Black Riders

Hear the black riders coming
Above the wind’s keening
Hear feet flying fleet
Though you think you are dreaming

Whipping capes made of shadow
Their horses of night
All about you they shout
As they race the moonlight

Whooping, hallooing,
They ride through the trees
Loud yells ring like bells
As their hooves pound the leaves

The wild ride flies on
Black riders exalting
Eyes strain through the rain
But they will not be halting

Galloping, galloping
No true shape or form
Though you stare, nothing’s there
But the wind and the storm

Glance

She stopped dead on the sidewalk
An adrenaline rush for a small moment in time
Frozen by a familiar shrug of the shoulders
Or perhaps the way his head inclined
A few more seconds and recognition fades
And a perfect stranger walks on unknowing
The exquisite agony of a single glance
Was the reason her steps had for slowing

He Is

He is quick to laugh
Slow to criticize
An embrace waiting to happen
Random dance steps on a crowded street
Not caring who watches
He is thoughtful
And stronger then he thinks
Surprisingly insightful
And compassionate beyond his years
So annoyingly good at hiding his feelings
But always telling the truth with his eyes
He is a sudden flash of intuition
And a mischievous light kindling on his face
Laughing disgust at mushrooms
And good-natured razzing on the soccer field
He is endlessly enthusiastic
And ready for anything, anytime, anywhere
Totally clueless when it comes
To realizing his own attractiveness
He is procrastination
Carried to the limits and beyond
He is comfortable silence in a car
And a wink across a crowded room
He is sadness sometimes showing through
And still totally beautiful
In a totally guy sort of way
He is a hand and "I've got you"
He is a prayer
And an answer at the same time
He is a shrug when life gets annoying
And protective of those he cares for
He is a tousled head and a sleepy hug
Reaching over from the next sleeping bag
He is a challenge
A hand reaching back in invitation
He is everything to me
He is

Twilight

Twilight
Relentlessly overtaking the sky
Darkening to blue
And black
Broken by starlight
And the moon where it thoughtfully
Contemplates
Us so far below
Caught in the hour
Between day and true night
Suspended between the grass and trees
Swung by the wind
This is my time
When it ceases to exist
Only starshine flickering through the restless leaves
And on my face
Changes with its passing
Slowly swinging across the sky
To places I want to be
Wanting to share this moment
With its elusive beauty
Before it dissolves into memory
But only the cool north wind
Appears
To run quicksilver fingers
Through my hair
As, alone, I welcome the night

Time

If I could capture all of time
In just a simple song or rhyme
Hold true to just one memory
Of pain or joy or revelry
Releasing all my past regrets
Nuances the mind forgets
I would stop time or at least try
But I cannot, and wonder why

Glass

Somebody
(I cried silently)
Lift me back into time
The world where people laugh and love
A silent call for help
While I beat on the glass
Wall of a lonely prison (of my own making)
Hurt, mistrust, even still some rage
Fear of the danger that freedom could bring
Because I discovered the other side of love
Futilely wishing that the walls around me were shattered
(Like the promises that brought me there)
Shivering in the cold emptiness
Huddled against the wall
Wanting the sun to warm my icy hands
Startled to find my own tears
Life is meant to be shared, and even though
The time you touched was a lifetime ago
I spent too much time (alone) behind that wall
Of wariness and mistrust of the words "I promise"
(Because, after all
I wouldn't be alone...if that were true)
And I swore I'd never lie to you
That vow was kept--I never have
Is it so wrong to have expected the same back?
The wall has melted down to nothing
(That's what love does)
The sun is warm and I can see
But I still shiver when a stray breeze
Blows whispers of the ice through me
And I probably always will
But still

Mind Music

Resonance
The sound of tired hearts combining
Realigning
Into unity
A vibrant match of heart and souls
Strangers just perhaps in mind
But in actuality
Our different rhythms redefining
Meeting, greeting, sharing, found
A common harmony

Cadence
All our lives intertwining
Old ways dying
Creating serenity
Even as we grow closer still
And become who we really are in
Possibility
All focusing on giving
Caught up in the song of living
And tuned so perfectly

Persistance
Uniquely every note supplying
Our music, underlying
A welcomed blend of gallantry
Each one of us a clear strong tone
Blending into a single strain
With lovely symmetry
Sometimes a minor chord or two
But always the melody breaking through
We fit amazingly

Dissonance
Hating distance, yet still trying
Sometimes humming
A restless melody
The long days missing needed pieces
Hating, now, to be alone
Forgotten memory
Yet still connected by a song
With those to whom I belong
It still surprises me

Untouchable

This one comes from the Great Road Trip of 2008, simply put one of the best times of my life.

Jagged
Snow crusted rocks forcing
Sharp edges into the sky
Reflecting light like icy daggers
Challenging the clouds for right
To touch the stars
Standing against the surging
Of black, rolling storms
Islands in oceans of air
Immovable in a world where
The ground is solid as shifting sand
Dunes
On the horizen
Curving skyline constantly changing
Snaking lines and sheer edges
Falling off
In watery cascades of sand
Shaped by the wind
Whistling over miles of flat
Scrub bushes
And rushing sheer red canyon walls
Updrafts
Hawks and eagles
Flung upwards to hover
Unmindful of the world so many
Thousands of feet below
Fiercely watchful golden eyes
Raptor intelligence
Tilting a wing to veer suddenly
Impossibly
Curvingly away over the land
Snow and sand and water passing
Rapidly underneath
Following the contours of wilderness so
Untouchable
Hidden valleys known only
To herds of elk
Wary
But secure in their isolation
Sequestered in miles of pine and lakes
Deep and cold
Reflecting a perfect sky
Their world
Unforgiving and gentle still
Ebb and flow
In perfect balance

Baji-Naji

With all the stress I think everybody's been under, this seemed like a fitting thing to post. It is scrambled and makes no sense in pieces, but it does to me. I think. It's rather late and I'm tired.

Tossing, turning, tired and restless
Unable to remain in bed
Staring off into the darkness
Spinning dice inside your head

Unaware if you change the future
Or at whose will your cards are dealt
Do you struggle with your conscience
Or things that can be seen and felt?

Will you trust in the ledge you hold
Take a moment and risk a breath
To sit on the edge of the world
And walk the line between life and death

Luck and fortune, fate and chance
Tears or laughter, heat and cold
Intermingle, clash and dance
Who knows what tomorrow holds?

Storm

Awareness rising as the sun sinks
And the sky is drained of light
Nostrils flaring as your instincts
Sense the coming of the night

Scudding clouds cast changing shadows
Illuminating moon shines full
Though nightmares stalk the restless forest
Still, the dark is beautiful

Breezes flicker past the trees
Cool, yet hinting of the day
Mingling, stirring up the leaves
Can you hear the words they say?

For now the wind is blowing harder
Both the excite and to warn
The sound of distant rain comes closer
A herald of the rising storm

Raging wind howls, snapping branches
Water turns to stinging spray
Though the maelstrom you may wonder
What shall live to greet the day

Yet strangely there is joy in this
To stand your ground against the night
Exaltation in this moment
Hold fast—do not fear the sight

A challenge in each drop of rain
Crashing thunder, lightning’s glare
This windy night is cool and wild
Come and join in, if you dare

Green Into Brown

Those who are the most obvious are the hardest to read. We like it that way. Usually.

She watched while the shadows
Played through the changing color in her eyes
His shaded
Yet carrying their own light
Green into brown
Black freckle only hinting at what passes behind
Tranquil green calm hiding the turbulence of a river in spring
Tossing questions and hope and reality through rapids
To settle, exhausted, into a steady flow
Green into brown
She considers his smile
Watching the familiar lines trace happiness
As yet untouchable
Uncertain if she dares
Green into brown
For an instant of eternity she steps out of time’s flow
Head bowed to think
Not wanting to grasp at a wish
And open hands to find empty air
Green into brown
Yet still waiting in the face of reality
Believing with the quiet constancy a thousand years can bring
Standing straight on the edge
Of what is and what can be
Green into brown
She still watches, still silent, and smiles back
Hair brushes across his eyes and hers
Brown across green into brown under black
Reflecting the sun
Green into brown
And though nothing may ever come of it
The sun will still set
The moon will rise
And something in her eyes will still be smiling back
Green into brown

Choice

Stunned
Seeing the mistakes of the past
Eyes wide open
Blind to the future and living the present
In a haze
Now learning—after reaching out
A single finger to change the future
It was too easy—and what future?
That no longer exists
Now
A new beginning
Wishing to have the courage to trust
But still uncertain of who
Shuddering to remember the destructive power
As of a moment
A frozen place in space and time when it slows
As agony builds, and realization
Coldly closes in and recedes
Leaving only emptiness
Futures forever lost and gone
Killing regret
Too many times, too many lives
And memories of what might have been for them
My fault?
Maybe
Quiet hands clenched tight
Eyes closed, refusing to look, remorseful
Afraid of wrecking more lives
While simply trying to love
Waiting…watching...wishing
Healing and realization
A single finger, reaching to the present
Carries behind it
The weight of choice
I choose
Not the bend the future with a gesture
But to touch the present
And let the future make its own shape
Trust again
And with sure and steady hands reach out
Making of now what will be
Watched over
Seeing the mistakes of the past
Eyes wide open
Still unsure of the future but living the present
Clearly, and trusting
That the future will change itself
Perhaps not as I wish
But the choice to trust
Is still mine
I am still here