OR (a Poem)

OR

I sometimes wonder who is strongest:

those whose transparent hearts

throb in rhythm with every thought

passions paraded like petticoats

worn on the outside

sadness like cascades

spilling over rounded hills

or

those who long ago learned to staunch

the flow of blood

sit in waiting behind closed doors

and stiff smiles

smothering hope

that  someone, someday, will

pick the lock?

Then I wonder which takes more courage:

to learn, after being scalded once

by the fire

to avoid the kitchen

choosing to see deepest longing

as a lure –

the iced gingerbread that called

Hansel and Gretel

to their doom

or

To leap from one frying pan

to the next

wearing the pain

like medals

always facing the heat one more time

just one more time

to chase

a reward

like the greyhound chases the rabbit?

Willow Spirits (a Poem)

Warmth will fade and winds will blow

Then come ice and winter’s snow

In dormant sleep we lie below

Still, in the spring, our tendrils grow

 

Roads may end before they start

Cruelty’s arrow, Cupid’s dart

Pain to pierce the fragile heart

But we refuse to fall apart

 

Though rocks may fall and ground may quake

And tears will spill and hearts will ache

Our willow spirits rise, awake

To bow, to bend, but never break