Grace Cavalieri
HEART MISSION
It wasn’t so much that you were hurt
–and who among us is not hurt–
It’s more that you had no one to tell,
I’m listening and
If loneliness still fits, wear it, let it cling,
If not, discard that jacket
And let me hold its warmth inside
Along with your forgotten treasures.
The muse chases all we love,
Didn’t you know
It’s a fountain of light
Where you burrow like a spy
Yet is always where we know you best.
Someday we’ll find what was never seen,
—–not by the book left open
—or the candle burned
— the bell rung
But some song between us
Where people construct memories
Before the dream is done.
So sit with me
While bread and tea are warm
For what would be the wonder
If we didn’t touch at all–
There would be no stars allowed
And didn’t I tell you, Hope is itself a star.
THE GOOD MARRIAGE
I said I’d always wanted to be at the water’s edge
when dawn first lit the pink lake
so I could do Tai Chi in adagio
and chant with the world when birds were first waking
where grass would be wet with air between day and night
and there was this man I spoke to who set the alarm for 4 30 AM
not just to placate but to please
and hastened to fill the thermos with tea
and drove with me to witness the breath of beginning
while light was paused before fully lifting
and I’d always wanted to be at the water’s edge
and I remember there was plenty of honey in the tea
and we witnessed the unfolding bouquet
a morning without velocity or dynamics or anything grand
and that was one of the good times.
