bloodlines

there's so much more
than I remember
less and less of days behind
a field of wheat
a northern breeze
roses blooming grey
when winter fell around us
reason swirled in silver lace
dandelion kisses blew
and took my breath away

I didn't know
I wouldn't know
yet how could I have seen
meadows thick with ivy
longing slept in evergreen

there’s more to love
than scriptures tell
jasper rolled in ash
a long way back
made easy by the night
crickets swarming
caught up in a symphony of string
would they play for me
I wondered with delight
the boast of birth
a sunrise filled
with tangerines and ruby
sails to chart the distance
to the shore
constellations
burned into
the memory of a dove
will serenade
our grief
a morning more

who wears the name
of souvenir
pieces to deliver
more than these two hands
could ever hold
dreams I never dreamed
hearts no longer beating
were here before
now nest within my soul
loving fathers
watch the past unfolding
angels wait another chance to be
books already written
tell of our becoming
planets dance on
rivers to the sea

there’s here and there
and more than both
bloodlines traced
to velvet ferns
babies born of birch and maple
fall as leaves our fate to learn
strands of time
rings to carbon
melting ice the sun became
prophets perch
on cedar shingles
and know the brightest stars
by name