Ripple Effect

Ripple Effect

Walk out slowly
         from this dream
tendrils still clinging
like an orphan child
weeping after
         its neglectful provider
accustomed to empty caress

or like a fawn poised
over its mother’s
still warm yet lifeless body
         where an arrow
pierced Autumn in all
its glory and russet-strewn sadness.

Re-open gently
         like a broken flower
petals torn from recent storm
scent carried on the nonchalant wind
the sound of damaged Jasmine.

Speak softly
in places where a
songbird hums because
its frozen fear made
it forget the words
it always sang this
altered morning, Crimson.

Understand that
your impact upon
the Universe, or
         merely another human,

may not be felt in your lifetime.

That the touch you gave
ripples still in the vastness
of intangible space,
inside the vacuum
of starved embrace.

         A smile yet lingers
in melting sky on the
edge of arched rainbows
after Sonnet rain.

         And tears of loss
or intermingled joy
fade in-between

         the ache of a kiss
that never came.