Resting Place

Fairhaven Washington On Valentine's Day 2015

Chuckanut Drive
lured us North
around curves -
hugging rocks
on one side and
a high bluff beach
on the other.

Historic Fairhaven's
esplanade held  --
easily bearing
the weight of love
in the bright glare

of rare

winter sunshine.

A single girl on a double
bench watched two gray
heads bend together
laughing over the top
of their canes
while the couple
behind looked over her
shoulders oblivious
to the empty seat
next to her.

Pairs smiled
trios leaned
families laughed
singles jumped
couples lunched
pedalers flew
lovers held hands
and masters petted the
heads of the faithful
at the end of the leash.

Selkies in full view
shed their winter
skins and found
the bracing joy
of salty cold
waterplay again.

And someone chalked a heart
on the steel plate bolted
where the timbers joined.

All this captivated me --

but not as much as 

being with this man -- 

my best beloved, 

my friend. 

Happy Valentine's Day, my love. You are so beautiful… to me. Hear my voice crack on the high note? 

How To Grow A Heart

She picked up a rock
from the beach but
threw it back into
the surf because
it wasn't finished
yet.

I pocketed an
incomplete one
beginning to be
a heart and found
its twin close by --
completed.

I'm saving it for later
when she might need
a visual reminder.

Darling, see this?  This
is what surrender
and patience
produces.

Add One Button

I sewed four pillows
to spice up my new
couch with color
echoes.

When I added a large
button in the middle
they snapped from
homemade frumps
to designer accent
custom decor.

What To Keep

in the medicine
cabinet?

I want to hide
the remedies --
disguising the
the realities like
grandma did -
dressing up the
toilet tissue roll
in a crocheted jacket
and matching
flower hat.

But I let curious
snoopers in on the fact --
I have problems like
dry eyes and bulging tissues
throbbing inconveniently
in unmentionable
places along with every
other kind of pain

like their own. Maybe
we can swap war stories
and compare cures
for the best brand
of balm to heal it.