Winter Jasmine

Icy fingers climb the spine

But you remind me of spring

Out of the ice your spindly tines

Frozen right before my eyes

You insist its spring

You remind me every time I pass

Rich yellow flowers defy the senses

While other flowers sleep in silence

You’re awake

You haunt me with the intangible scent

The sunlight through winter curtains

Another evening spent

I wait for the sunlight to melt the ice

Wait for the cold to leave the spine

Bees on lost scent trails

Ants from burrows deep in the ground

You insist its spring

A fragrance bold and loud

Beside the ghosts of summer

Broken stems. Black and grey

I planted you last winter thaw

So convince me,  spring is on its way…

Treading Water

I want your peace, you give it as a gift

I only lick the edge of the plate

Ignoring the state of bliss

I bask in dark water

It’s how I comfortably swim

As I drown in a slow whirlpool

I won’t ask again, I’ve seen my shadow on the bottom

And my eyes were always scared

I trusted you

The thin skin of the water

A blackness I can barely discern

And a thirst I can not contain

I remain in this water

Smelling the memories of winter

And fall

How cold the bottom seems and distant

Like memories

Of so many summers gone

And all of the children

That have passed on to be parents

Watching children

Treading water

I wish I could feel the safety you insist

And the fact that the mortal coil

Only persists

As long as I’m breathing

And as long as the water evades my lungs

Welcome it in and I sink to the bottom

I trusted you

You never failed me

I’ve failed you

And the shadow on the bottom that stared back in fear

Was only the remnants and entanglements

The love and beauty of a fleeting year….

The Hole

Perched on the edge of that hole

The wet soil of cold November

Frost on the ground

The plywood planks never saved me

The distance falling

Never covered the hole

The heart

Still beating young and naïve

The sprout in winter

Wake to the winter ice

That hole

Buried deep inside me

And keeps me

Awake at night

The gaping wound

The earth and all its hollow glory

Never saying once

It was sorry

Only the edge of the soil

Is discernable the ground will never settle

Never heal

You lay in silence in the empty shadows

Your not there

I know that now

And you never were

Around us

All around us

And the evil silent hole

Would never keep you

Only me

In its violent graces

Keeps me crafting words out of a shadow

Keeps me searching for something precious

I lost in the hallows…..