Wild Girls

Sometimes I long to be one of the wild girls,

With their unsettling sunflower faces

Both beautiful and blank.

Sometimes I wish I had hair that had never been cut,

Wild dark curls full of fireflies and jet,

Black and bold as my stare.

I would weigh nothing, just a jewel from a penny candy machine,

Roving with my friends in skinny packs like some sort of small social tigers,

Saying

Yes Mother,

Yes Father,

But at twilight when you call us to come in and brush our teeth,

We sprint for the shadows

And the sanctity of our own skins,

Those places where the wild girls

Hide.

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Fall Planting

When the chill of the days

Suits my contrary ways,

I will tie my hair back,

Gather some things from my shed,

And work on my flower bed.

I can plant bulbs, or spread leaves across the ground,

And these grey days can be the most relaxing that I've found;

I will hold Lady Winter back,

Gather what I can from the final days of fall,

And be grateful for it all.

And if I lose my ring,

Well, I should have been wearing gloves;

I've lost so many things--

My youth, the years, and so many

Oh, so many

Loves.

But when the chill of the days

Matches my contrary ways,

I won't hold my emotions back;

I can blame the wind for my shiver and my tears--

It's just conditions of atmosphere.

And if I lose my ring

Well, I should have been wearing gloves;

I've lost so many things--

My youth, the years, and now also you,

My Love.

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I Love Your Blog Award II

The Word Garden has been honored with another I Love Your Blog Award, this time from the Mistress of erudite and erotic erratum, Lil Bit! Her blog, lil bits of Lil Bit, is a marvelous place where you can even find me in my guise as The Affordable Bodhisattva. Anyways, thanks, Lil Bit! http://littlehmphf.blogspot.com/

So now, the way this works, having been given this award, one then links back to the giver and goes on to name up to seven new recipients and notify them that they are winners! Here are my all-star bloggers:

To A T: Gender Journeys (A Relational Journey Through Life And Thoughts), written by my very own sweet sister, Radha Smith. Radha is brilliant, insightful, and anyway, she's my sis, so read her blog or I kick you in the shins. *smiles sweetly* http://radnichole.wordpress.com/

Please visit also Susanna's Sketchbook. Susanna is just a ridiculously talented photographer who also features something called Angel Letters. My personal little opinion is that hers is simply the best photography blog on the net. Find her at : http://susannassketchbook.typepad.com/susannas_sketchbook/

Last time I gave this prestigious and august award to Sharkbutt the Cat at Advice From A Shark. This time, and only AFTER fete-ing her feline better, I would like to give it to my dear friend Sheena at East Coast Randori. Sheena is the kind of girl who has The Good, The Bad & The Ugly as a ringtone. Find her at: http://ecrandori.blogspot.com/

The Bone Bird

The bone bird

Born from an egg as tender and sweet as honey by moonlight,

Flies through an ash sky

Into an Autumn as smoky and crisp as the remembered dream of a last kiss.

The bone bird

Is known by her song of glass, and the Queen-of-the-Nights it holds;

Flowers like feathers

Beautiful only as an ache is beautiful, or a parting.

The bone bird

Has made her nest above my door;

She will not fly

When Winter comes like Lady Death.

Instead, we will be two crones

Sipping tea in the twilight,

And when she sighs and has no more songs,

I will let the fire die

And tell her of your smile.

_____________________________

(Thank you to the gorgeously talented Christene, who introduced me to the black tulips called Queen-of-the-Nights.)

Many Have Loved The Rain

Many have loved the rain.

I alone have loved your fingers,

Whether caressing them with mine,

Kissing them,

Or staring with lovestruck tenderness

As they relaxed at the edge of the bed.

Many have feared the rain.

I alone have feared your vagaries of mind,

Whether dreams that have seized you,

Or passions,

Or simply storms gathering within

That I sit helplessly watching form.

Few embody the rain.

I alone embody the earth,

And will always receive what you give,

Take it within me,

Turn it into as much beauty as I can summon;

Or simply shield myself as best I'm able,

Endure and love,

Because I am wrapped around your lovely heedless fingers.

Darling,

Many have loved the rain.

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So Dark Is The Night

They said,

Let God's love fill your heart,

And shine on you

With holy light.

But oh.

Oh,

So hard are the hours,

The dead hours I spend without you

And

So dark is the night.

They said,

Let God's love fill your heart,

And shame the devil

With His truth.

But oh,

Oh,

My heart is like shale,

Splintered shale that falls with my tears

Here

Without you.

They said,

Let God's love fill your heart,

Give Him your wounds

To heal them from within.

But oh,

Oh,

Let your nails break my skin,

Your red nails that make me know I'm alive

Screaming

Out my hymn.

They said,

Let God's love fill your heart,

With holy light;

But,

So hard are the hours,

So dark is the night.

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Our Lady Of The Snows

It was all so bright--

All the futures they said were hers;

Their wind of words stung her eyes,

Our shivering patron of the blind.

No rivers flow here--

No tides, just the cold-cracked moon

Too distant to conjure a saving madness

For Our Lady of Frozen Tears.

Sleep,

In your crystal dream of lovers--

A sky full of wavering willows

Bends over you like a mother.

It was all so lonely--

Not lessened by the dragging cautions

They hauled like sledges of endless noon

Above Our Lady of the Morning.

Ice shimmered across the floes,

Wrapped ad infinitum in ivory blank;

Blood came to seem better than the emptiness

Which afflicted Our Lady of the Snows.

Sleep,

And all a crystal dream supposes,

Will carry you where the willows grow--

Our Lady of the Roses.

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