A Price paid
twisted & wrung from the marrow
measured, in part,
by sorrow & loneliness
no regret
no risk too great
intimacy gathered in hours weaved
in ease & knowing
holding you i touched your face & knew how to let go and yet hold fast
your fragility & sacrifice have been weighed
your strength is daunting & wired with the precision of gods
as breeze turns to wind
under my hands the dry tired grass is cool, sticky
while the earth beneath remains warm & moist
as i dig for a balance
there
laying down in a paint-box of autumn
forgiveness nests around us
nests . . shifting, moving
leaves falling
part & parcel
you take my hand & bring it to your lips. . . inhaling deeply the fire of this season
the burn of earth, desire & green-growing things
open & fearless
you take my hand
leaves falling
falling fast & thick
everywhere
falling
and with every leaf the hole is pierced by sweetness
cutting with gamboge sharpness & some half-remembered giddiness
childish, innocent in it's ease
. . oh wait . . .
It is joy
joy speckled pumpkin-vermillion & chestnut
shards of electric fire-joy shoot thru that marrow, thru the skin that is melting into october's grass
riding that wind into saffron-surrender
holding on
feeling every scar, every toll extracted
alive
hands crunching this canvas
holding fast as warm phoenixed musk-brilliance rises
pressed into skin naked & pearl-hot chilled
open & fearless
filled . . .
