Another person is in a garden of splendor. Roses open themselves to the warm life-giving rays of the sun. He delights in their varied form, color and fragrance and wanders among them, with soft grass underfoot. Birds sing from branches of trees and their songs are sweet. Bees buzz from blossom to blossom busy with the work of collecting pollen to make their honey. The gentle play of air currents across his skin is like a sublime caress from an unseen hand.
One heart is elated, open, enchanted and confirmed. Another is stabbed to the quick.
A caterpillar will someday emerge as something almost entirely different—a butterfly. First it must die to its old form and be born again. In its cocoon, the caterpillar form disintegrates and from the primal ingredients another, very different creature is born. What a wonder to open its marvelous wings and stretch them out . . . to fly. To go from one that crawls and eats leaves to one that moves freely through the air and feeds on nectar. The butterfly might fly across a dark abyss. But it will not land there. It will find flowers.
Some poems from my past:
Perfumed Dawn
Someone said that
you are easily distracted by
butterfly wings and
the sound of trees.
They said you only speak
in the language of dreams.
I know the picture.
You are intoxicated from the
fragrance of a perfumed dawn.
That morning, the scent of a thousand roses
arose from the mist of your memory.
A sublime light filled
the corners of your mind.
You fell weeping on the floor.
Since then you have not been the same.
You wander streets, staring
into the faces of strangers as
if looking for a long-lost friend.
When a glimmer of recognition
is seen in someones eyes
you cry, and where
your tears fall, birds arise.
It seems there is nothing to do
to solve this madness. Sirens
are calling for you to drown
in a surreal sea.
Drowning
What world is this,
where I must learn to drown
or else be set on fire.
Those who do not discover the secret
risk going up in smoke.
Throw yourself in—
go to the bottom.
It is better not to resist.
Let water take you;
be like a fish
Soon you will feel at home.
Footprints in the Sand
Beautiful the dawn when you
danced along the shore
wearing pain
like a bracelet of bells.
Birds circled above—made a halo
around your head while waves
caressed your feet.
How many lovers
has the ocean drowned?
Wind and tides quickly
swept away your footprints,
Your hymn is in the hills.
All writing © 2004 -2018 Steven Boone
