April – breezy and demure – Make yourself at home. I’ve kept some tea warm. Here is a seat of nature— A trunk on which to sit.

To a stranger who has died Money is nontransferable— That the Egyptians tried— The kings – they’re unconsolable – But I know of things that follow:

Good morning, fair cardinal— How are you? How are your children? Your plumage is nearly outdone By the sun’s golden hue.

When pillars fail When walls break My angel can bear The unknown weight. If darkness prevails

When long days drag on me And my soul cries in the dark Then I speak my prayer in sleight And He slips it into my jar. Prithee – give it wings to fly up

The treetop glimmers outside my wi… As light, dancing upon the leaves— Shimmers off each leaf in soft yel… From afar, my attention is retriev… By light, pure and perfectly aglow…

Among hills Apache red Where damas and vaqueros Built up a homestead Past the mercados And hills with a vague past

Tarry with me tonight My dear firelight! Your precious warmth be My solitary company. It’s my plush blanket

Love is many, Water is many And flows aplenty But Fire is one And consumes until gone All but purity.

Let us drink in the sunshine From a cup of globe mallow As would one of palatine Privilege beside God’s throne. Here’s to another springtime.

Come, graceful brittlebush And creamy globe mallow blooms. The winds of spring call you Again from the sandy tombs. Come, you dashing lupine

Star of wonder, star of power Bluest of steel blue It shines at the midnight hour. More wondrous than Regulus Its eight points burst forth

Happy eyes need not the sun For they, like yours, have a light… A cutting light the demons shun That confesses to a kind, ageless… Brown upon brown, they draw me in;

I was smote by words As a soldier with bullets ‘Til I harnessed their power And they slight retreated lest I would fire back