September

The Summer sun is hot and bright,

The sky a cloudless blue

But this warm breeze blows cold on me,

In August without you

I miss the days I had with you,

But how the time has flown

Now I’m alone this Summer day,

And you’re somewhere unknown

I held your hand when June began,

It never felt so right

As when we kissed beneath the stars,

One rainy July night

Those happy days, a golden haze,

Were far too short for some

It was as if you fell away,

As soon as you had come

Your Summertime has ended and,

My August still goes on

But whether it is over soon,

Or goes on far too long

I’ll meet you in September,

When days turn short and cold

I’ll see you there when trees grow bare,

And leaves turn brightest gold

I’ll see you then, at August’s end,

When all my summer’s done

The wind may roar, but cold no more,

With thoughts of you to come

I’ll meet you in September,

When all the flowers die

And the song of our love story,

Turns to a lullaby

But while the sun shines high above,

And I have life to go

I’ll revel in this season’s heart,

For at the end I know

The clouds will come; the wind will blow

These Summer months away

And I’ll wake up and see you there,

On that September day

I’ll meet you in September

The Box

The coffin black is born along

Through ranks of downturned heads

While all is silent through the crowd

No more words can be said

I watch through eyes that for so young,

Have seen so many tears

As they have watched her fall from sight,

The love of all my years

Somehow this box contains in it,

A world that was mine

A planet closed in wood and paint,

That will decay in time

With loving care beneath the grass,

My only love is laid

And I wait silently until,

The last respects are paid

Now all alone beside her grave,

I watch her resting place

And think again of her when I,

Could still caress her face

I always knew just one moment,

With her was time well spent

But I wish that I knew back then

Just how fast that time went

As I look down at her dark box,

I hold in one hand tight,

Another box of velvet black,

For when the time was right

But that time passed along with her,

And she will never see

The ring in it I would have used

To have her marry me

With no one there to see it done,

I leave within the hole

An unadorned, unopened box,

That holds my heart and soul

The Well and the Ray

Sitting there, I don’t know where,

A place that’s purest black

Lying here tied up with fear

I can’t see front or back

The darkest place, an empty space

Bereft of sound or light

The walls are steep, too high to leap

A prison far from sight

The sides are sheer, and far too near

Around me like a cell

As if I’ve been trapped tight within

A shadow watered well

A hopeless fear, resides in here,

Built into this dark place

While black despair, has found its lair

Beneath my weeping face

My cage is built with stones of guilt,

Cemented by my crimes

The walls are strong, held up with wrongs

From all my darkest times

While wild shame, too fierce to tame,

Has built the walls too high

And heavy hate has sealed my fate

To keep me where I lie

My memories, like nocturne seeds,

Grow high up from the floor

And ev’ry leaf is sharp edged grief,

That cuts me to my core

Remembered wrongs are pricking prongs,

Whose poison holds me fast

A grief-struck tree that’s grown ‘round me

Here where no light is cast

My darkest fears, my bitt’rest tears,

Surround me like an ocean

All my worst sins, trap me within

The well of my emotions

As I lie there, I now know where

I gaze into the black

When suddenly, something, I see

Is gazing softly back

A single beam, of diamond gleam,

Far sweeter than a choir

It sheds bright light upon my plight,

Like sudden kindling fire

Through darkest hate and long lost faith,

This beam cuts like a knife

Warm sunlight fare, it warms my hair,

A gleam of far off life

I know not where its golden glare,

Comes to my self-made hell

If it’s of me, or something free,

Above this shadow well

A piece of soul, still somehow whole,

A waking, bright intrusion

Impossibly, it shines on me,

A ray of absolution

The grieving fronds, my poisoned bonds,

Unwind from ‘round my hands

And raising one, I feel the sun,

From far off, better lands

I grit my teeth; I gain my feet,

The dark still holds me tight

Through all this pain, I do not wane,

As I look to the light