torn Tallit

I am a thread on his needle
as he weaves us
back together.

affections

his burning affections
ardent inside me
burn brilliantly
their brightness
lighting up the death in my heart
like lightening on a summer night.

still

will you still trust me
when you see the way i have squandered myself
and thrown my heart to the wind
for so many years?
will you still want to touch me
when so many strangers
have lied to my skin?
will you still want to kiss me
when you hear the curses i have spoken
in all of my rage?
will you still accept me
when you see the depths of the twistedness
that has gripped me and tormented me?
will you still?

bridge

i'll tie my hand to yours with a ribbon
and we'll run away together
to Switzerland
and we'll go hide in the mountains
and play games
we'll hike way up, where no one will find us,
and we'll pray, and look over the Alps,
and say refined things in German,
and read each other French poetry
that we brought specially along just for this view
and then we'll hold hands,
and jump off the cliff.
we'll fall and fall, through worlds never seen by human eyes,
and land in a magical place, all our own.
we'll find a ship,
and sail across the sea together,
and we'll never ever leave each other,
and we'll look for treasure,
and when we find it,
we'll spend it all on each other,
and give each other butterfly kisses
under the stars.
and we'll travel through the desert
and talk to birds and drink water from cactuses
and do all those desert-y things
and then we'll wake up, still in Switzerland, and look into each other's eyes,
and know that neither of us will ever be alone
again.

hide and seek

i'm hiding.
i'm hiding, can you see me? i'm looking at you, can you see?
i'm here, in the toy chest, i'm cracking the lid, i'm peeping out,
hoping to be discovered.

treasure

one day someone will find me
they will say to themselves,
i'll dig deep. i'll look past the barrenness of the land
i know that hidden underground
is my treasure.
they will dig down,
and i'll wait here, in my treasure trove.
i won't move or make a sound to encourage her.
when she finds me,
i won't be too happy, because i don't want to be weird or overwhelming, and cause her to run away
but i won't be sad, either, because she might be discouraged and leave in despair,
and think poorly of me,
and remember me as being the treasure that broke her heart
as she walks further and further away
every day.

a boy and his dog

alone on the mountainside
the boy and his dog crept through the woods
toward the rabbit.
they had been stranded here
after a plane crash in the mountains of Alaska.
drawing strength from each other,
they had survived the summer,
but now autumn was approaching.
this rabbit skin
would be a valuable hat,
or something.
plus they needed the meat.
"get him, boy!"
said the boy, pointing at the rabbit.
the dog jumped up and down, licking his finger.
in horror, the boy watched as the rabbit hopped away.
"we're really in for it now!" said the boy.
"Sammy, time to come inside!" called mom.
"Augh mom! do I have to?"
he looked at his trusty companion
and knew
that deep inside him
were the seeds of a great hunter.

laughter at bath time

in her eyes
is the hope of a thousand nations
her message and her vision
have yet to take shape on her bubbling lips
as i wash her hair
the limitless riches of Christ's suffering
splash water on me
and fill the universe
and all of time
and continue out from there
this joy
who can ever know?

rejection

my cause is lost
i'm being dragged through the leaves by death in the night
away from you
forever
but you don't see because
you're laughing at someone's joke
you've forgotten me.

death

i didn't cry and i didn't care
because nobody cried or cared
when i died.

a kiss

i'd like to enjoy the taste
of your pain and sorrow, and all of your laughter,
together with you.