I watched you break away from the tether that bound you
Bobbling haplessly into the heights
Guided by wind’s unseen current, this way and that
Until the chains of gravity could not pull you back
I watched you become
A contrasting pinpoint in the clear blue
Rising toward the sun
Indelible ink on skin
the blood red border of a new tattoo
A chosen scar to decorate or maybe hide the ones that weren’t
Chosen…
Only the grave
in silent darkness
keeps secrets so well
as skin thickened by never told wounds, colored and outlined in black
I wear my heart
not on my sleeve
but dead center of my chest
for all to see
a few to fill
some to love
some to lose
and some to break
And that’s alright with me.
she didn’t do it right
the baby came first
but not before the one that didn’t
because there was a clinic in Chicago
that would take care of the problem
so he said…
And it did for a little while,
take care of the “problem” which was
in fact
to hide the fact that she was not
the “girl” she was expected to be
…secrets were born instead
The second became the first to
change the shape of things
though still no ring
…a circle if you will
of impatient nights and restless days
and wondering why it all turned out so different
than her dreams
…but still a dream
with little fingers and new eyes
through which she viewed the world
an ocean swell of love to wash her clean
she found her reconciliation
A small reminder to myself. I thought I’d share. 
You are winter wind
that bites my face
and burns my lungs
Fleeting and painful
in the moment you are here
and in the next,
gone like snow that gently melts away
in springtime sun
Returning as the leaves
of summer green
and put to rest
by autumn darkness falling
a memory I live again
Like seasons…
perhaps you are my secret
left in the darkness of a closet
filled with dry bones
that rattle like fallen leaves
on pavement on a crisp and windy day
yet unlike those drifting leaves
I can not sweep you away
because you are alive
with beating heart
a memory I revisit in the silent night
with hope
that I may somehow change the past
rinse you clean and bright as dawn
bring you back to Innocence
and into light
forgiven
You tell her
she is worthy
and just because her dad left
and never calls to say hello
it doesn’t mean she is unloveable
And you dry her tears
and you say over and over
it’s all going to be okay
because you will be there
to pick up the pieces he left behind
Her tears, though dry
leave stains that no words can wash away
So you pray
and you love your little lonely child
hug away her doubts
seize every giggle in tightly clasped hands
and watch the sun rise in her beauty
And you realize
she is you
The taste of dark brew
conversations overheard
from a wooden chair at the coffee shop
where the clatter of glass
a laugh a smile
all of these are reminders
of what was had and what is lost
and of the fleeting, dizzying pace of time
all things go on
as I go on
your ghost
like fading photographs
my company
You are
my harvest sunshine
burning scarlet
against an azure sky
that beats
to the sound of my heart
when I’m alone
letters that form words
that roll off tongues
and become music
to those who listen
with their eyes and
feel your beauty
with their souls
locked away
time and again
you wait for me
to come back to you
to wrap me in your embrace
and love me, still
desiring only
that I open the pages
of my book
and set you free.
Golifely 