poetry – Page 3 – RED GLADIOLA

Night

the sky is dimly lit;
the moon has put on her shroud
to shed tears in secret

if I were to be reborn
I would like to be a leaf

a brief but blissful life
under sun and shower
slowly unfurling
useful

when the cold snaps me
I will be brilliant crimson and ochre
and fall away
unscarred

you who brought her to the doctor
and signed for her packages
so that her parents wouldn’t berate her
for expensive spending habits

once told me, she asked if you were in love with her

and you said no
but from then on,
it was push and pull

an isolation from other friends

this twenty-something
she had seen the color of your heart
found the pen to scribble over it
like a child vandalizing her belongings
THIS IS MINE

and still you persisted
even as you told me
where we would eat
what we would watch
what we would do

until one day I said no
and you fell silent

love or friendship
we are human beings
and not things to be used or tossed
or pulverized to fill
the gaps of other people’s wounds

arbor rain smells
of chlorophyll and earth
worms and robins
muddied sneakers

a snowflake falls
on an early
snowdrop

lackadaisical:
a chime lounges
on a windless day

elegant trees shed
teardrops of red
and ocher

Note: It’s been a while…I hope you all are well. =)

a timid knock
on the worn wooden door

the knob is rusted
the hinges un-oiled

yet I press my ear against
the rough grain and hope
for a stirring

I, who have known you,
now only meet a stranger
who pulls layers over the child
trying her feet in shoes overlarge.

A bitter essence has been mixed in,
stirred and absorbed into her flesh.

Her eyes and touch hold
a sliver of ice, a dagger
poorly concealed — for me.

the lack of your hurt
is another strange ache

that transmutes past pain
into a fantastical pleasure

my heart rends itself in two;
one trying to convince the other

that loving in absence
is loving a mirage