Would you?

What if I wanted to love you?

Would you let me?

Would you let me in-

your soul, your heart, your body.

What would it be like?

This place.

Inside. In love?

Would we read by candle light

Each trembling secret of ourselves?

Would you let me find the dark,

Would you lead me to the light?

If I needed you to hold me,

To touch me,

And be inside me;

Would you let me?

Would you let me love you?

I don't think you would.

But I still see you,

In all your beauty;

as a man,

as a friend,

as a bright and whirling star,

with its tail burning at both ends.

And maybe that's the best love we could have.

Because would I?

Would I let you.

Would I let you, love me, too?

He stood back.

I didn’t know,
I saw it coming.
Until it came.

He called less and less.
And when he did call—
I could feel the detachment:
The little emotional battlement,
Resurrected, as protection.

He would retreat to that inner place
That place where all he heard,
Were the vacant cries of a broken heart,
The hallow bellows of taunting devils.
He must protect that darkness from the light.

He closed himself in—
A hermit with only the voices:
Of dread,
Of doubt,
Of hurt,
And addiction.

The damn broke.

It got too hard.
This making it on his own.

He was Atlas, but no god.

The last place to find help, the phone,
Only more voices there.
Would those outside voices help?
Or could they talk him bloody, too?

Just need to make these roiling voices stop.
Just need to make this ache, this hurt stop.
Just need to make the roaring loneliness stop.
Just need… for just a while.

And so—
Let cups of ferment flow.
Let little drops of sleep swallow.
Let tomorrow be a long way off.

Little one,
There are voices here that care for you.
There is a voice right here shouting,
“I love you!”

More than words, or miles can tell.
There are people, yes only people, here;
People who want to love you.
Who want to tell you they love you.

People who've heard those voices inside,
People who've beaten those voices,
Who want to help you beat them too.

Little one,
There are voices here that care for you.
There is a mighty voice—
All around.

A voice that cries out!
With blood and stone and all creation,
A voice that runs red with love for you.
A love that has beaten those dark voices, many times.

That mighty voice is there too, inside of you.
You must believe he is deep in love with you,
And hear with love’s ears that mighty voice calling.

Oh little one,
There are voices here that care for you.

Little one, let us love you!

for my friend

Up the Hill

You made me in the shade of you.
I saw you in the made of you.

As the gentle breeze,
You caress me.
As the swaying trees,
You bend me.
And as the windswept leaves,
You stir me.

As the storm cloud weeps,
You empty me.
As the shallow swells,
You restore me.
And as the new, cool grass,
You delight me.

As the sandy shore,
You lure me.
As the rushing stream,
You propel me.
And as the glass-top lake,
You see me.

You made me in the shade of you.
I saw you in the made of you.
And all the while I stayed in you.

Erstwhile Friend

I saw your walk today
On another's frame,
And it brought to mind your name.
And in my brain it rattled round
Until a small sad smile, on my face was found.
It was a walk from tip to hip
That spoke to me of friendship.
Of a selfless time, that selfish came
And now we do not speak your name.
Where love turned to needy expectation;
Where friendship became a cold relation,
And in its wake came devastation.
I saw your walk today
On another's frame.
And it brought to mind your name.
This other too, walked away from me,
Without intention or mystery.
For I knew her not-
And I knew you...
But still,
I had the same view.