The Church Bell Chimes Eleven And I Count One, Two, Three, And On And Then After The Last The Soft Cooing

Icicles on a tree branch, glittering The barren thing adorned anew Similar to the way the leaves grew When birds were still out twittering

The ice hangs like daggers or teeth Or diamonds hung around a neck A delicate or dangerous effect Be wary those who pause beneath

To catch them as they drip and fall And crash upon a wooden floor Shattered, a delicate thing unmoored Such glass is sweet at the end of it all

Forevers do not stretch Over an infinite Unimaginable amount of time Like circles that Were never drawn with one Line beginning and closing To create an eternity

Forevers have lifespans Just like eras and people When a person says Forever it is only as Long as they never change When I say forever I mean I hope to stay the same

So when we finally evolve When we grow and our Lives begin anew with Our atoms refreshed We let go of one forever That unfathomable infinity Closing just like the circle

Grief is a large pelican Diving into the water where I was swimming peacefully Scooping me up in its beak

It carries me up from my home This is just nature's way I succumb to the darkness of Drowning in someone's mouth

Kingdoms that we built Inside our neighboring, Rolling, hillside towns Still stand strong and Towering, but only in my Enchanted daydreams, the Night fell fast in yours

You say goodnight to me As though singing a song Against my earlobe Whispering a melodic prayer Beating against my eardrum The rhythm of your words A steady lullaby kiss Melting on my lips as you Fade with me into a dream

Floating on my back Naked in the water I made a promise to The clouds above To never ask about their father

The sky turns gray And I feel cold I give my body to the earth Into her hands to hold One day she may cradle me When I am very old

I see the sun light up Below the horizon Piercing the clouds Warming the land That someday I will die on

Without my clothes I am the planet's creature Flesh and bone And limbs to feature This forest pond is a refuge And the wind's voice my teacher

I, who speaks often But says much of nothing I, who pictures the words That do not come out That stumble over My tongue and teeth My brain a stuttering Then silent and empty

I will my words into being In a moment's pause In the quiet of the writing When my mind races And I can catch my thoughts I send you my voice You, who reads me You, who's eyes Pass over my letters

I, who does not screech Like the hawk in the sky Nestle my meanings in The wanderings of creatures In the sun and the trees They, who speak The same language as me Who might interpret while I am just talking to you

I am always drawn to water It is not my sign But I am in love with Cancer Her fluid emotions And I feel her in the Unfurling of waves

I swim in her like A brush mixing paint Like cream poured in coffee Or ink dripped on a page I am flowing Completely immersed in her

She takes me to an island Under her planet moon Soaking in the night Fierce as Diana She will rise up and Snatch me down into the sea

Clear blue skies over the snow caps A calm, the rustle of branches Their snow thudding against the ground snow Thump, says snow, as it falls

Then a cracking sound, not unlike a tree falling A rumbling not unlike an earthquake All the birds take flight at once One black plume of fearful retreating

Shifting, sliding, crashing and rolling Snow is peaceful, it is gentle Until it breaks in the trembling Until the mountains shake it off to bury us

It is a beautiful day as the avalanche forms Serene even, as ice and snow thunders down Or it was, before the gentle thing became a terror Like all of earth which strikes awe, it does strike

Ink spills across the page Quickly, compose One painting, one color From crimson to rose

You scribble your passion Inside the hues In galaxies, in thought Declaring your views

So drench the paper Stain it with art Brush strokes of the mind You're a writer at heart