where the numinous

where the numinous pulses in the shadows
many truths are embraced 
as different lights
and different darknesses
of the same truth

here is the sky where we first learned to dance
moving in and out of the gray 
here are the secret half-lights of stars
aside the black and white world of capitalized souls

as i sit on the porch steps,
looking up through the trees,
we are out there
a refracted radiance of hearts unbound
faceted as we are, all shimmers and speckles,
'joyous as the clapping cottonwood leaves in the night wind

here is the language and nuance of home
here is the surety and warmth of sanctuary
here we shed the separateness of who we were
and become the holy oneness of who we are

on the misty white

on the misty white corner
of a poet's mind
where you stand with your bowl
your words in your fingers
your love on your lips
facing out toward the gray edge
of where you must go
ahead of me,
fear and love meet...

how can i not be where you are...
everything i am
inside of you
all of you
inside of me
a circle
of love, flow, breath, being...

all you want
is simplicity
holding the quiet
holding life
holding the words
you receive
in a bowl

all i want
is to hold today
and you

Dark Song

sharing a glass of islay tonight
with you my love
with you

making our own dark eucharist tonight
with you my love
with you

lying across your table
the chalice is filled
the sacrament sweet
my fire on your lips
my amber, your tongue
you cradle my heart
in your hand
my love
you cradle my heart
in your hand

and we enter the silence
as one
my love
we lie in each other as one

is there another dark song tonight
for you my love
for you

is there some other offering tonight
for you my love
for you

i sense a shift in your shadow
you take up her glass of wine bittersweet
her trace on your mouth
your scent on her cheek
and you carry her heart
in your hands
my love
you carry her heart
in your hands

yet we enter the silence
as one
my love
we breathe in the silence
as one

we live in the silence
as one
my love
we die in each other as one

while pain is bright

while pain is bright
my soul pressed against the wall of despair
where should you go from me that is not already charted on my heart
where should i go from you that i could not feel your skin as my own
my soul holds fast to yours
and i am on fire with you
so i do not hope for less pain, but more
until love's intensity
radiates my being into yours
to live always within the contours 
of the soft blue warmth of your eyes
the slow corner of your smile
the sweet wetness of your mouth