjustments
constantly maintain balance.

May intimation received and offered bring personal
treasure to life through moments of reason,
understanding, spiritual enrichment. May the friendship
intimation nurtures through a wink, nod, or outstretched arm
gather strength in the body language of gentle warmth.

May the intimation of language be honest and graceful, becoming
a transposition of words carrying their emotion
with light confidence knowing that
whether fierce or subdued, whispered or screamed,
the arriving has the blessed result intended.

Let intimation yield just fruit to bless
and curse not all those that receive.
And may life's yearnings respond to intimation
through observing the constancy in nature,
witnessing the embrace of each day's change.


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Photo 'i-appropriated' from Jack.
Follow the link on the picture to see more of Jack's great photography; visit her web at "Slightly off center" .

edgy pain

(for Noelle)

now? well, ache is a good term -
still aching inside,
why? distance, absence, hurts, loneliness,
facing up to these, and the aching for
what can't be faced up to.
yet, moments of solace transpire,
last night i opened the package that
held the book, your book, and then
i turned the light out, walked over
and lay down on the bed in near total
darkness, i held the book and all the words
to my chest, in the dark
wondering what dreams within,
what exorcisms might await,
what wisdom wants to speak,
what tears to be shared,
what shame to expose,
what hurts to let go,
i let it flow over me and through into
my heart, enfolded in darkness, only the nightlight
of the alarm clock face nearby in an otherwise blackened room
and those words clutched tightly to me
then turning on the lamp,
i began to read...