Poem of the Month: Always

Always
your listening face
coaxes me to cull
my cluttered mind,
to seek the corners,
ladle strayed words
that coincide
like fitted gowns
from a ransomed twin.

Always
your loitering hands
with gardener’s care
stipple my flesh
to lush buds
that hover and bloom,
tremble and spill
like orchids tipped
by jungle rains.

Always
your sheltering heart
saves my place,
remembers my name,
sheds its grace
like prairie seed
from full pockets,
reckoning not
what may return.

Always
my hungering soul
accepts your bounty
as a heedless child
wears summer’s heat
like second skin.
Here, then, I tell you:
I note the rife gifts,
harbor close the giver.

“Always” was published as part of the postcard project, Common Prayers, Los Angeles, CA, 2003.