Fading Flower

Today I am a fading flower
feeling each of my petals be ripped out and then fall, fall, fall
DOWN.

My chlorophyll, my passion and life,
has dried within and become as hard as
amber.

Fragrance once strong and beautiful
invites no passing bees because my intoxication has grown
unsmellable.

Because You Chose "No"

What would our life be
like if you had said "yes"?
I wonder now as I think of you
and of a marriage that never came to be.

I miss you, cut off forever
from the love and intimacy so desired.
I mourn the loss of our shared emotions
and deep friendship.

But how do you go back to simply
being friends?
I could not find that path,
and so I left you to journey alone.

Find oh my love your completer
and let all your pain pass.
Let the fear which has held you back
be cast out by Perfect Love.

Underneath this tree

branches spread, I look up staring upon natural beauty
like a lover drawn to his bride I am drawn to you.
How were you made? Are you older than I?
Your beautiful verdant leaves spread abroad
crown you like jewels in a noble lady’s crown.
Looking at you soothes my soul and makes me forget
the noise all around me. I am at rest under you.
You are quite the treasured gift to me.

Valley Walk

Into the valley I descend,
the valley of loneliness and darkness.
It calls me forth, each step painful.

I see no light at the tunnel's end.
I do not see or hear the lovely birds flying overhead.
Despair seems my only friend.

Will I come out on the other side of this valley
or will I die along the journey?
The answer escapes me now.

Prostitute

Tonight a prostitute, I think, sat next to me.
I was sleepy, but out of all the places to sit, she chose by me.
And so we rode, side by side, until we both exited at Franklin Ave.

I tried not to look upon her, but not because she was ugly.
She was beautiful, though I kept wondering if she was truly a he in drag
because, in truth, sometimes they make more lovely women.

I kept thinking too of the former prostitutes I had befriended over the summer.
I prayed for her to believe in her dignity and to see herself as beautiful.
How easy it is for us to misjudge the prostitutes as "beneath" us.