Of Inadequacies...(revamped re-post)

From sometime this afternoon until after dark tonight I worked at burning a huge pile of branches gathered from winter storms.The mind travels differently after dark...

Night cannot unravel longing from need

Time cannot sever the hand from the deed

And mind cannot deftly dismantle with thought

Soul-stirring swansong of all that is not

Heartache and hunger and hope intertwine

Moonlight and memories meld; midnight-wine

Darling, the distance between have and hold

Trembles in fathoms beyond our control

Where word is the pilgrim that humbly implores

Searching an ocean of want for its shores

We’ve held in half-breaths life’s sweet, finite bliss

We’ve borne the heartache of its farewell kiss

We’ve stripped the silence and searched its dark vaunt

To glean from its tresses the echoes that taunt

We’ve held each other and danced; long and slow

Knowing sweet sorrow comes when we let go

Rising and falling, we've laughed, learned and wept

Touching thought-shadows while wiser men slept

And as all earth slumbered in sable repose

We wrestled numbers and yeses and nos

Darling, the stuff that weaves thought is enough

Ever the flip-side of longing is love

The flip-side of love is desire within

Ever unconquered in flesh-garbs of skin

So here in this moment wrapped blue in night-air

Love is a lion and love is a prayer

Bastion of passion and purposed belief

Bulwark of beautiful, beautiful grief

Dredge the deep, darling, for a lover's pain

Reminds us that we have not lived in vain

© Janet Martin