HOME | DD

Description
there comes an evening
each october
when spring is broken:

winter sweeps back in,
swallowing the coast.
the hours are drawn,
long, and quiet -- save
for storming wind --

where pride recedes
to leave the heart

ill-watched, unguided,
for this eve only,
to remember what it has lost.

hands, thick with cold,
shallow-lung'd and lonely,
waiting for chamomile to steep,
sleep to steal:

as the night ticks through
each moment is meticulous,
sliced clean from next
by key-stroke --
throat-formed,

shaped on tongue to fit:
each syllable is moulded
carefully composed,
pressed to curves by thumb
and folded

until, at last,
something of beauty is wrought
a fragile thing, cowering and
bruised, it is honest:

here -- take me as i am,
the whole and the half of me,

more sculpture than statement;
here i am, take me or leave me

leave me as you left me,
not battle worn,
but war-weary

aching and exposed,
offering clean slate --
yea, i will wash away the dust
'til every memory can glow:

this is forgiveness,
this is trust as a gift

the present is fleeting,
the night ticking through
each hour draws to a close
and you are no closer

here: here is my heart
unrestrained and open
here are my words,

i swear to you,
this is the best i can give
this is all of me, the half of me

the half you left behind

Description
there comes an evening
each october
when spring is broken:

winter sweeps back in,
swallowing the coast.
the hours are drawn,
long, and quiet -- save
for storming wind --

where pride recedes
to leave the heart

ill-watched, unguided,
for this eve only,
to remember what it has lost.

hands, thick with cold,
shallow-lung'd and lonely,
waiting for chamomile to steep,
sleep to steal:

as the night ticks through
each moment is meticulous,
sliced clean from next
by key-stroke --
throat-formed,

shaped on tongue to fit:
each syllable is moulded
carefully composed,
pressed to curves by thumb
and folded

until, at last,
something of beauty is wrought
a fragile thing, cowering and
bruised, it is honest:

here -- take me as i am,
the whole and the half of me,

more sculpture than statement;
here i am, take me or leave me

leave me as you left me,
not battle worn,
but war-weary

aching and exposed,
offering clean slate --
yea, i will wash away the dust
'til every memory can glow:

this is forgiveness,
this is trust as a gift

the present is fleeting,
the night ticking through
each hour draws to a close
and you are no closer

here: here is my heart
unrestrained and open
here are my words,

i swear to you,
this is the best i can give
this is all of me, the half of me

the half you left behind