100 days until
we meet again.
My eyes close as
Exquisite memories engulf me…
Your breath whispers against my cheek.
Your lips ghost along my jaw.
Anticipation pushes the air from my lungs.
They are tight, and I open my eyes to
Glance longingly over at the
Calendar on my desk.
100 days…
09-05-01
Patio
You build it together.
A new outdoor space for
Entertaining, play and peace.
You build it with sweat, aching backs
Even a little bit of blood and a few
Tears of Frustration.
When it is done, though, there is
Accomplishment,
Satisfaction,
and Exhaustion.
But that is not even the beginning.
As it turns out, you created so much more.
It is an oasis on a troubled day.
A fortress, ready with turrets and
A lookout post.
It is a spacecraft, hovering over
Strange people and worlds.
It is no longer a layer of bricks.
It is a time machine taking you to
Fascinating places filled with
Adventures just waiting to be explored.
This place, this simple patio, becomes
Solace and hope during a complicated time.
And as the smile on your son’s face brightens
With imagination, it lights up your world.
Then, when the storms roll in and
We scramble to put things away, and
The wind kicks up,
A patio it becomes again,
Until another day, when imagination reigns and
The possibilities take flight.
G. S. Skye
9 June 2020 (Draft)
In and out…
Your soft breath tickles my faces
As I lay here listening.
Each quiet breath a joy
In its simple necessity,
Just laying here in the dark.
In and out,
And with each breath
The love in my heart expands.
I lay here and marvel in it,
Take solace in it–
Find peace.
And you, my sweet boy,
All warm with sleep,
Just breathe.
GSS May 2020 – Draft
I am not ready.
Today when my child came home from school I turned off the TV and
The unending reports of scared children after yet another shooting.
He curled up on my lap and didn’t notice the sudden lack of news.
Instead, he hugged me tight and told me of his day.
He hugged me tight, not knowing how much I needed
His small yet strong little arms wrapped up in mine
His wonderful, animated face full of love and excitement.
He talked of future days in school
And I grasped that thread of hope and clung to it;
I clung so tight that I hugged him again and thought not for the
First time—
I am not ready.
I am not prepared to talk to this precious child
About the realities of life.
I am not yet able to formulate the words that
Someday will fray the edges of the safe blanket
He has wrapped around him, that school is safe.
School should be safe, dammit.
It should be a place where children can learn and grow and
Take flight with learning and imagination.
School should be safe.
I am not ready.
So I hugged him back.
14 November 2019
It’s a strange terrible world
Where the kids on the playground
Warn each other to be wary,
To hesitate
To not talk to you while your child is playing.
These children, still in single digits
Should not be so afraid of people on the playground
Should not worry so much
Or hesitate.
Our children should not need to be wary because my skin is a different color,
Because my hair is wrapped in a turban
Because you just can’t trust anyone anymore.
We’ve created a world where the instincts if children
Have been rendered inadequate
Have been considered less than necessary
Have been set aside because you might be wrong.
You might make a mistake.
I dread the day when my child
Learns that he has to be more careful
That he is privileged because his more colorful heritage is masked
By the Nordic looks he inherited from his father.
That, because we have raised him to be
Compassionate and Kind
Fair and Just
Above all else, based on who someone is…
I fear that he will find a day when
He has to defend that which he accepts unconditionally.
Friendship
Loyalty
Honor above all
Justice.
And yet, I see hope as he plays with others, bright charming smile
And the kids play with him.
And maybe, this world of hesitation and fear can heal.
Maybe, it all really does start on the Playground
6th March, 2019
Words are such a strange thing.
What is in a word that gives it
Such power…
How can one such thing hold
The meaning of a kiss
In its outreaching hand, just a breath
From your lips, and yet,
In the next moment, be once again
A simple word
Filled with innocent effervescence.
We wield words with abandon;
Tossing them about here and there
Giving them freely with little
Acknowledgement or even awareness of the
Consequences,
Repercussions,
Power,
That they can wield.
And as always more words to follow.
Want
Wield
Wait
Watch
Will
Wander
Wonder
Wish
Words.
G. S. Skye, 2006/2018
It was your birthday today…
Instead of grief
I celebrated;
Life,
Friendship…
Eternity in a grain of sand…
The flames of your hair cascaded through my hand.
Wherein this love my hope does lie
Within a child’s breath, sweet whisperers fly.
Grieve no less, yet, fear no more.
My heart allows a simple joy.
Such a friendship in childhood made
That even death does naught to fade.
It was your birthday, today,
As well as the day you died.
Yet, now I see,
As long as I live,
Breathe,
And Hope,
You are still alive in me.
It was ten years ago, today…
And yet, instead of grief,
When I raised my glass to you
I celebrated;
Life,
Friendship…
Eternity in a grain of sand…
Your laughter, your fierce friendship,
A choice of family, binding so many of us
Together even after you’ve gone.
Grieving gave way to healing time
Our hearts are allowed the simple joy
Of knowing the mark upon us you made
That even death didn’t fade.
So, as I drink this scotch, tonight,
And through the momentum of life
Your memory has remained vibrant within me.
We see that as long as we continue forward,
As long as I remember to
Live, Breathe and Hope
Within my heart friendship survives.
2009/2011
For ELN
I am here
Though you may not notice
Above the trees I soar
High within the clouds
Looking down upon the earth.
And so I guard you.
The wind lifts my wings,
I Coast down, my eyes closing
As I sniff the warm spring air.
Tilting my head, I come to land
My hooves clicking softly on the stone path.
Though you can not see me.
This glade is my home
Far beyond the veil of knowing
Into a land where my like reside
Mystic in our presence
Forgotten with time
And yet we both, in anticipation, wait.
Folding my wings along my back
I walk along the steams edge.
My silken mane falls forward
As I bend to drink;
Crystalline liquid there to quench my thirst.
And for a moment, I exist.
With a great bellow
I toss my head back and rear up.
Muscles stretch as I announce myself
To the world, knowing none could hear me
Yet wishing, just once, for some imagination.
And then, suddenly she, too, was there.
A wee thing.
Golden hair falling to waist
Smiling as she look directly at me.
Seeing me.
And enjoying the majesty of it.
A wee thing, smiling.
She clapped her hands for me.
Laughter floated toward me
Upon the breeze, spurning me forward
With great pride I raced on the wind
Wings spread as it lifted me up.
I danced in the sky as she watched me fly.
I am here
And so I guard you,
Though you can not see me,
And yet we both, in anticipation, wait.
And for a moment, I exist.
And then, suddenly, she, too, was there;
A wee thing, smiling.
I danced in the sky as she watched me fly
The same dance we’ve always had
In the morning and before going to bed
Each step mapping out a certain choice;
As the time draws near I lose my voice.
Where will we be months from now?
When you have found your new niche, tell me how
To form a different sort of connection, still.
Can you feel the gentle bending of my will?
Will you miss me when you’re gone?
Shall the season pass till it has been too long?
And when memory serves us bittersweet,
Will you fall away leaving us so very incomplete?
And yet, as the path of fate looms before me
I know the changes will bring to me,
Chances I might have never known.
But I still wonder, will you miss me when you’re gone?
2001
The warmth encompasses me and holds me close
Tight within the arms of awareness, and
Humbling in the sincerity of tenderness.
A candle flickers
Bringing within its light your gentleness.
The slight curve of your face,
The edge of your smile,
Draws me in
As you look down at me with sleepy eyes.
Within those eyes I see trust,
And faith in a self I am unsure of.
Yet it is there, that simple truth,
That absolute belief of someone, me,
To achieve a greatness I have only imagined.
Within your arms, the possiblities are endless…
And I can dream.
2009
