The Promise

{"Ghost" by biszkopciik}

Stay, I said

to the cut flowers.

They bowed

their heads lower.

Stay, I said to the spider,

who fled.

Stay, leaf.

It reddened,

embarrassed for me and itself.

Stay, I said to my body.

It sat as a dog does,

obedient for a moment,

soon starting to tremble.

Stay, to the earth

of riverine valley meadows,

of fossiled escarpments,

of limestone and sandstone.

It looked back

with a changing expression, in silence.

Stay, I said to my loves.

Each answered,

Always.

~Jane Hirshfield

I am only one person. I can only do what is it within my power to do, within the constrains of time I am given. I have done my best with the circumstances I have been handed. I can only ask as much of myself. I am only one person.

I still can't get it right

I don't know.  I still can't get it right,

the way those dirt roads cut across the flats

and led to shakes where hounds and muddy

shoats 

skulked roundabouts.  Describing it sounds trite

as hell, the good old South I love to hate.

The truth?  What's that?  How should I know?

I stayed inside too much.  I learned to boast

of stupid things.  I kept my ears shut tight,

as we kept doors locked, windows locked,

the curtains drawn.  Now I know why.

The dark could hide things from us.  Dark could 

see

what we could not.  Sometimes those dirt roads

shocked

me, where they ended up:  I watched a dog die

in the ditch.  The man who shot him winked at 

me.

~Kathryn Stripling Byer

UNCLE FREAKING SAM!

So uh, married life.  You should try it.

"We're 10 Thousand-aires!" -hubbie.

{unknown.}

To bad it's all going into our new house.  But holla.  Landmark.