The Passage of Memory

He stood cautiously
Outside the threshold
Between their worlds.
It seemed a simple thing,
But something told him
He had been here before.

Finally, he strode inside.
She greeted him, again,
With a nod of her head
And an ever-so-slight wink.
His eyes seemed different,
As if the light behind them
Did not recognize her face.

“You don’t remember me?”
She asked with a long sigh.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t…”
He trailed off. No matter
How much he tried, she
Was a stranger to him.

As his feet carried him
Through that open door,
All memories, the good
And all the bad, vanished.
In their place was a vague
Sense of having had this
Same conversation
Many times before.

MSBQ

Galathea

Peering down
Into the blue,
I lean forward
Letting gravity
Take over.

As the light fades
At lower depths,
The pressure is
Overwhelming.
I strain my ears
To hear the sound
Of waves above.

I may speak the
Tongues of whales
But when I listen
To voices among
The tide pools,
Their messages
Are always lost.

With each layer
Of ocean that I
Pass through on
My path into the
Endless abyss,
My eyes gaze in
Both wonder and
Horror at what
Travels here
Down below.

MSBQ

Wildfire’s Lament

Waking up in a dream,
Each passing moment is
Adrift in a thickened haze
Of smoke from fires we’ll
Never be able to smother.

For weeks, I’d wander out
Into the swirling ether and
Strain my eyes to see past
The veil placed upon us all,
But it’s far too unwieldy.

I know nature has its way;
The fires may engulf us, but
In the end it kindles a birth
Of all things green, even in
The throes of summertime.

When the October mist
Finally arrives, we shall
Welcome its coming
As never before- like
Parched plains in June.

MSBQ 

Surrender

The surface of the lake
Looked as placid as glass
As it reflected the late
July noon back at itself.
His parents had said that
They could swim there
As often as they liked,
But each time he waded
Out into the murky green
Waves, his heart told him no.

He recalled, later, how his
Biggest fear had always been
Feeling something alive
On the bottom of the lake,
Limp arms like tentacles
Grasping his legs, dragging
Him down into the darkness.
“Come on out, Timothy,”
His older brother called
From the anchored dock.
He did not want to seem
That he was afraid, so he
Held his breath and leapt.

Looking upwards, the many
Ripples on the surface above
Shimmered endlessly, making
A living sky of gold and green…
As they pulled his body out,
His eyes were still open in
Eternal wonder and awe.

Ninety seconds later,
He coughed up the water
From his desperate lungs.
He would live on. However,
That brief moment of pure
Tranquillity, looking up at
The rainbowed surface,
Would remain with him
To the end of his days.

MSBQ

Kindling

Alder smoke passed between
We two, casting sickly haze.
Though you had only seen
Me, I could only be amazed.

A cloud of grey and down
Circling slowly, meandering
Like the King’s final mound-
My love, alas, a fickle thing.

With eyes like burning embers
You wore a hemlock wreath;
But in this dream, remember:
If I be sword, you are sheath.

MSBQ