The Arrangement

I have bought you ~
You are mine ~ to do with
As I please ~ for the
Next twenty four hours ~

I have met your price ~ and
You have met my terms ~
And honest lust is all that
We will have between us ~

I am in the final years of
My life ~ and I would not end
It without feeling ~ once more ~
The ecstasy of flesh on flesh ~

I want to come alive in my
Lover’s arms ~ to waken from
The half-doze I have fallen into ~
To feel something once again ~

To regain ~ for a brief while ~
The passion that once was
A constant companion ~ and the
Driving force of my very life ~

We will keep the lights low ~
I will not court your pity ~
Although you have the look of
A kind and generous lover ~

And afterward ~ we will not
Speak of it again ~

The Greatest Force

Love can make us
Finer than we are
True love
Can make us
Finer still

“Love is patient
Love is kind”
They tell us
But they do not
Tell us
That true love
Can burn away
The blinders from
The lover’s eyes

Hearts and souls
Filled up with love
Crowd out all
Baser feelings
As the Light
Destroys the
Darkness
In its loving
Way

The only force
In all the Universe
Against which
There is no
Defense
Is Love

(Originally published February 11, 2015)

Not Enough

My heart is cracking
Breaking ~ shattered
By the knowledge
That I can’t unknow

The enemy has captured
One of my beloved
A child of my heart
But even so
The pain is as intense
As if I’d borne her

There is no treatment
They have no cure
There is no ransom
We can pay ~ this tragedy
Has struck at random

My prayers are all I have
(And my anger)
But so often as
I give control to
My higher power
So often do I try
To wrest it back again

I have so many memories
And she has fewer every day
We will have a
Period of happiness
And then the sly face
Of her abductor
Will emerge with
Taunts and hurtful
Words and even
Sometimes with hostility

I still catch glimpses
Of the person
I will always love
But she is lost to me
As if she lived in
Another country or
A different time

And there are not enough
Tears in the world
To wash away the pain

Unfair

You see me and you smile
And just for one brief moment
It feels the same ~ until
I see the faint touch of
Confusion begin to form
Behind your lovely eyes

It’s clear you know me though
You can’t remember how and
I trap the tears inside my heart
But as I stand here hugging
You hello I realize I’m also
Kissing you goodbye

And I am angry on your behalf
And I am frightened too
And I am lost without you
We’ve been close friends for
All these years ~ so many
Secrets ~ so much love and trust

Your body has betrayed you
Blocking the signals from
Reaching your brain and making
You search for the words
You want to say ~ you who were
Always so quick with your tongue

And I am helpless before the
Enemy attacking you from within
But this is only the beginning
I have just begun to fight and
I have powerful allies waiting
To join me in this battle

A Lover’s Promise

We lie facing each other
Gazing into each other’s
Eyes and feeling the feeling
Grow until there is danger of
Some kind of cataclysmic event

Will you forget me you ask
Will there come a time when
I am not your first thought
And your last each day and
I am able only to reply that

Ages will pass
The mountains will crumble
And I will turn to dust and
Blow away a thousand times
Before I will forget you

You have my word and
You have my heart and
All the love in it forever

Womb to Womb

Womb to womb
The knowledge passes
There is no other way
It could have been

Sisterhood is not a myth
Or if it is it has achieved
Its mythic size and shape
O’er countless generations

In secrets whispered by
Small flickering fires and
Painted on the walls of dark
Caves through the ages

Many of us they reviled
And burned as witches
Frightened by our woman’s
Power and our magic

And even now when we are
At a far remove from caves
Still I teach my daughters
In the ancient secret ways

Men speak of wars and
Weapons and of conquest
But it will be women who
Determine our survival

The Broken Place

Once trust has been destroyed ~
Can it be ~ as Ernest Hemingway
Has famously said ~ “strong
At the broken place” ~ or will
It remain shattered ~ and too
Fragile to believe in any more ~

We were happy ~ or so I
Thought ~ the perfect couple ~
One for the ages and the
Envy of our friends ~ until
I was blindsided by your
Sudden announcement that ~

You needed space ~ and time ~
To be yourself ~ to be by
Yourself ~ and that you were
Leaving me and our child to
Flounder ~ in an unaccustomed
And unwanted abandonment ~

You had your plans all made ~
A new apartment to be paid for ~
With money you had hidden
From me and lied to me about ~
Which makes me wonder if
I ever even knew you at all ~

And what can I tell our newly
Teenaged daughter ~ who needs
Her father as she never has
Before ~ how can I convince
Her you still love her ~ and that
Not all men will act this way ~

I am bewildered and lost ~ and
So far beyond feeling hurt
I would need a new word to
Describe it ~ but for our daughter ~
An innocent victim ~ I must be the
Strong place that was broken ~

The Greening

A lovely Spring
Foams onto the horizon
Where it shimmers
For a brief few weeks
Before disappearing
As quickly as it came

It leaves in its place
An embarrassment almost
Of greenery and a palette
Full of summer blooms
So achingly beautiful that
I can hardly bear it

I have wondered often if
A person can die of
Too much joy ~ simply
Overload and expire of
Ecstasy at the beauty and
The mystery of it all

I give my arm a gentle pinch
Only to find that I’m still here
Relief and disappointment
Mingle but here I am where I
Should be and I give myself to
The miracle of this Spring day

The Star

I have a
Long-held fear ~
That one day I will
Be found out ~

The word will
Get around ~
That I am not
The person they
Expected me to be ~

Then those who
Couldn’t wait
To be my friends ~

Will be the first to
Say ~ that they
Could always see
Right through me ~

Then they will sell me
To the tabloids ~
And dine out on me
Till I no longer trend ~

Of course this means
Another stint in rehab ~
Just one more of the many
Perks of popularity ~

Worst case scenario ~
It pays the bills ~
And keeps the wolf
Far from the door ~

The Courtship

The lace-edged handkerchief
Came first
And then you sent me a single
perfect rose
It’s the twenty-first century and
you’re courting me
Like it’s eighteen hundred
and ninety-five

Where is the red-hot passion
they talk about
Where is the look so filled
with meaning
That it can bring me right to the
edge of surrender
Dizzy and steaming with heat
and blind with lust

You’re one of the nicest men
I’ve ever met
But what I’m looking for now
is a bad boy
With an attitude and a two-
day growth of beard
Who will turn me upside down
and inside out

You say I’m asking to get
my heart destroyed
And you could very well
be right
But years from now as I sit on
my porch swing
I’ll remember this moment in
time with a smile