THE SHAMAN'S CIRCLE

A year ago I wrote to a Pueblo Shaman about you.

I asked the Shaman

why you died

He said you went

so another could enter

my life, my love

I am waiting with tears

with outstretched hands

I open my heart

expanding the circle

Ever present and changing

Just how many are needed?

When is the circle full?

It is ever turning,

ever mine

LINT

Another cold morning and you sit on my throat

you see my breath as I hide in my coat

Last night's dreams are like lint in my pocket

Soft and ghostly as the image in my locket

Dreary days gray and blue slip between sighs

soon another birthday comes and another milestone dies

In my dream you smiled your love as wide as the sky

I sheltered you in my arms while asking you, "Why?"

In your eyes, in your eyes, the sweetness of youth

tempered only by cries of persistence and truth

Though today I am cold in my pocket I find

love conquering death in my heart and my mind

UNTIL WE DIE

Where I do all of my thinking.