And How Are You?

“How are you?”
Echoes across the unattended miles of space
And fended off by quick faux smiles
“Good…”
The words skipping off the surface
Tense and defensive
Like a stone
Flat and worn
Cast across some lake superior
Whose volumous depth hold
Secrets, stories, and worlds
Unprobeable
Unreachable
Inexpressible
As the stone skidders to the safety of the far shore
And we secretly pray for some swirling vortex
Yearning for some wanton whirlpool
To open up
And draw us down
Down and in until
We live more fully in the drowning.

As Solstice Approaches

I am returning to my creature-self.
The tug of the night-season’s tide draws me down.
December nights
-Crackling cold
Wind moaning-
Finds me circling in my bed
Like a dog settling restlessly
And then relenting finally.
My half-eye open struggles against the sure slide:
There is nothing more that I can do
Or want to do
Except to yield,
Seeking what warmth I can find
And accepting what has always been.

Old Shoes

Old shoes
Have paid their dues
They have truly walked the walk,
Stories, tales and adventures tell
If their tongues could only talk.

Heals down
They’ve covered ground
Toes pointed to the west,
Hilltops climbed and wooded trails
And now they are at rest.

Newly shod
On paths un-trod
The road yet to be taken,
Somewhere round a pleasant bend
The spirit re-awakens.