If I had
A talk with
A younger me
I would say
Love often not
Worrying about
It’s return for
When it’s given
It renews in
You don’t worry
About success it’s
Fleeting and assigned
Focus instead on
Failing as often
As possible for
In that you
Grow and keep
Your word for
To be a
Man one must
Speak truthfully and
Always with conviction
Alone I was
The last to
Leap from limb
Shaking in late
October’s winds shivering
Not from cold
But from newness
Soon I’d no
Longer be a
Part but apart
Of what I’d
Known suddenly it
Came a burst
Of wind sending
Me down down
Further down until
I landed softly
In your lap
Now becoming your
Fall
Oh and whew
We still dance
The dances bobbing
About each other
Like ice cubes
In a glass
Bumping and scraping
Jostling and dunking
Like checkers jumping
Over each other
Triumphant like snowflakes
Leaping from different
Clouds but falling
Softly slowly together
A field of
Wildflowers is a
Beautiful sight all
Moving in unison
With the wind
Until someone picks
A few for
A bouquet on
A table top
Now that one
Of many becomes
A One of
Few brightening up
A room or
A person I
Feel as though
I’ve been picked
By you and
Now became a
Thing of beauty
Just for you
And far off
Behind the tree
Line Canadian geese
Honk preparing for
Flight now they
Approach like Mardi
Gras revelers in
Strategic formation swooping
Like Heaven’s angels
At the rapture
Now past everything
Returns to quiet
This Charlotte morn
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 