Still Here

The darkness swirls and scatters
thought like arrows in the
rain missing their mark - the
stones are gone, retention of
heat in the winter, granite
coldness in the palm on
summer days, the grass and
parasol emblematic of our
love our days, and thoughts
blur into distance like
skies herald change and
here I am, weighed, measured,
pleasure is the key, you say,
to life hot and strong, the
palm well-worn with
weight and iron, right
here right now the place
to be, alive and breathing
seconds in like mist and
cleaving, hearts torn and
mended, the cards the people
send that land on a
doormat, emblem of
love and straying thought -
the days move on and
pave the way to a new year
the skies tonight black
and crystal, the moon
bright as light and
looking down at the
fume of human hearts
nothing still and
nothing lasting
until the hand can
grasp and pull down
truth to keep us
warm, keep us breathing
in to possibility
and an arm, your
skin I feel your
skin on mine, feel
it warm, the
pressure of your body
real and slicing
real things into my
heart - the hard
partings that sear
the works and days made
thin with wear, the
here and hereafter
the forever star
shining in our eyes
as if we could
negotiate our days
with health of heart and
mind - I find it
wakens and it
dims this
thing called life we
live but do not
understand, your hand
fixes me in place draws me
back from my darknesses,
your eyes are real and they
tell me that I am and
that I value all
that's been, foreverman
inbetween my
life and me pulling me
back from the edge that
draws and repels - I
exhale your pores and
draw you in your
body in me and
living living living
the giving moment
all of us that is and
has been, the all
of the moment sprayed
and done - all my
collecting makes me
heavy and full, a
clown in time pulling
bags after me like
rocks and I
remember her hand, her
hair and shoulders, my
childhood living
in her eyes - all the
love given, the
depth of gratitude
and the size
of love, wider
deeper, harder
than all of heaven's
light - carve me
out of that star
for, blinking,
I am still alive.

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