i am aging. fewer leaves. thin skin. thick bark

in other places. tending the fire none can keep inside.

breath is the mystery that must survive.

 

if a stone

one struggles

against vanishing

 

when the tea cup cracks, look within.

when unburdened of rose, thorns bleed.

beneath my hands the axe splits open.

what comes alive when the last word is spoken?

 

birth arose without knowing how

breath and confusion followed

the star within the seed had arrived

 

loving each moonrise does not redeem one's life.

nor fishing the river after rain.

there's an empty moment banging against the wall.

in the absence of wind. banners torn.

 

a voice from the box in the closet.

wooden angels. heavy wooden hands.

knots on the faces of trees. dreams.

the withering power that broods deep inside a seed.

 

land of morning. indifference to silence.

light coils around light.

earth breathes.

 

cedar smoke. mesas. the cranes will come back.

strange that a naked mind is here at all.

wisdom turns to dust and dust becomes wisdom.

simple language holds meanings yet to come.

 

simple is what always was.

through cracks in the ceiling

i hear footsteps of moss on the roof.

 

it's the way of a house to wait.

for the sake of the traveler who never returns.

words gather time. the wounds of life unravel.

 

the mirror knocks. no one answers.

the son dies carrying his mother.

through the name inscribed on leaded glass

flares light older than fire.

 

heron :: how does life become one

 

in the bowl

in her hands

heron sky

 

snowflake melts.

path's completed.

somewhere darkness flowers.

 

when lips are long closed :: memory must breathe through skin

***

some forget to breathe and dream :: ways of seeing fall like leaves

 

plum tree dead.

sighs in the wind that have not known being human.

thin is the wall that separates us.