Once

Once I was almost

afraid to look into your eyes

your sageless pages

your habits and the age

that brought you here

so wrinkled gray

so utterly missing

the apple orchard's farewell

the grain of stone

now liquid calm

yawing in a fallen morning

more storms with cake

look small in the arbitrary

flowers

flattering the darling days in monochrome

moonlight footprints the smallest world

in the world

on the way to town

the frightened window

favors the poet

a clock in a box

without boots

I am almost afraid to start talking

slowly rising

I can't see movement or rain

or the night's roots long cold walk

into the light

where is my native land?

my hummingbird nest?

my black and white chessboard

the game’s delight?

slave to the dance

to Sundays

and the abandoned lighthouse

by the sunken garden of the sea

once upon a time

once my once

and only

*