For Kimmie…

Starlight, star bright, where are you
On this night? The clouds of memory
More than twenty years in the interim
Have obscured more recent visions, stories
Edited by the tricks of time. But your
Smile and infectious laugh lounge still
In those readily accessible rooms housed
By the mansion of my mind. Today is a
Day given over to me, but tomorrow
May not be, and that was the bitter
Lesson learned. I am, and always will
Be, better for having been your friend,
Framed in those moments of teenage
Triumph and travail, slogging through
School halls, never giving thought to
Where we would be today. Gone
Away, a concept so foreign then that
Still it feels so unreal, despite the more
Familiar that truth has become through
Age and experience; life’s lessons
Littered on the landscape of growing old.
There is such fragility to living, even
When the world still awaits our arrival;
When the sun is still rising, reaching up
From the shoulders of the eastern horizon,
Blazing golden with a blinding light,
Bright like that smile you always wore.
None of it makes sense, although people
Will try and tell me otherwise; but
They don’t know, despite their ideologies
And convictions, for the chaos of creation
Takes precedence daily, dimly pressing
Our mortal shadows towards, perhaps, a
More perfect Eden, where some sense may
Finally be had. And there is where I
Will find you again, smiling, saying to me,
Welcome home, my friend, it’s been too long.

-Dakin 4/27/09

Extraordinary

It starts with one word,
One theme, a solid symphony
Sung by the chorus of ocean
Currents lapping their waves
On your shores of sodden sand,
Soft round shapely hips, dunes
Driven by the wind. Shallow
Breathing of a gusty wind pushing
Exertion beyond the bounds of
Pastel plains, passing valleys of
The golden fire caught in your gazing
Eyes, grazing on my watchful
Glance. A universe surrounds us
Full of light and dark, emptiness
Brimming with billions upon billions
Of stars, shining smiles one to
Another, collective caretakers of
Our snug shelter. And here we lie
Together, songs circling a rippling
Riverway, running water feeding
A lush land teeming with milk and
Honey, a taste of sweetness on lips
Partly opened in paused utterance.
The once voiced thunder rolling over
A tornado alley of commotion,
A stampede herding the emotion
Of endurance, the flight from
One imagined ill to a place of
Temporary comfort. The ecosystem
Caresses us, casts us in this
Cradle, completes us in our journey,
Satisfies our longings. This, our home,
Spawn of heaven, strung in
Planetary alignment. You and I
Walking that path, hand on hand,
It ends with one word,
Extraordinary.

-Dakin 4/22/09

After All

Sitting in silent thought, listening
Until the silence becomes, so
Subtly, the overwhelming noise
Drowning the clarity; creating
Collisions of confusion – a
Cascade of calamity pouring
Over the eroded cliff of this
Mind aching with those ideas too
Ethereal to be of any substance.
A ghost of a whisper, a specter
Of comprehension, hovers in
These echoing halls, empty now,
For the season’s break is here;
The conclusion of a rainbow
Drained of its color, hidden
By the white clouds hung high
In this same sky we both take for
Granted, the melted wax of a
Box of crayons dripping through
My flayed fingers, raw from the
Repetitive clenching, an attempt
To grasp the garments of God
In effort to find that elusive healing.
The destination that was there,
Marked for us on a roadmap,
Has disappeared, no X to mark
The spot; yet the inescapable
Truth is that, despite the blatant
Fanfare of final realization,
This chart arrived untimely, a
Eureka moment that otherwise
Would merit its own celebratory
Feast, lost now in the surrounding
Vision of stark reality. Still, in
The midst of this moment of
Understanding, I cannot forsake
The further thought that perhaps
There is a plan hidden in the
Mist of moments to come, oceans
Yet to be traversed, mountains
To be scaled, that we could wake
Tomorrow to find a new reality;
That it really could happen.

-Dakin 4/17/09

Getting To Know Me

Perhaps you wonder where it’s at,
This planet’s path that leads
Us homeward. Long enough
Have we pressed onward
With direction thrown aside.
We cry beside a river’s torrent
Washing away the fertile soil
And still we toil over hardened
Earth that’s lost its worth
By the baking sun when
Drought devours back breaking
Hours of sowing, planting,
Pleading, seeding; seething
When it’s done. We run when
We should really fall and
Stumble when we should run.
The walls that rise up
Across the road remind us
Of this load that lingers
On our shoulders bending us
Forward to kiss the ground.
An overwhelming sense of
Need exists in minds that feed
From stories which, sold daily,
Dispose of heroes created
Hourly only to be removed.
I knew you when I saw
Your smile and sipped your
Tears. My fears were foreign
To your years yellow with age.
This page will pass though
I do not weep, weep not
I laugh and cast all cares
Away. For as I fail, I trust
The nails and thorns and
Cross that carries my pain.

-Dakin 9/11/93

Thinking

I must have known that this

Thought would come some day

When I was looking in another

Direction. Still confused, I

Think that there is another

Way, but that map is hidden

From my eyes. Where are those

Memories, flown away like these

Words that were here but a

Moment ago and now are gone?

There is a moment, and a

Time and a place.  And, there

Is a thought so crisp like a

Digital picture, all these pixels

Aligned in static representation

Of the present subject, reaching

Forward to grab hold that perfect

Day that was, once upon a time.

And the chorus of a thousand

Voices fills my ears with the

Joyful call to celebrate. And

I sit lost in wistful thought,

Dispelling the dark shadows that

Threatened to collapse me

Under the weight of words

Too numerous to have meaning.

There is much to be celebrated

In a moment of silent reflection;

Thinking without words, portraits

Of past, present, futures yet

To come.  Running away, now lost

In that future fantasy, found

Fast in the stronghold of my

Longing for a better place to

Lay my head now down to sleep;

Praying eternity, my soul to keep.

 

-Dakin 3/31/09