One of these nights
When words are
Too heavy
When the darkness is
Too cold
Lay me down
Beside you
Flesh against flesh
Warm and tender
Under llamas wool
Let our dreams
Come and go
Like fingertips
Grazing temples
And souls
In the midst of breath
Between us
Loose
Unbound
And
Gentle
For the duration of
One winter’s night
One blue moon
One light in the shadows
From spellbound dusk
Till breaking dawn
Find reprieve
With me
In the silence
Of night
In the act
Of silent
Communion
It’s an illusion
Sink to the bottom with me
We’ll play in the mud
Walking
For hours
Shedding
Along the way
Old memories
Old pains
Old lies
Like diamonds
Once valued
Now
Meaningless
In the context
Of today
Left behind
On the ground
Faded sentiment
Useless trappings
Withered leaves
To scatter
In the wind
Leaving room
For
Truth
Leaving room
For
Redemption
The opening
The changing
Of a soul
And I said, Sister, don’t you understand?
He’s all I ever wanted in a man
I’m tired of sitting round the tv every night
Hoping of finding a Mr. Right
— Margo Timmons, Misguided Angel
There is no Mr. Right
No Ms. Perfect
But someone
Who engages
Our soul
With a whisper
Only we
Can hear
Curl up in my wings
For as long
As you need
I’ll cover you
I’ll make not a sound
I’ll guard against trespass
Surround you with downy embrace
I’ll block out the light
Tend to your wounds
With my body I’ll take on
The driving wind
With my soul the demons
Relentless
I’ll fight for your reprieve
In the shadows of possibility
I’ll sway to the beat of your heart
Bearing only the weight of
A silver snake
Bartered for the price of
An unfettered moment
Guileless, ghostless and free
And when the inevitable happens
When fate takes me aside
Ordaining without preamble
My turn to come undone
When my fears slide greedily
Over the transom
In wraiths of
Perpetual motion
When I’m battered
Bruised, too weary
And you
Are the only place
Safe left for me
Curl me up in your wings
For as long
As I need
Curl me up and
Cover me
I ride within ruffled white wings of a dove
Over barren black plains
Into burnt copper canyons
And down through a river of fire
Where dreams turn to ashes
In scarletted bursts
And only the brave
Or the lucky
Or those who are chosen
Survive
Plummeting down into depths unforeseen
Beyond I imagine and
Blazing suffocation
Overcome, trial by, and into what if
Where separation of soul is
Impending
And all that is left to forsake
She gives me safe harbor
This creature of kindness
As if I’d been pardoned, granted extension
Secret Service of the gods
As if I deserved her protection
And on the ascent
At the moment of surface
When thieving inferno retreats in defeat
And breath is once again prone
I look down to see the remains of perfection
Now scorched at the fringes
Charred to the tips
Yet blissfully, painfully pure in the center
Spared in the form where I lay
And I know she has saved me
Though barely and vainly
From certain death and karmic enslavement
Delaying for now what must be in the end
Postponing the merciless inevitable
As if I’d been pardoned, granted extension
As if I deserved her protection
A Collection of Perceptions 