A September Rain

It fell -

Relentless.

Soaking.

Pitiless.

It drenched my clothes and hair

and filled my shoes.

Once inside my car

it obscured my view

and resounded like

the myriad faults and excuses and fears

that encroached,

swamped,

and threatened to lift roots up

from depth and strength

and bring down

oak firm security

with a towering crash.

But as I listened -

and waited -

I realized that the deluge

was from Him.

Complete.

Healing.

Filling.

Merciful.

Satisfying.

Compassionate.

At the end,

when the rainbow

emerged,

and shimmered across the sky,

and I stood recovered -

I found myself filled with thankfulness

that He remembers

the small defenseless creature

that is

me.

Shawnee Recalled

Crossing the road

is always

more difficult

than just gazing down

its limits.

A storm pelts the horizon’s rim,

(I can see the lightning

from here.)

and a remote windchime is carried

to my tingling ears.

Somewhere in this world -

when my singular, precious

time with you was over -

you were led

(probably not with docile steps)

to sheltered moonlit stalls,

where your blue eyes

would peer from the darkness

like sparks

in a furnace.

How often did I laugh,

or just peer cautiously…

wonderingly…

into their icy-white-blue

abyss?

Your coal-black mane

in tangled, hopeless snarls

upon your neck,

soaked up many a tear

and kept me in balance

on many bareback rides -

slipping under wind-stroked

sun-washed

sweet-scented Carolina pines.

No other creature

reacted as you did -

with as much fervor

or head-tossed retaliation to life.

I long stretch my fingers out

to touch you -

to wrap my arms in abandon

around your supple, burnished neck.

I miss those moments

when I knew you were mine.

Shawnee,...

And it seems so long ago.