Love like

A manicure
Constantly tending
Ever growing
Uncomfortable process
Paring and smoothing
Rough edges
Common trait of humanity
Yet individual as
A fingerprint
Love an identity
Caring regularly
Outward sign of
Healthy nurture
Nourishment
Beautiful accessory
To extend
To hold
In another's
Hand

Pleiades

Dancers in dusky streetlight
Seven forms converge
Reflecting blue
Evading the darkness

Superceded by
Spectacular collisions
Supernova sky

In the millions
Years of stillness
Like one looked
In the mirror

Saw the other
Longing to look within
Each other
Forever

Live like
No tomorrow
Casting stars
Into orbit
For a hundred thousand
Tomorrows

Light years end
Replaced by dark nebula
Crash course time and again
Pressing upon the moment
Tales trail behind

A particle of dust
Floats by
Miniature universe
Beyond our eyes

Flow

To have words trampled
Beneath the cart wheels
On the streets
of old St Petersburg
Crimes a mystery
Hung backlit
By brazen streetlight
Broken, worn, blue
Time it takes
To decide ~ are they done?
Will they heal?
Slowly drip feeding
Stew of broth
Building marrow
Until the shine
In the eyes returns
Upon hearing
A chorus
Seeing a glorious
Image of affection
At mere mention
A novel moment
Produces a turrent
Cascading into
Rivers winding
Bringing life
Bearing it to sea
Setting free

Finders keepers…

So simplistic were the rhymes
Of my childhood
Aesop and Mother Goose
Taught me how to be good
Kind and wise
Avoid Miss-Understood

Yet, they did not share with me
In black and white ink
How to dare to care 
When life is on the brink
Of falling in and down
Afraid there is no settling

The nesting and pruning
Of love birds in tune
With one another
Humdrum forgetting
Singing, fanning plumage
Making room

If you should find a lover
Try to keep her hand
But if lost remember -
Not to weep for
The Summer nights
On a cold, dark night
in June.

Ruffled

Pure delight
Little fingers find
Feathery treasure
Waving its finery

We shed parts
Of ourselves
For friends keep
To admire

In sharing
They grow
Lighter
Fly higher

Lament
Those of us
Left behind
Artists of Tasmania ~ Lucienne Rickard, loss of wildlife on Lord Howe Isl. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Belonging

If a sprout takes root
On an Island
That drifts away
Heading South
It was always there

Seeds that flew in
On the breeze
Hosted by birds
Do we blame these
Mixed leaves?

So what happens
When I wander hills
Wondering whether
This bloom or that
Warrants attention

Is all life
Worth a mention?

Strange days

How I marvel when 
Horror and strife
Make ordinary turbulence
Seem trifling

How one image 
in the wilderness
Ignite a longing
Lifelong

To be inspired
To be present
In the last days
In the silence

Is an aspiration
Over which we have
No accord
Though truly

Authenticity
Girded by love
Will always be a
Heavy weight

I bear it 
With a smile
A laugh, song
Stride in step
Love thee well
Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania, Australia