If between our palms
We held
Twelve elements
                    Of nature          
Surely
Hand in hand
      We could create
A universe of our own

There are rooms I do not enter, doors I welded shut with bone and sinew, memories pressed between the walls like dried insects, fragile, rotting, never quite dead.

The past does not sleep.

It moves beneath my skin, a rhythm of hands that never let go, voices that coil around my throat, laughter that sounds like breaking glass.

I walk through mirrors and find someone else staring back, eyes that don't belong to me, a mouth that speaks in riddles, a face I've tried to carve away.

But the past grows back like ivy, crawling, strangling, consuming.

There were nights that never ended, silent wars fought in locked rooms, secrets swallowed like shards of ice, cold, cutting, sinking deep.

I have learned to live as a whisper, to step lightly through the wreckage, to fold myself into the smallest spaces, as if disappearing could make me safe.

But echoes do not die. They linger, they gnaw, they fester. And in the quiet, when the world goes still, they find their way back home.

Cast in amber shadows
Slow the thick light gathering
Slow the evening’s long embrace
The moon’s sigh soft in the clouds
And drifting down
Stardust showers us

In the shadows time’s passage
These stardust mountains and valleys
This end of eons, far from the stars
At the far side of the turning wheel
In amber shadows end the day

Once two vast stars danced
Together their heavenly minuet
Burst in wild ecstasy, spinning and turning
Burst in wild ecstasy, fire and burning

Now together we dance
Slow to the memory
In each other’s arms,
Of when we were once stars!

Roaming the rolling sapphire,
Thoughts of home & the bereaved.
Under tide they sink.
Spit back into that grand basin,
Give a good greeting to Poseidon,
Lift up your cup & drink;
To the fathoms we eclipsed,
The journey facing.
** & heave,
Waves crash against the hull
Letting on water;
I've never much cared for
Admitting defeat in the presence
Of overwhelming odds,
I'd rather die on my feet
Bravely meeting the Gods

Never was water more refreshing,
Than when I thought I would die of thirst.
Fire never felt so warm as
The moments before I was burned,
And never looked as beautiful
As before it was consumed.
Light split like memories,
When I look up into the night sky;
Things gone, things refracted,
All that's there that eclipses the eye.
I never knew what it was to be *****,
Acting like I was always clean.
Never knew how wrong I was
Thinking I was always right, ignorantly
Hurting those around me
As they've hurt me.
Stagnant puddle reflecting,
Wading against the stream;
Swimming but drowning

The world where magic reigned, a fairytale unfurled,
I was water, tranquil and serene, he, fire in a whirl.
Our paths converged by destiny's hand, two worlds apart,
In the tapestry of love, we found a beating heart.

I, a crystal brook winding through enchanted glades,
He, a tempest of flames, dancing in fiery cascades.
Our first encounter, a clash of elements so rare,
Yet in that very moment, we became a fated pair.

He roared with passion, fierce and untamed,
While I whispered softly, my essence unnamed.
Together, we embarked on a quest unknown,
A love story woven in the stars, our destiny sown.

Through the enchanted forest and twilight skies,
We journeyed together, love shining in our eyes.
I quenched his burning desires with my gentle tide,
He ignited my soul with a fervor that couldn't hide.

But our love, a tempestuous, passionate blend,
A fairytale of water and fire, with no clear end.
For every time he scorched, I soothed the blaze,
In the ebb and flow of love, we danced for days.

As the seasons passed, our love story grew,
In the heart of the forest, where the wildflowers grew.
We found solace in the harmony of our ways,
Two contrasting elements, caught in love's maze.

But as fate would have it, one fateful night,
A darkness descended, eclipsing our light.
An evil sorceress, jealous of our love so true,
Cast a wicked spell, our destinies she'd undo.

I, in my liquid form, was trapped in a crystal cell,
While he, in fiery chains, descended into hell.
Separated by magic, our love seemed doomed,
Two halves of a whole, forever entombed.

Years passed, a forlorn and desolate time,
In separate realms, our love's bell did chime.
But deep within our hearts, a spark remained,
A love unbroken, though worlds apart, constrained.

Then, one fateful day, a hero emerged,
A knight in shining armor, courage surged.
With a heart full of love and a sword so true,
He battled the sorceress and her dark, vile crew.

In the midst of the battle, the crystal shattered,
The fiery chains broke, and our love was rekindled, unshattered.
Water and fire, together once more,
In the realm of love, we'd forever explore.

With a kiss of true love, the spell was undone,
Underneath the moon and the shining sun.
We stood united, against all odds,
A love story written in the stars by the gods.

Our fairytale, both sad and sublime,
Water and fire, transcending space and time.
Through trials and tribulations, we'd endured,
A love, pure and eternal, forever assured.

When the magistry has ended, /
The echoes of repose begin to resound; /
Although there is, there has been a great wanderer in me, /
The beckoning has not ceased, /
Nor has my heart been claimed in abeyance. /

A story, one with risings & fallings, /
One with an unfalteringly great divide, /
Has bestowed a parcel from on high; /
The Winds, The Earth, The Ocean, The Sun, The Moon, /
They are the pulse of this Grand Tapestry. /

When we are enraptured, /
By ensorcelled irides /
We become; /
Sometimes being enamored /
Means our journey is re-willed; /
Moreover, we see the world with Brand New Eyes. /

Allowing every experience, to re-modulate my thoughts & feelings /
I realized uncertainty was not a barrier, /
Rather, it was my nexus to transcendence. /
Having a time & space in which to reflect, retrospect, & introspect was an aegis, /
Now real & authentic happiness is no longer distant /
And faith is near. /