I Remember You

I remember you
The way you giggled in the tire swing
As I pushed you
I remember

I remember you
The way your skirts fluttered in the breeze
As I chased you
I remember

I remember you
The way you hesitated on the balcony
As I kissed you
I remember

I remember you
The way your breath came softly in sleep
As I held you
I remember

I remember you
The way you promised
To love me always
I remember

March 17, 2009

“Fire Dancing”"

The dancers rise to smear the sky
With light and color of fire bright.
A pit is dug at the scene of the ritual,
And a fire is kindled within its sphere.
The tiny flame thirsts for the fuel that it needs
From the pieces of driftwood and splinters of boards.
Slowly the flame fingers reach out and upward,
As they consume the fuel so tenderly added
By the five dancers whose faces are hidden.
A handful of dust and the fire leaps
With a thirst unmatched by the ravenous wolf;
A flare of light fills the midnight sky,
Then dies away as silence fills the air.
A dancer tiptoes toward the tongues
As eight dust-filled fists fan the flames to engulf
His legs—his chest—his arms—his head.
The fire lingers on him for a moment;
Then all is dark once more and quiet.
The one in the mask stands behind the others,
And chants the song of triumph and glory.

2006

“Drifts of Snow Petals”

Winds rage
and beat branches
against my window.

In the night
the first storm of spring
rips delicate flowers.

Tomorrow
I will walk
among drifts of snow
petals beneath the pear trees.

“The Last Domino”

The dominoes were standing there,
All shiny, black, and tall.
They did not understand the Thing,
That came to wreck them all.

No one saw when first they fell,
A group of three to five.
It took some time but soon they knew:
The Thing was quite alive.

It moved against them like the plague,
The weight too much to bear.
And as it traveled through their midst,
Too many ceased to care.

So the last of them began to fall,
Into the depth of death.
And the last one standing there gave up
His final gasp of breath.

“The Last Domino” is a poem I wrote in the 8th grade, reprinted here with minor edits.