when she speaks

my heart sings, yet sometimes
weeps for the dawning truth
of the life she has lived
giving generously of gracious
her, enduring so much the ills
thrust upon her by selfish others

when she speaks

my spirit playfully laughs
mapping out moments of
sheerest joy that gleefully toy
with the bounds of feeling,
peeling away layer by layers
the loss, uncertainty and mere age

tonight I will sleep embraced
by memories of her and awaken
desperate my love to meet again,
I will sigh at the memory of her
every crimson touch, and will melt
as her fears dissolve in our heat

I listen and rise, soaring gently
over mountains, ascending flesh
in flesh as we flow with the sea,
tasting oceans of merriment and hope
despite the ignorance I had dwelt within
naïvely thinking my life to be done

when she speaks, I know so surely
that this world is ours to compose
with every breath she inspires in me
when she speaks, I discover truth
in the tiniest drop of sun that alights
on the wing of the smallest ladybird

Salt Lake City 11 June 2022

Image by Nimrod Oren from Pixabay