þú ert og það er von.

Winter tree, I saw you
shiver through the cold,
bleed your silver cuts
loose into the bark.

Winter tree, I saw you
through the distant mist
between the snow softly falling and
the hail that bruised the woods.

Winter tree, don't cry
I saw your tears run a river
I saw your fears knotted tight
--between the beauty and the death,
I saw you,
gasping for flight.

Winter tree, don't fade
though winter is grief
the promise is life.

Winter tree, have heart
though naked and raw
I saw you blossom
with the dew's fresh start

Winter tree, sing a lullaby
in desolate land;
your breath in the cold will
warm spring maidens fair
in the beauty of time due.


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I can't

The sadness shook the
rooms of her soul--
empty, dimmed, dry on those
heavy wooden floors.
There was an elegance fading
and around her face sang
darkness like a scarf.
Old Will sings a song;
she is young, but
her heart is weary with
the sighs of
a brother at war.
By these dying ivory doors
sat she, with
needle and thread on
her grandmother's chair.
Letters by the old crows lie
crumpled and stain'd with
the sweat of a man, his
voice alive in the pages:
he shouts, he cries, he tells of
stories of blood, of when he was lost.
But the sweetest tone is found
where the spaces meet the words
tucked beneath the creases...

"I love you"

The birds ache and flutter as
she cries her way home


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lost.

Father, I am but a fool
a shifting shadow in the tree
But You turn the pages of my book
just where they need to be
You lift Your breath from beneath the binding
--a fragrance sweetly rising
And this is what I am finding:
I am Yours.


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sink, swim

Today is cruel fate and
yesterday a thorn
but grace dawns on
the morrow, glimmering
like diamonds riding
the gentle ocean glass.
And our hearts
are like ravens
And our souls
are like boats
But our spirits
are wild as a song
and they keep rising past
the wound of the sunset
the poetry of trees
to push higher against
the wind, to
straddle the cosmos and
breathe the stars.
So to this ship
softly sinking and
their black-eyed sailors,
to their tales
gently dying and
heroes in arms:
keep sailing
keep rowing
keep speaking
keep on.
Let it die
let it die
let it die with a grace.
Let it move
let it breathe
but never
let
it
stop

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flower

Hold me close lest
the bees tickle my nose
for to them I am a flower, you see!
Let your warm breath melt the
ice within my eyes, for
I was tired of seeing, but
you breathe life into my sight.
Let your heart beat in mine and
my heart beat in yours,
for how fond am I to hear
the drumming of two souls!
Let the sunshine of your face
speak to the darkness of mine,
for darling, you glow.
Let the twigs in your hair grow
to branches—birth leaves!—bloom
white flowers full, and from here we'll
build a swing and watch
the stars of eternity

Excerpts from Letters II

...
My darling my dear,
you were the sunshine
that lightened my eyes
but night has fallen and
our hearts go down with the moon.

The knot in my throat tightens
like sailboats caught in stagnant tide
But why, dear one, Oh why?

Could I have saved you, darling, child?

Excerpts from Letters I

...
It's midnight and you sleep
It's midnight and the road roars
It's midnight and the sky sighs
It's midnight and the cabinets shake
You should have known better
And I...

But now the air escapes my lips
with muffled word and speechless eyes
Mama, I didn't want to see you cry
Papa, I didn't want to see you die inside
I didn't mean to
I didn't mean to

There is snow in my hair as
I leave for a cloud of fire
and the gates of heaven and hell