Resolving to avoid every
Fine-spun nuance of human
Pretense; I spoke with the winds
Today and asked if the miracle I
Had discovered IN YOU – such torrid
Brush strokes dividing the light and the
Dreary – might remain the hot ember
Now burning brightly IN ME

Extending its
Warmth and light as
Aliment and inspiration;
Wisdom encouraged me to
Avoid the vast discolorations of
Thoughtless indiscretion and
Hinted that I embrace you
Without CRUSHING

The delicate flower
Guarding your heart from
Marauders and the crisp
Edges of chasms and the
Tainted breath of firedrakes
And the twisted hands of wanton
Potters desirous of enslaving
The assailable parts of
You while devouring
Your essence as
Pit-roasted
Meat …

Save the rage of
Moment’s fierceness;
I pleaded earnestly for
The chance to know YOU
Without stumbling through
YOUR white sands and leaving
Marks that might remain
As scars …

And from the distance,
Sifting past the grayness’s
And ochre’s of evenfall, I felt
Waves of subdued reverberations
Washing over me – sage echoes
Whispering e’er and evermore …

Richard Lloyd Cederberg