Leave and Follow

A creeping cold

a sigh from an unseen source.

The path once well lighted,

shadowy and crowded with nettles.

The seasons reflect our life.

The year a continual reminder

of Wisdom’s shout;

remember, remember.

The sun sets soon

but the promise of the moon

gives courage.

I leave behind, and I follow

I am sorry and relieved of that sorrow.

I remember and remembrance

no longer holds me.

Wisdom cries for knowledge and knowledge

cries for discretion and discretion

insists upon prudence

And so the path widens.

Reminds Me

The full moon and mourning dove

I don’t know why

both remind me of you

I’m sorry my love

these images of mystery and sorrow

the loneliness they evoke

appeal to me

appeal to me as you do so very distant and unknowable

I believe that is what you wanted

to be a mystery

and so you are

I Somehow Doubt

Eroticism is such a bore

Though the young set and the young at heart would demure

I’m sure

Okay, that last line was a cheat, but it made me smile

I’m sorry we failed to meet on common ground

I would have loved to hear your voice

ask about the weather

wonder how my parents faired during winter

laughter, yes I would have loved to hear you laugh

I’m old fashioned

I believe in hello, how are you

before I love you, but I somehow doubt it would have even come to that

The Man Who Woos, The Man Who Dances

Let’s walk the moon and outshine the stars. 

Or rather, let’s walk the stars and pocket every moon in the galaxy.

Why not?

What do you mean, ‘catastrophe’?

I can pull you to me, my hips just above yours,

and push in until you bend beneath me,

then we can spin to the music that begins.

Where we begin and never end, but you refuse.

Nothing matters to you except safety!

Will all the wooing in the world convince you to stay next to your fire at home?

There must be moments–tiny brief moments between too-weary-to-read

and too-restless-for-bed when you think of me.

Rainmakers are embezzlers of the soul, that’s who they are, sorry.

Now I’m a different story. 

I dance upon all the tiny ledges of the second story of your house

and tip-toe past your window when the frost is thick and the moon full.

I do this to frighten you because I am frightening-come dance with me. 

Come dance with me upon the white frost lawn, in the shadows of the bare autumn trees. 

Let me sweep you upward to the tops of the branches that wouldn’t keep a sparrow perched. 

We will stay aloft and dance upon the currents and eddies

I’ll hold you tight, your hips locked just beneath mine.

Stop the worries and stop the longing you have for the written word

Listen to my music, listen to the thrum, the beat, the hum, the heat of what makes me–me.

But you won’t–you won’t. 

You’ll smile at me through your window,

No matter how I dance or lift the music to your ears. 

You will pull the curtains tight against the whistle of high wind and forgotten summer. 

I’ll stay upon your window sill,

Dressed in a midnight blue top hat and tails and thrill you in your sleep. 

Yes, I’ll place my ice blue lips to the thin, thin pane of glass and thrill your dreams with

What you resist and desire.

Me.

https://lydiaink.com/index.php/poetry/