Portraiture

Like late morning sun
on freshly bathed skin
or shrubs shivering against ankles
like floating, suspended in the sea
just past where sand meets feet
like lying in savasana

“I could stay here forever”

like standing on a cliff with eyes closed
grinning
or purposefully getting lost
in these woods

Our trail
We blaze
not for the senses
isn’t marked, secure
but perhaps guided
or else arriving
home with you
is both miracle
and accident.

Like knowing the answer
before being asked —
life so often depicted outside
right here yet beyond reach

but between you and me

hearts that swim
helices that bind

our greatest knowing
endlessly within.

Like days which feel as minutes
flying time
as the setting sun will have it
we too ripen

but no mark of skin
or silvering hair
quiets laughter
or dims vision
or arrests our love

Time is our counsel
lending wisdom of pace
we notice far more when
walking
than running.

Like sips of desert air
and reading Neruda,

“You are like nobody
since I love you”

Like night drives
stepping out from the car
stretching my neck, suddenly

stars

dead and undead but beaming
still

“Where does time begin?”

sudden, amazed and confused
noticing

you are

also space

atomic,

love,

infinite—

Like this.
This is who you are.