My Mother's Smile

My Mother's Smile

I don't know how, my mother says

When told to smile for the camera.

The truth is, she doesn't like the way 

She looks, so in pictures, she mostly stares.

Somewhere, un gros chien noir

Walks across my grave.

Ghost of a smile, that shadow on her face.

Truth is, she is no laugher. Never was.

Moment

Fractured light

swans along the hills,

Leaps and ebbs

like feathered fire.

Knee deep in wooded awe, 

we peer into the lapis haze above.

Divine artist, roaring 

down the corridors of time

burning cold as serpent's scales,

Your hands, your brush, they crackle.

Touch you, and we burn;

Look on you, we stay.

You charm us with your song,

Asking nothing for our passage 

but our love.

Birthday

BIRTHDAY 

Under the moon of the fairy night

When the days are short 

And the stars are bright,

On a puff of air and a sea of red

They rend the veil

From the Land of Dead.

Before, behind, betwixt, between,

In the nether world,

They bloom unseen --

A ghost, a thought, a root, a stem,

A silent bud,

An unsung hymn.

Shake off the veil and beat the drums!

Let cymbals play, 

For angels come!