dark places

home is dark 

tons of blue green waters

pressing the disk into sands

that never see the light of day 

but this is darkness 

subterranean 

no home for a sand dollar 

silence unbroken 

far from joyful dolphins 

or somber whales 

still creatures live here 

friendly with the night 

alien to a pilgrim 

only passing through 

a cave that goes on and on

larger than any on earth 

full of rooms forgotten and found 

once the abode of many waters 

running to the sea

now only condensation remains 

in mammoth caverns 

under tons of loamy dirt

no home for light 

jots and tittles

i leave little papers around

reminders of things to do

or thoughts that stick and burn

i reuse the back of an envelope

or one of a million notepads

torn-off strips of forgotten letters

the lists find the waste basket

but the quotes and notes linger

until one day i've forgotten why

i can no longer feel the impact

like the memory of your touch

your fingerprints will fade away

tomorrow i'll make a new memo

the hour hand belies indelibility

and a thousand scars will heal

though i stroke their painful tracks

flinching at the occasional twinge

the completed list grows surely

sometimes quickly sometimes slowly

as clear as my scratches on a page

is my heart hiding or healing today

as i ponder another might-have-been

a little memory left lying around

wondering if it'll ever be carved in stone