Ancient Lies

In the warm embrace of hearth & home

redolent with the fragrance of Love

Still I hear the old lies echo

erosive & caustic

I can barely find the strength to battle tonight

tamping down the ache,

wearily turn my face again to Light & Truth

to Love.

Dousing the past I tiptoe through the darkened house

sighing into your tender embrace

hot pain flows easy now,

safe here in your arms letting hurt go

tender kisses a balm on ancient wounds

murmured reassuring affection a tonic for a battered soul.

 What lies still batter your heart?

one

I welcomed you

you welcomed me

open arms

you hold my heart

I hold your heart

open hands

stronger than iron chains

silken bonds

hope faith love

stand here beside me

stand here beside you

feet on solid ground

fingers twined

wind in our hair

sun on our face

Tapestry

Taut

On the sturdy sure loom of friendship

The silvery warp of a thousand words and gestures

golden moonbeam threads, silken cords of dawn

     

    The shuttle sings

in the hand of the Artisan

The weft of memories, of dreams, of hopes & promises

The tapestry tells our story,

  A buttress from the cold, adding colour to the castle keep:

On her Rock the Rose blooms,

The Unicorn embraces his Lioness 

Autumn Valentine

Valentine:

You are not red cardboard hearts adorned with ribbon

and plastic flowers containing stickysweet candy

not longstemmed redroses, crooned sonnets or sentimental verse written for Hallmark.

You are laundry trailing across the bedroom floor, dishes not carried to the sink,

asking "Are you busy?" when I am up to my elbows in dishwater or cookie dough.  You are heartsung laughter, mascara on pillowcases, whispered secrets in our dark, fistfulls of windblown wildflowers.

I cannot cease breathing, stop my pounding heart, I cannot keep the wind, the sun from caressing, searing the prairie.

You ask a knotted question: "why do you love me?"

Justbecause, that's all, justbecause.

Valentine:

The years have flown on wild wind and eagles' wings

my heart rent, repaired, shattered and mended

You have never been red cardboard hearts, candy, flowers, candlelight;

Stickysweet sentimentality

You are hands to hold in longdark nights

lovesong in perfect harmony, arias of laughter and tears

you are banished ghosts, unexpected joy

You are lingering Sunday morning coffee, the sure routine of everyday, counting stars Saturday midnight;

Moonsong, autumn breezes, sunsets followed too soon by sun's rising

You ask the unanswerable: "Why do you love me?"

I cannot cease breathing, stop my pounding heart; I cannot keep the wind, the sun from caressing, searing the prairie.

My answer remains-

Justbecause I do

I do

justbecause.

  

Building Jigsaw Puzzles

It has been far too long since I have written.  I suppose I could offer up any number of excuses, but not a one would change the fact I have been neglectful & careless with this.  The more days that passed the more daunting the blank page, and the more elusive ideas.  In the end I knew it would all come back around.
Jigsaw puzzles.  Yes, jigsaws.  Love them or hate them ( I fall into the latter category) most of us find an unfinished one somehow irresistible,  we must try & fit in one piece at least.  
Have you ever tried to build one without the picture on the box as a guide?  Even with the picture they can be frustrating.  You find a piece that looks like it ought to fit & it doesn't.  Turn it this way & that, you can not make it fit.  Sometimes in frustration & vain assurance we may pound it into the place we think it belongs.  And perhaps when the puzzle pieces are all used up there seem to be pieces missing.  We take the empty box, peer inside, even shake it to be doubly sure.

Sitting in the warm summer dawn this morning, gazing blindly out the window, sipping my coffee, I got to thinking about my life, about the disarray of broken pieces it seems to be built out of.  In that moment I saw the jigsaw puzzle.  All those piece, put together correctly make a beautiful picture, but I can't see the photograph on the lid, and I have, at times (more often than I'd like to admit) tried to force a piece to fit where I thought it should belong.  I have mistaken a piece of brilliant blue lake for a piece of the summer sky.  I have despaired that I am missing pieces that may have slipped under the table.  And I saw that I might be better off letting go, handing the pieces of my life to the One who does know what  the picture is supposed to look like, to One with the patience to fit the pieces properly.


It was like a light bulb went on.  Something I knew, and had even acted on before; but I need to gather up the broken pieces of my life, all those loose & scattered bits of a bigger picture, and Let God fit them together according to His grand design.  After all He not only has the box lid in hand, he painted the picture in the first place.

Thee & Me

You and I:

 raging forest fire

ignited by  

single lightening bolt

Burning away old, dead wood

Clearing the way for the new

I and You:

Rushing mountain streams

Fed by wild spring thaw

ancient glaciers

Gathering deep and clear,

Sheltered by rocky crags 

Pooling to tranquility

Thee and me:

 seeking something,

Something More 

Finding a heartbeat

 echoing our own