theworkwillwitness

1
I know you yearn for how we used to be:
The clarity and purity of nights
Spent dreaming, talking, loving fearlessly
Without a hint of shadows. But the heights
Of early love, though dizzy, must descend
Through snow-filled passes choked with torn debris,
Black forests, broken boulders, narrow glens
Of pine and spruce. From light, through mystery,
Through ever deeper darkness, to the base,
Where we can breathe beneath the light of day.
There I will cup my hands around your face
And kiss your forehead softly. And I'll say:
"Though early love is blameless, bright and clear,
Its depths are gained by passing through the fear."

Alone with you, in silence, as the stars

Come one by one awake against the sky.
You turn a page and smile at me, and I
Smile back at you without a word. The wars,
Atrocities and passions of the world
Mean less than nothing in our private place.
I press my lips, just once, against your face,
Then catch your eyes and mouth the words, "My girl."
You wrap your arms around me and lean in
To press your head against my own- a prayer
Of honest gratitude for what we share.
I pull back for a moment, and I grin,
Then point across the room. You get the wine.
This life of ours holds all things rare and fine.

20
This sense of freedom and of open space
Expands with every day, a bright, blue sky
As clear as water, leaving not a trace.
So many want to sell the world a lie
That this amazement is the kind of bond
A slave would wear- and yet they seek the chain!
This dull cliche still somehow lingers on.
But those of us who've drunk our share of pain,
Grown intimate with suffering, and known
The life of outcasts also know the taste
Of freedom when we find it. All alone
I knew my narrow self, but in your face
I see the whole horizon, and I feel
Each day more free, and more completely real.

31
The subtlety of silent music calls,
Like voices in a forest, to our hearts.
Dark groves of bluish green, clear waterfalls
And pools as cold and deep as time impart
A faint, pure flavor to the unheard song
That flows beneath the world. And so it goes
With all true magic, all that's clear and strong-
The most divine creation scarcely shows
Its glory, but conceals and veils its light.
Let no one tell you love should rage like fire-
Our love is passion purified, so bright
That even in our most intense desire
The chaos of our need contains the cool
And subtle beauty of a mountain pool.

40
You sit across the table, and your eyes,
Revealing as they do the inner light
Of who you really are, seem like the skies
Above the bay- a vast expanse of white
And subtle colors, and the clear, cold air
Of endless, perfect freedom. When you smile
Your life, electric, leaps across to share
The fullness of its joy with me, and while
We've swallowed poison and the bitter taste
Of suffering together, yet your kiss,
As gentle, reverent and even chaste
As it is passionate, contains a bliss
Alchemical and gifted to transform
The storms of love to some more perfect form.

42
Deep water, brown as chocolate, chokes the street
And laps on clumps of slush and melting snow.
The cobblestones run slick beneath our feet
With ice as thin as tissue. In the glow
Of passing headlights, all the sidewalk shines.
Cold water drips and chunks of ice come down
To burst before us. With your hand in mine
I make my cautious way across the town.
And when you slip I pull your hand up tight,
Or catch your coat. I use my stick to test
The way ahead. The world is wet and white
And dangerous. But you and I have pressed
Through fiercer storms and greater hazards too,
And I will forge through this one, guarding you.