Things to say at a Wedding

I'd always felt alone.
Like that legend of twin souls,
split into two at birth,
and destined to spend eternity
wandering the earth searching
for the lost half.

You don't know this,
but at night, when you're asleep,
I sometimes slide my arm around you
and rest my hand inside yours.

Even in sleep, your fingers
close immediately over mine,
like the Palmar grasp of a newborn.
Your love enfolds me in a fleece blanket.
I cuddle in and feel safe, and so loved.

I promise to love you,
to place no other above you,
and to cherish your soul
for the spark of divine
that it is.

After the Blizzard

The cabbage tree next door
looks like the Star of Bethlehem this morning,
suspended above the fence.

If the Christ-child is out there somewhere
waiting for three wise men to show up,
the poor little mite will be frozen.

Wildflowers

One of the flowers is like a tiny white bird,
so perfectly formed, almost enough
to push despair from me.

Night Lights

It's 3.30 am
and my brain just won't shut up.

'Look at this, look here!'
it cries excitedly,

dancing around a big pile of
'things to do.'

Or what about this?
Pointing to
'ideas for lesson plans.'

Now it's in a closet
pulling out Aunt Daisy's
big floral hat,

and my red gumboots
from when I was six.

'Come ooonnn, play with me'
it wheedles,
dangling a poem.

I fumble in the dark
for pen and paper
and the tiny $5 bedside clock,

bought in a LuckyOK shop,
that has the tiny light inside.