Light the Lamps
©2018 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
What do others see
who look at me
I am cracked pot
bird with broken wing
severed vine
unwilling shrine

What do others see
who look at me
I am cracked pot
bird with broken wing
severed vine
unwilling shrine
The pair of you lit up our hearts,
shoulder-to-shoulder, full-grown men.
We saw in you the boys you were,
recalled the sweetness that had been.
image by Tony I on UnsplashI look ahead and dread the view,
a tunnel of days to get to you,
a tunnel of looming days until
I see your face and drink my fill
of all you are and all you mean,
a tunnel of days that stand between
me and the gift that once was mine –
to stand beside you, shade or shine.

I guess I always knew
he wasn’t mine to keep,
and yet I prayed he’d stick around
until I went to sleep.

The ocean pounding on the shore
Awakens with a crashing roar
Reminds me that you are no more

He left in his own
time, his chosen way.
I find in me
no spirit
to begrudge it.

city beat
city heat
miles of pavement
pulsing feet
image by Annie Lang on UnsplashO be not lulled by placid sea
nor lapping waves
of harmony