Short and Sweet and to the Point.

Your hands were little
but that did not
reflect
how much I needed
to hold them.

One slipped
into mine
and two separate
cold hands
turned warm and wakeful,
instantly.

Those hands adjust
your glasses;
They fiddle with
my hair,

They sift and surf
through chilly water,
and pull rocks
from the receding sand

Those hands trembled
next to mine,
our skin glued
at hip, knee, and shoulder,
And all in between,
and down to toes.

Suddenly
the cold ran off
into the night
and left me with ever-emerging stars.

uneclipsed by
inundations back home.
They gave me something
I could not find
anywhere else.

2012

"Love is Impossible Before Legality."

To be in love

Requires no certain

Age,

No other pre-requisite

Than this-

You must know yourself.

And yes, the younger you are

The more you believe

You know yourself,

That your intrinsic everything

Is old hat.

But as you grow older,

You will become

Doubtful,

Doubtful until the day

When you discover

You do not know

Yourself at all.

It sounds daunting,

But I entreat you

Not to be afraid.

This,

This is the turning point.

This is the climax of your life.

And it has nothing to do

With numbers or years

Or dates and times,

Nothing to do with the

Voices that repeat,

“You are not old enough,

You are not yet wise enough,

Your voice is unimportant

Today.”

It is to do with you,

Whoever you are,

In whichever day and way
You find yourself.

Suddenly,

You will find

An illuminating something

And eventually,

You will find that irrecproducable

Self-

But only when you realize

You must create that self.

And when you begin

To create someone

You like,

You are so uninhibitedly
Free.

You will know love,

And you will know strength.

You may know destruction-

But through it,

You will know reconstruction-

Redesigning, reimagining,

Recompense.

Please be patient,

For when you feel you

Know nothing

About this world,

You will find

It will finally

Come to your feet.

2013

Before You Say I Love You

Before you say I love you,

You must learn to say it

Without those three words.

I am learning.

And one day,

I shall have the courage

To say the sweet,

True thing.

I will tell you that

I love you.

On a day like every other,

But my heart will be so full for you

You and your eyes so full of promise,

And you will see

All that The Pacific

Prevents.

You will know

How true it is,

As although this may be

The first time my weighted words

Meet your ears

It will not be the first time

You hear my

I Love You

As you taught me long ago

How to say so without words.

2013