The Dawning Sky

The Sleepy Waters Cafe

The Peaceful Shell

Her breakable spirit had been

like memories torn apart by

a rugged wind and in her eyes

you could see the beginnings of

a mysterious malaise that could

never be swept away. She was a girl

who so rarely smiled and the only

time I ever saw the light in her soul

she could've brightened a darkening

sky. To see her she had the expressive

look of an actress on her face and

you never knew what feelings grew

inside of her. At times I wish I could 

touch her, be the one to mend the

broken patches in her mind. I saw

her as a bird who longed to flutter

away in the wind, forever flying

higher so a human hand could never

capture her again. I'd never heard

the sound of her voice, and in a

daydream I was talking to her –

the sun on her cheeks, the warm

air on her pale skin. It made me

want to give her pleasant flowers

of every kind; and in the glimmer

of a second I saw her brim with

happiness and I captured the moment

as if it were a gift from God, wishing

I could fly far enough to touch the

wakefulness of the dawning sky.

Late peaches on the vine

tempted me to go back again

where everything felt like

a path to heaven. I'd see 

marigolds, their bendable

selves swaying so rapturously

in the wind, my gentle spirit

overcome with fallen plum

blossoms brushing my skin,

falling in the bowl of my

hands; inquisitive deer gazing 

upon us human souls and I

praise the pretty trees where

the quiet unfolding of my

heart slips its essence over

my spirit so joyously. Near

evening the sun is slowly

melting, the last of it a trace

of its perfect arc and by next

day early risers flock to The

Sleepy Waters Cafe.

A cloud in my sky stained

my world just a little bit

more when I thought of her

again. She had eyes that

reflected the shadows in

the nearby pond she'd pass

by every morning, an early

riser as she always was,

a sunrise curving her lips

into a smile; yet memories of

my friendship with her were

beginning to crumble away,

cracking through the peaceful

shell I had so carefully made

where the glow of life used to

stay. I wish she would waken

up to her senses so the future

years and never-ending days

could sew the stitches of our

lives back together again.