i have entered fearless into grief
as into a garden of flowers in bloom.
i believe that in my heart i will always find beauty
even as thorns rake my laid-bare body.

afternoon light can slant like a knife
or soften like a caress. i will not let
the distance between us
blacken the way in which you love me

life always leaves something unfinished,
mistakes and failures pulse in us
even as bright moments resonate with joy.
there are nights when i breathe with your breath

and my dreams seem to come
from the city where you're sleeping.
grief, like a mordant, attaches
pain to my nerves, even as it
gives deep color to my love.

my heart is a charred house
where the years are transformed.
silence takes the shape of its container--
to live at all is to grieve, make mistakes,
and feel transcendental moments of soaring joy

in the ever-shifting light of having known you