My sweet Bradley
Take your heart
From your sleeve
And tuck it
Away back in
Your chest saving
And keeping it
Safe for another
It’s difficult to
Unpin hearts from
Sleeves but hearts
On sleeves prompt
The feeding frenzies
Of desperate carnivores
Hunting the weak
Squirrel it away
Keep it safely
And let those
Hungry for anyone
Starve to death
And like a
Lagoon at rest
After a deluge
Long after the
Thunderous storming cacophony
Of unexpected change
Blows on past
Most everything once
Again dips drops
And finally dies
Decomposing down below
At the bottom
Allowing newness to
Float clearly above
And in clarity
Bright things seen
Swimming and shimmering
Darting and dancing
While the past
Settles down at
Long long last
How does a
Dog not hear
The call of
It’s master or
The leaves not
Feel the wind
Or the sand
Not feel the
Incessant pounding surf
Or the daffodil
The chill of
Frost and yet
You suppose I
Am supposed to
Not miss you
When wherever I
Am you are
Except right here
And here and
Yes over there
And with my
Eyes I spy
A new day
Breaking out there
Not yet here
Canopy of clouds
Like London umbrellas
Growling and muttering
Hovering above churning
Seas washing the
Bleached beached sand
In sudsy foam
Depositing sea shells
At my feet
Which sink quickly
Like hasty relationships
And yet there
Beyond my reach
Dawn breaks through
Like a Chinese
Dragon on NewYears
Exploding bleeding red
For a moment
Then quietly gone
Just like yesterday
I do recall
One late summer
Night when the
Moon was full
And cast eerily
On Carter’s pond
Making your ripples
Dance like slowed
Almost still fireflies
As you swam
Silently except for
The jump of
A fish disturbed
Dipping my toes
Into that twilight
Feeling the tingle
Of cool water
Sending shivers upward
And wanting to
But daring not
To undress myself
And swim with
You fearing not
You but I
For you I
Knew but me
I did not
Then know me
There with you
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 