I’m leaning against the windows in terminal C at the Phoenix airport. The morning sun is pouring in and I can feel it’s warmth against my skin. It’s a little too warm, I begin to sweat. I don’t care. After a cold Chicago winter I feel like I need the sun. I feel it push past the physical boundaries of my body. That spark within me, the one that has been dimmed for far too long, begins to flare up. My soul begins to come alive.
Poetry – 500 Words a Day – Day 14
I wrote these a little over a year ago. Then I kept on changing and refining them, trying to get the words just right. I don’t know if that will ever happen, or if they will always be a work in progress. As I was driving home from dinner with my son tonight, I saw the moon rising in the distance, in all her luminous beauty and I was reminded of them. I’ve often thought about putting them out for the world to see, but the timing never seemed right. I did turn one into a spoken word at an open mic one night. It was easy because there was no one there who knew me. Well, not easy, but easier. Here you go.
Sunrise
It was just normal day. I never expected her to walk into that studio, into my life.
We were thrown together right away, so we had to interact, to talk.
Otherwise I could never have approached her, I’m too shy, too introverted.
I would continue to bump into her from time-to-time, never consistently.
During one of these chance encounters I looked at her from across the room, and saw her looking at me.
She smiled.
Her smile lit up the room. It was like watching the sunrise.
No. It was like watching every sunrise I’ve ever had the privilege to see, all at once.
All the pinks, oranges and yellows pushing back the darkness and playing among the clouds.
Her smile shown on me, and it made my world a little brighter.
I told a friend about her, and was encouraged to ask her out.
My response was to laugh and say, “No, you don’t date the sun, you just admire it from afar.”
This woman is not for me. I know this.
Truthfully, her beauty, her life, her light, scare me a bit.
You see, I’ve been burned in the past. It makes me want to turn my face away from her light, away from love.
And yet I have hope.
Hope that someday, somehow, we can be together. That I dare reach out towards her beautiful light and, perhaps, one day, even be the reason she smiles.
If that were to happen, my heart would join with the birds and sing every morning.
But until then, I will be content for that next chance encounter.
To see her smile one more time.
And watch the sunrise.
Sun & Moon
“Why do you love me?” she asked, in a demure voice.
This was my reply;
“For years I found myself chasing the sun, for the sun shines brightly and warms all who come in contact with her. As she hangs in the sky, her presence can’t be missed.
But you are not the sun, you are the moon. No less beautiful than the sun, but infinitely more graceful. Shrouded in mystery, you could know her for years and still not know all her secrets. You have to look for the moon, or you may miss her. She has many phases and moods, but she is always steady, always loving. There is a subtleness to the moon. Many are often not aware of her, and yet her simple presence moves the tides.
She is powerful, the moon is, yet unaware of how powerful she can be. Beauty. Grace. Love. Joy. These are the attributes I see in the moon, the attributes I see in you. This is why I love you.”