Author: Elizabeth Maynard

We age quick and slow
this moment tumbling into
that eternity

Lay down here
head on pillow
hand on hand on heart
breath gentles
fear dissolves
hand on hand on heart

You held the door
called me baby
and if only I loved women
I would dissolve in your warmth

Let me return to that moment
when I believed you might love me
enough to wake every morning
and begin each thing you
promised

Among our animal friends
some grieving mothers
carry breathless babies for days
hoping to will them into life
until they can bear the wound
let the weight of loss
gently put them down

From above the earth
finding home is as easy
as longing blueward

Listen when I say
goodness overflowing now
overtakes your heart

I am tired and want to be home
laughing with you at the table
we set each night
and the meal plucked
from your garden
the mist that rolled in after dark
then left again at sunrise
and more than that the certainty
that I would always belong to you

Five thousand spines stand
to keep you safe when menaced
but make loving hard

Wear a pretty dress
shoes with tiny bows
twirl a moment in the mirror
eyes a-twinkle
Remember the dream
of a life ecstatic