I am out here
on the ragged edge
of myself

and I can see
that a day is coming
when all the color
will be bled
from this world

when all the kisses
all the drinks
all the simple acts of kindness
will be useless

and all the smiles
and gentle eyes will
dry up

and a loneliness
wider than the sea
will spread
over everything

and I will call out
your name

and nothing
will answer
me

 

Last night
listening to the coyotes
howl and yip
their way across the plains
I couldn’t help but wonder
where you are
now.

Oh, dear
did you ever manage
to clean my blood
from your paws?

 

 

 

As I stood out there and watched the stars
twinkling above the Cheyenne
I tried to make sense
of all I had lost…

I know
such things cannot be
measured,
only felt.

And to get from there
to here
seems so strange to me.

So I sat
bemused
beneath an unfamiliar sky;
alone
with the cold
the wind and
my memories…