Seventeen Beats

I woke this morning

Baptized by chilly dew drops

Nature’s kiss at dawn

*****

Fragile as a moth

Or the hollow bones of birds

No, this hope is steel

*****

First chill of autumn

Chairs inch closer and closer

To the dying fire.

Drink deep, sweet willow

Like the rain was just for you

I will watch you grow.

*****

Magnolia tree

Its roots drowned in sodden spring

The sad withered leaves.

*****

One day with you would

Be worth a hundred summers

Yet you turn away.

Light autumn rainfall

Droplets in the canopy

Soft earth underfoot

*****

O Rhododendron

I’ve never seen this red fruit

Clustered among leaves

*****

Does your silence speak?

I fill it with sweet stories

And hope you are well.

Autumn chrysalis

Let us meet when things ripen

Under painted leaves

*****

This battered old thing

Warm quivering heart of mine

Still filled with great hope.

*****

Soon, the Equinox

Already the rain grows cold

My shirt soaked – I laugh

Oceanic love

I sit on your sandy shore

Under bodhi tree.

*********

I will not mourn for

These flowers at summer’s end

They return in time.

*********

I don’t have the words

To describe her warm smile

Nor to draw it forth.

A piece of my heart

And a corner of my mind

Like a walled garden

**********

Teach me, you old stones

How you wait so patiently

Through the crawl of time.

*********

Dog’s heavy breathing

Air heavy with coming rain

Sweat pours down my back.