Up against the mirror stands

a rose,

a longer stem

than ever I have seen

I fear it will fall over

capsize the cup it stands

inside

Outside the balcony doors

flanked with Zebra curtains

a spot to stand

breath

What can be said about a place

that pulsates, moves with intention

then abruptly drops into

a dream state?

I must keep in touch with this page

as it keeps me in touch

with myself – without it

I begin to drift

Drifting can be an amazing experience

but it is oh so dangerous

Yet all the time I get closer

despite the activity, motion

still I feel a kind of stillness

which wants to take ahold of me…

I knew that if I gave myself,

truly expressed love for another

human being, that I could not

drift away

But now

giving

to that painful degree

doesn’t seem possible…

Back then I thought

that I had lost my faith in love,

but now

I realize

that instead of a sudden loss

it has been trickling away

all these years

I am altered

you are altered

yet no one says a word, all

goes on as if the interlude

never occurred

I stand next to the mirror

staring

not far away, just down the road

to the right

the water flows

sumptuous beauty

clogged with a hundred faces

a thousand coins in the fountain

Now the thought of

giving away my own

capturing another’s soul

does not hold sway over me –

what will replace it?

As he pulls further and further away

I just open my hands and let go

follow the road where it takes me, then

I was all drama, emotions in upheaval,

but now

I will simply be acceptance

And now I am dreaming of the past

dangerous, lost possiblities

reemerging