turning time

I sat outside your window 

and hoped the light would glow 

without a cry

life’s passing by

and like the day it goes 

through winter’s silent hours 

and spring’s precocious way

my heart has ached 

as if she’d break 

to know what you would say 

the zephyr warmed my face 

as summer ushered in 

long days of fun 

beneath the sun 

before fall rains begin 

each season keeps on passing 

like seaweed on the sea 

beneath the crash 

that’s roaring past 

my heart longs just to be 

I know it’s not forever 

as moments pass me by 

I’ll shed a tear

but stay right here 

you’ll someday heed my cry

the window near my head

will finally open wide 

I’ll see your face 

feel your embrace 

and know that peace inside 

so though the shade is down 

as nighttime follows day

incline your ear

and reappear 

to drive the dark away 

the journey’s end

From chilly grey Pacific waters the sand dollar emerged five weeks ago. Under sunny skies north of the 45th parallel it began its journey, riding long miles as summer gave way to autumn. It rode alongside rivers like the Snake cascading west, destined to join the vast sea it once called home, until it crested the great continental divide and saw the mighty Missouri and Mississippi flowing with others towards the sunrise. From dramatic rock outcroppings to endless rolling plains, it traversed the diverse land called United. Delving hundreds of feet underground it experienced the moist tunnels of the world’s longest cave system. Further on it climbed high in the Smokies and saw mile after mile of rolling green and blue mountains, so different from the snowcapped volcanic peaks near its coastal home. On a balmy October morning it finally embraced brilliant warm aqua waves, being swept out to the other shining sea in one final climactic moment—the poetic end of the journey of an imperfect sand dollar.

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 

time and tide

you built sandcastles

though we never made it to the sea

fantastical dream palaces

I decorated with driftwood

pieces of feathered hopes and rocky dreams

a dash of seaweed possibilities

the ocean echoed with joy

a royal fanfare chorus

and the sun smiled down

until the tide came in

I watched the castles dissolve

in an instant as if they'd never been

you went away too

leaving barely a ripple in your wake

I shook my head with dry eyes

perhaps you meant more

than I would care to admit

as the waves keep breaking