A Love Song For Louise

Say to me
any of the thousand
secrets we keep from
one another
and you run the risk
of tearing at the seams,
the stitching of this
patchwork soul
I keep locked away
behind a chest of
thick, dark hair.

***

Run your skin along the strings
of your father's
violin and rub the dust
together with your
finger and your thumb,
rolling it into little clumps
of memory.

***

We will sing ourselves
into existence again,
and again,
when we feel lost
like we've done before
because we possess
a strange strength of
spirit and
what you could
call fortitude.
Compass or not
we find the right
way to go,
typically West.

***

I would bring you
the moon
if only I had longer
arms
and I didn't fall asleep
so damn early.