BrokenEchoes

  Two languages simultaneously One of love     The other of suspicion Telling of beauty and joy     And of secrets and lies Searching at ones sweet gaze Presenting the footprints of the dark garbed burglar Finding one nearby Being followed directly to all my hidden secrets.

      When we happen to be in the same room By luck or fate or happenstance I urge each second to stretch To expand into minutes, days, lifetimes I want to live in the fleeting insignificant moments Drinking each small adjustment Studying each minute gesture Submerging myself in all of her words This is not to be The seconds slip by, rushed Minutes escape, moment by moment I stumble and stammer I feel clumsy and out of place and out of time My thoughts fall like pine cones on the forest floor The seconds burn away like dry brush in a fire And she is gone again I am left with sooty memories of scattered glimpses.

  It happens whenever this song plays I can hear her voice as she sings along Adding shape to the abstract And color to the unseen Her cadence ebbs as I inhale Flows as I exhale Her fingers snap along with my heartbeat During the chorus, she spins I get dizzy She is with me while the tune exists But gone when it is over As the music fades into oblivion So does she.

  The sublime speckle of droplets on the windshield Lifts me, awes me The deep roar against the metal roof And the lighter spattering on the glass Lull me, soothe me Lights on, radio off I lose myself in my senses I scout the wet morning I could drive like this forever Aimlessly Merging with the storm But not today I have places to be Maybe another time.

  After dinner Just a short walk down the street We amble past a mundane miracle The crumbling concrete sidewalk Is home to determined beauty Struggling forth from ragged rock Standing straight and tall Unapologetic and unashamed Unstoppable and unmoved By the dystopian surroundings Truly genuine, authentic, And uniquely powerful In an unassuming, everyday way I am stricken silent Stilled and awestruck At how I spar futilely And stumble My efforts and results bested By this ordinary specimen Inspired, I vow to be stronger better Buoyed by this unexpected example.