Defender

Take down your eagerness
To please - to be sensitive
Put up your forcefield
Build up your fences.
Take down the temptress
Of temper and just live
Breathe and believe
That you can defend this.
Who will stand up for him
If it's not you?
Isn't it the least
A person can do?

Awake to Dreaming

If only
I could dream you
Back
Into existence.
If only
I could conjure you
Simply by
Putting your name
Out into
The universe.
If only,
By doing
This very thing,
You could return
Here.
If only we could
See you,
Hear you,
Touch you,
Love you...
If only you could
Be you
Here
With us again...
In the meantime
I will dream of you...
In the meantime
I will conjure
Dancing
And rainbows...
And in the meantime
I will know
That you are
Where you are
Supposed to be.
Even and if only -
For now and too soon -
I will speak your name.
I will remember you.

Peanut

Nothing more
Exciting
Than a new
Little life
To look
Forward
To.
New little feet
And new little
Hands.
A new
Little
Person
To love
And to
Get
To know.

Unexpected Beauty

Even in
The midst of
So much darkness,
Beauty
Surrounds me.
It comes in
Various
Shapes and sizes
Like
My dad,
Like
Three
Amazing
Kids
That I
Was blessed
To care for
If only
For a time.
Sometimes
Beauty
Looks like
An unexpected
Visit.
Sometimes
It looks
Like a smile.
Sometimes,
It takes the
Shape of
An atomic
Turkey.
And sometimes
It is stopping
To listen
And pausing
To realize
That even
Amidst the pain,
Life
Looks pretty
Great.

Difference in Presence

Never too many
Only too few
We counted
The days
Now
We count them
Anew.
So let's turn
In circles
With heads
Held up high
Observing
And dreaming
Your home
In the sky.
So let's dance
In the footprints
You left behind
With joy
And with hope
We'll shine
As you shined.
So, wake with
The morning
As you, and
As we -
We'll look up
And see you -
You're still here
It seems.