Marks

An offering here in my winter coat
Touch my face and point me home
The ropes of time tangle the threads of hope
Where I throw my birds, dare I watch them go
I think I’ll come apart, how deep they leave their mark
Like the leaves of the shady tree
Wishes turn down inside of me
And wake me here on this foreign shore
Trembling that I run so far
Before a boat departs, how deep it leaves its mark
Let me speak what your heart can see
Roll and gather and open me
In my whispering and my crying out
Like dancers turning in light and dark
Here on my weighted heart, how deep they leave their mark
And here in my winter coat
How you pretend there’s something that you don’t know
In the stillness down where a blackbird sings
Its song of nothing and everything
The counting stops and starts. How deep it leaves its mark