Star Struck

As a teenager, I lived in Puerto Rico. Our little house on top of a hill offered an amazing view of valleys, ocean and, of course, sky.

Star Struck

(in Borinquen)

I was fourteen, and the Southern Cross overhead

was my guardian, ally, and only friend.

I knew no others in the dark-bright sky

on that faraway island,

floating between heaven and sea.

 

Orion pranced away, far over the horizon

to my north; out of sight, if not memory.

Ursa Major flirted with me

along the palm-shadowed beaches.

The moon hung low, a lonely pearl between my life and me.

 

This sky, this island, this age

were a hopeless jumble of longings.

The Milky Way was a sea of tears, like me.

Unnamed yearnings wrung my heart dry.

I could not know the constellations that lay on my own far horizons.

Tonight The Moon Is Full

 

 

Tonight the moon is full and brilliant in the black sky…a perfectly round pearl

hanging from a necklace in the heavens.

 

The air is warm…is moist…and wraps around me like a hush from your lips…

like your kiss…impressed upon my heart…forever sweet, like ripe red berries

melting in my mouth…the sugar covering my tongue with its own joy…

 

Oh what joy!  I taste you and smile.

Liturgy

 

 

 

We were a ritual unspoken…like the sea to the moon,

unquestioning tide.

 

Ancient rites…our bloodlines murky, connected

by eclipsed passion.

 

We were a ritual unspoken…a dark dance to another

kind of love…

 

Sacrificial lambs.

 

 

KHB

Where Are You Now?

I suspect all mothers (and many adult children) experience the disconnect I wrote about in this poem. Our kids grow up, move away and get involved with their new lives.

Where Are You Now?

 

You turned off the light

when you closed the door behind you.

I shut my eyes as you said

you would not be coming back.

 

My mother-heart knew you had to fly.

You were that age, after all.

I just hoped you wouldn’t fly too near the sun

and fall, beyond my reach.

 

And you flew and made your life.

Our paths cross, of course,

and I joyfully embrace you when we meet.

You have always been my sunshine.

 

But I am tired of waiting and wondering.

And I am tired of not hearing you sing your song of life.

I am lonely with my memories

of how things used to be, between us.

 

What a sweet little girl! I adored you then; I adore you still,

even though you are grown with children of your own.

I remember laughing with you, consoling you,

offering what guidance I had to offer with my mother-love.

 

You do this now with your own.

And that’s the way it’s meant to be.

The circle of life, however, is hardest

when it’s broken because one leaves.

 

Where did you go? It has been a lifetime

since you opened the door and let me in.

It’s been hard to sit in the dark, alone,

And wonder how you are.

 

I hope you are happy.

I hope you are safe.

I hope you think of me

from time to time, with love.

Stars

There were stars that flew from our love….they landed on my shoulders….they glowed from your

eyes….I kissed them from your lips….stars everywhere like fireworks inside my heart.

They were real, weren’t they? I ask……I ask with a handful of hope for the answer my heart prays to hear.

Yes my love, you answered…there were stars….and they burned thru the universe…they left

a path of star dust that settled like new fallen snow on a hillside….they sparkle with the reflection of our love…

Yes my love, you answered….there were stars.

KHB

Conviction

Sometimes we find ourselves in emotional places we never thought we would be.  We  

  struggle with our feelings and the right and wrong of it all….and sometimes we never

  find the answer.

The two little girls, all pink and pretty, nestle in your daddy arms.

                     You hold them safely, protecting them…..and you smile.

  A picture…a moment in time…and I am covered in shame for wanting you….

                                          despite what I see.

  I am full of remorse but am drawn to your heat…to your touch.  Your heart

                       beats against my chest when we make love and I hold you close to feel the

                                         vibration penetrate my being.

  I am delinquent and reprehensible….I am culpable and full of sin….and brimming over

                        with my love for you…hot and shimmering in the morning sun…. all for you……

                         and you……are in a picture with two little girls, all pink and pretty, and

                                          safe in your daddy arms.

 

   Kathy Branton