Love Beyond Longing (2006)

For a superstar of long ago...

A smile that only a woman-child can give
it floats through hallways
long demolished
and in music
past peak airtime

Oh that smile--
it is inside sunshine

A lovely hope
casting a wide net in an august sunset
it sparkles like
lights on rollercoasters during summer evenings
glowing like red dressed moons

Time that once was
a subtle breezy guitar in the mind
of a woman-child who knew only how to respond
to her heart
is now
faith rising beyond fear
hope beyond reality
and love beyond longing

Love somehow remains
a lone tree in a sea of stumps and meadow greens
a pregnant pause
cool and clean

It is in this space that
I am tasting the
memory of long ago
lush and wet
like the mouth of rivers
touching a time
that was once
new and pearly
like ivory silk
but now has been packed with petals of roses
that never bloomed

I am remembering the glow of
hard driving blazes in a stormy skies
the starkness of
"why"
like thunder to the listener
Moving the mind to loss,
like tires to a slick road.

Oh how it calls out to the lover on late nights
when the radio is a sweet friend
enunciating
beautifully battered
curved and cursive letters
that punctuate
cliches, wet lips, and tears
but

This feeling remains warm, beyond the cool distance of years.

The "knowing" long outlasted the love
that faded into swirling orchid waters
without time, tides
or recall
and maybe this is the joy

Now silent prayers grow from selfish tugs at leg of the soul,
to pushes
I, us, we, push
until there is only air
and wings

this love has bloomed and overcomes all things

it is a knowing smile,
that remembers
and lets go

a dream matured
beautifully into what it was intended to be

a superstar in the superb splendor of flight
........ and yes, it's alright
it's alright,
it's alright
yes, it's alright.