Reader in the Mountains

Brilliant smiles Fairy lights  A burning candle  A glass of wine  Hand on her waist Head on his shoulder Glee and gaiety Someone turning older  An undated polaroid Hidden amidst pages  Laughter boxed in As the paper ages Unsought reminders Of frozen words  Hanging ominous Halos and hurt A dead messenger Polaroid torn Steps don't move forward With a backward moon

 The road on the left rides back to my city The trail on the right dashes towards the unseen My feet dangling towards the foot of the cliff My eyes floating towards the sky ahead Strange is the crossroad I find myself on Some see crisis; I see a precipice

 To all the little boys and girls Who live inside the men and women Who have been told that fairy tales Are better shut inside books To all the pompous old sages With wisdom ebbing through their eyes Who draw the stringent lines around Who raptly check our erring foot It's more than what we see; this life It's vaster than the walls we build Take a breath, and drop the cloak It's beautiful outside; come, take a look

 They say hope flies on the wings of a white paper crane So I set out to fold a thousand Edge meets edge Corners kiss corners  The white of the front  Is the same as that of the back, did you know? They say hope flies on the wings of a white paper crane  I hum this tune while I fold The notes get trapped Inside the crevices The wings of the crane, now fluttering to the tune They say hope flies on the wings of a white paper crane I saw it drizzling from the sky A cocktail of my music And the words of my heart  I watched as it soared far over the horizon They say hope flies on the wings of a white paper crane  So on a rainy evening I leapt for paper  My heart pounding I folded faster  And the familiar tune came rushing back, like it had never left They say hope flies on the wings of a white paper crane  And I know it to be true  That crane is yours to make The music is yours to ingrain Hope flies on the wings of your own paper crane 

  It's the sweetest butter Almost melting as it slicks your tongue The red daubed on your lips The body soft, your finger slips The plush chunk, the devouring The gluttony is overpowering Tell me honey, does your heart ache? And I thought we were talking about the cake!

 Four little paws Tapping on a locked door Two true blue eyes Looking at me across the glass You can close up all you want, he says I'll wiggle my way in The world may let you sleep away I'll love you awake, he says Four little paws  Scratching on the layers of dust The tail wagging endlessly "I was waiting for you"  There's a bud now, where a seed was planted There's a river starting to flow  The sunflower of my heart A thousand sparkles, Chiyo

 Where would you want to go, if you could go anywhere Where would you want to fly, on a plane that's all yours  There's a ticket fluttering in your hand, look at what it says Does it sweep you into the future; does it roll back to the days of yore What would you want to say, if you could say anything What would you like to write; a poem? A letter? Would you tell them you were hurting? The secrets you kept all along? Close your eyes, hear. Do your words make anything better? Whose dagger would you not remove from your back? Who would you let go of, if you could do it without pain? There were people who left in agony; there were friends who betrayed trust Feel your heartbeat, listen. Is there a lesson you would rather not learn? The ticket is yours to tear, the poem yours to write The letter yours to let go, the dagger yours to fight Time will keep rolling, child; it keeps ticking away its life But the lessons are all yours to learn; the story is all yours to keep