Merry-go-round

I knew things years ago
in ways long since forgotten
that I was dearly loved,
and summers' caressing breeze
whispers your name to my lips
while toying with my hair
recalling your absent touch.
 Is it now?  Is it now?
It has been forever
and still I wonder how
a twilight existence of ephemeral shadow
became a grim reality.
Assuredly,
my past does come to call and ride
the merry-go-round of my mind
taking but a moment
to engulf my present
and make it less a gift.

Memories

I

In many mornings'

        waking reverie

the soft fall

of your bare feet

        padding closer

was the messenger

come within my heart,

calling in secret

II

Not long before the dawn
I rose to watch you sleeping,
not knowing 'twas my intent
to bask in the holiness that covered you,
and there staying at your side
'til your waking fingers slipped around mine,
sleepy-soft eyes fluttering
to revive mornings' kiss
and greeting, "Daddy."

III

My un-poetic imaginings
recall her staring into another's eyes
as we had peered to depth
in our beautiful eyes,
and I drank the lees of her wine. . .

IV

I had to dissect a live frog once,
and knowing what to expect
was nonplussed to find
a beating heart inside.
Would that I had such skill
in navigating life and love
where there exist
no anatomical charts.

V
Soft, fair-pale skin,
tender searching hands,
hair dripping from mornings' shower
     traces across my waking chest,
those morning glory memories
go now weeping away.