in a garden of purple branches
white petals fall from a nameless tree
like snow in gentle fury

even when my sun’s gone cold
i look up to the clouds above
and remember my covenant with mystery

to love her with the weight of the ocean moving
to shower her with attention unconditionally
freestyling life
is there anything wrong with that?
managing the chaos
there’s beauty in the no
not getting what i thought i wanted
but perhaps it was only just a siren
drawing my ship into a sleepy, stormy bay
where i may dock for a week, a month, or merely
just a day
before headed once again
beyond the horizon of open sea
just to be going somewhere
my spirit moving
the trees glistening
everything must be okay
for the world to seem so beautiful

it’s complex and it’s not
i don’t know if i’m just mortally confused
or if it’s all so very simple
follow love and happiness
live like a wizard
exploring this world, this heart of light
and darkness; threads of reality unseen
weaving, weaving

and as i’m weaving sitting here
a kind old woman speaks to me
asks me what it is that furrows my brow
i say it doesn’t sound right when i say it aloud

the birds are chirping
beneath castles of white
spires reflecting sapphire light
what do i have to worry about?
my purpose, my path, financials and love?

what do these concerns demand
when there’s nothing on earth
the wisest of us can truly understand?

she said that it’s normal to feel out of sorts
but worry’s a thief masked as no choice
the most important of cards in the hand we’ve been dealt
look to the heart
the king of our health
take it from me, for time
lends me prescience
this is all just a dream made of
color and happenstance
whimsy and folly and darkness and light
look to the moon in the dead of
the night
when it’s quiet and cold
you can hear your heart beating
that’s all that is needed
to give your life meaning

i look to her eyes
in their emerald pools
i see my reflection
and feel like a fool
for handing my youth
so flippantly away
to chaos and pain
frustration and dismay

she notices my gaze
enlightening me thus
be afraid not of pain
don’t push away love

fret not when you feel lost
i’ve been where you sit now
my mind muddled with questions
the deepest furrow of my brow

looking back it wasn’t easy
but there’s nothing i would change
not a broken heart or too-soon death
nor the aches and pains that come with age
but if i only knew then
what wisdom i’ve found now
i’d put a hand on my heart
feeling nothing but proud

i’m at the end of my story
it was written all along
the meaning of my life
is simply passing on this song
let me tell you, lad —
happiness is never found
it’s chosen every day
must be given throne and crown

there will be setbacks
of course there’s pain
but life’s too short to not
go dancing in the rain

with that we shook hands and went on our way
i started running beneath the sun
until clouds rolled in i thought i was done
it started pouring
i laughed
kept on running without looking back
thunder roared, lightning struck, people hid
my shoes squelched in the mud
but my hair was tied back and the rain couldn’t harm me
the sun came out and once again dried me
the flowers cried tears of joy
hanging onto rain
as the rain hung onto them
the miracle of everything restored
my spirits once again