WHISPERS

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

This early spring has taken me unawares,

a sudden burst of warmth that's disconcerting

to one who's grown accustomed to the cold--

bringing back a sound, a scent,

a sadness I can't explain.

Memories of halting conversations...

a sense of time slipping through my fingers,

and the feeling that there should have been more.

And I believe that I could go either way--

be a particle or a wave,

as this warm breeze whispers "sway."

This exquisite pain,

dormant for too many seasons,

now blooms fragrant and insistent--

trumpeting its arrival

with dopey daffodil dreams.

This ephemeral ecstasy,

that bleeds into agony,

that leads to animosity,

for which there is no remedy...but time.

And your sudden burst of warmth is disconcerting

to one who's grown accustomed to the cold,

and I believe I could go either way--

be your one night stand or shadow you

through one lifetime and the next.

Just tell me what the HELL you want,

for I've chosen the wrong door too many times--

got eaten by the tiger and shat out the other end...

now I must learn how to bend.

And this accursed early spring

brings the spectre of another day,

when love turned on the moment

in a warm wind that whispered "sway."