Icicles On A Tree Branch, Glittering The Barren Thing Adorned Anew Similar To The Way The Leaves Grew

Quiet. There is only quiet. I speak without moving my lips, Without clearing my throat. This voice belongs only to my mind now. It is soft and tender. Words are harsh.

My voice does not criticize me anymore, I have tamed it from the feral creature It once was. Down now, down. My voice wears a collar Though I do not keep it on a leash.

Silent. I am a silent person now. Yes, I speak with lips moving, I converse when I have to.

Is this living? Being a worldly mute? Yes, my voice and I are surviving. Survival is all we can tolerate.

This goodbye is so long A blessing and a curse You said, though It feels like neither

It might end too soon A downpour that comes Suddenly, leaving Abruptly, sun shining

For now it is a drizzle That comes and goes Throughout the day, I am overcast, I am gray

I was a sculpture made of ice When you put your arms around me And though I lived in a world of winter Your touch was warm and I felt it

Even though I tried to resist Because I was so afraid of you Your body was a home I'd left And the frozen ceiling cracked open

Suddenly you were a torrent of sun Searching for my heart so cold beneath And because I was hardened I couldn't move So you kept me safe as I melted

Into you I became flesh and bone Bits of slush falling off my skin Finally I could move my arms again Around your body I was defrosting

But as the cold body comes inside To the fire inside the hot house The burning becomes too much too soon And it hurt you to touch me that way

My sun went back up to the sky To look at me adoringly from afar Still I am here on the ground in a puddle Naked and alone and shivering

I would tilt the earth For snow drops and witch hazel For rare hints of color Bright against a white landscape

I would give up leaves For bare frosted branches I would banish the sun To see night in the afternoon

I would never swim again To skate across a frozen pond I would tear out July and August To have a calendar of Decembers

Give me a window that speaks That howls the names of blizzards I would tilt the earth To see cardinals shine in snow

The snow fell on the earth Drew its blanket over the ground It brought with it the cold bite And I felt it all around

Winter sang its song of sleep As it darkened the skies But who sings for those animals Who never reopen their eyes?

Frost colored my hands Despite the fire in my heart I mourned in my blues and blacks Watching the life depart

You say goodnight to me As though singing a song Against my earlobe Whispering a melodic prayer Beating against my eardrum The rhythm of your words A steady lullaby kiss Melting on my lips as you Fade with me into a dream

Solitude, How you serenade me With your silence.

The gentle lull of the day, Songs in the night.

Sing to me Your symphony of Rustling leaves And howling winds.

Bring me only The call of the coyote, Close, never near.

Simple solitude, I sleep to the sound Of only you.

What is the usefulness Of regret? When the days and months Move ever forward And moments passed Are like photos, Some were not taken As well as others

There is a Transcendence in The letting go The long farewell to Yesterday's bowed head Presently washed clean, Hung out to dry In the ever persistent Cleansing of sun

Why wish for any decision To have gone another way? Would the lines On palms, in diaries Have brought us here If we made a choice With our head Not our heart Or simply on impulse?

What do they teach In beauty school? How to rearrange A dandelion to make it Worthy of being a flower?

Do you ask the waves To smooth the rocks Because they aren't Pretty enough for Social media pages?

Does a cloudy day Need a makeover? Do you wash trees? And how do you blow Dry them perfectly?

I learned how to sing So I could talk to the birds They always listen to me Even if they don't know the words

I learned how to bark So I could talk to the trees They know all about you All about you and me

I've learned to be quiet To be still in my mind To feel the earth turn As the world was designed