ToDo

“to be dead and mad was to be blind”*

to dare ignore dreams is to risk a soul’s surprise
to darken doorways without light
to call too quiet for her ears
to wish a moment
to wait for its truth

to find toys once discarded
to play too briefly to exhaust
to kiss not gently
to feel the biting behind your eyes
to love, to worry, to offer hope’s help

to see her wondering when
to feel her practicing patience’s solitude
to shelter that smoldering ember of joy
to fan it with breath and better words
to say “glow” and see light

a self wandering basket is life
carried by one’s crooked elbow through forested fairytale
to a picnic in the sunny afternoon of decades
filled with toasts, smiling tears, fearful laughter
with love’s company,
with knowing, questing, guessing,
with you



____________________
*Wolfe, Return to the Whorl