even at the height of time,
there was always
an emptiness inside me.the day that i knew
that i loved you,
i felt a flicker of sadness
for the flowering
i knew always comes full, then fades..

and on that night,
the stars slept
in a blue-black darkness.

there was no moon to light the path
that you and i would take, spiraling
in slow circles--
coming closer to each other,
then going farther away.

(progression is always in spirals
and no one can return
to a pure beginning.)

one morning
i stood before
the injustices of love,
a hole burning in my heart,
holding the maps
that flowered freely in my hand
in the late afternoon light
when i wished i could be there with you.

silences became longer
like a tunnel of snow
the wind whistles through.
(as long as we had words,
we were kept alive to one another.)

i never wanted
to have to watch you
trudge up that hill
leading away from me

as the sun went down
like an old man
silently crossing the street