Every time 

    i pour coffee

         over grounds

i think of Cande.

 

We lived in a Chalet

    for a time

with simple comforts of

   Snow, Companionship, and Coffee.

 

The scent of fresh dark grounds

   wafts up from the pour over

next to the one you love

   and the beauty you see.

 

There is a discipline 

   to good coffee

Aroma, Expectation, Satiation 

   everything needed 

to celebrate love.

MURMURATION

 

The path of the Starling

Singular yet divided in flight,

   the swath they cut across the Sky

Demonstrate –

  The Dominion of Nature

         over Man.

 

Blackening the Sky

    As a Sheath unleashes

a thousand swords,

         to Judge

the crimes,

   and achievements

         of Man.

 

Devouring our fruits

   Dispensing Judgement —

         a thousand pricks of disease,

   as white specs of effluent

         on the ground.

 

Their powerful beaks

   break up the ground

         and suck out the life,

               within.

 

Starlings, they are our beauty to behold,

   as they soar and dance across the sky.

  A sea of black against a Crimson sky

         entertaining us

         and exacting us

         to a cost.

PROCEDURE

 

I made my choices long ago

To live by the heart.

 

Choices, opportunities and chances were gauged

by how they reflected, 

in my breast.

 

I tried intellect as a rule

but it was cruel. —

and lacked vision

for the truth.

 

I live in the heart

of my desires,

as seen through the prism

of my beliefs,

that we should do right 

at every chance

we get.

 

Have I sold myself short ?

Have I replaced cruelty 

with frustration 

of my station?

 

I don’t know.

 

Perhaps…

 

But I have always ruled

from the heart.

 

It has served me well.

 

you see..

 

We never know

    what we don’t know

‘till were told —

by experience, wisdom or hint.

 

We go through life blinded

   by knowledge

       we do not see.

 

Fate holds us, 

   giving us just enough information

to proceed —

    but not enough

to help us fail.

 

From the burden

the weight, of knowing more

than what is just around,

the corner.

The Act of Devotion

 

The difference between embracing Woman

and Sex

is thinner than you might realize.

As a Man

we see climax

as a completion.

Whereas it is just an event

to a woman.

 

The difference between embracing a woman

and Sex

is more layered than you might realize.

Sex is an act –

Devotion is The Act

of holding your woman

‘till at last 

she is at peace

and satiated.

 

Sex can be good

and it can be divine

But it is an act.

Holding your woman

‘till at last she releases

Is an act of devotion

to her very soul

And the redemption of yours.

 

I love sex

But I love my mate more.

Sex is an act.

Devotion is a sliver of your soul

You give to another

with zero expectation

of anything more,

and that –

in itself

Is the reward.

Moving

 

I remember this house

and what it meant to me.

Each corner has a memory

a scent of the past

and a reminder of the future 

to come.

 

Laden with the submerged aromas

of hope and regret

filtered through the blinds.

 

There is a bounce in my step

as I pack box after box

imagining the next hopeful future

to walk into.

 

A soft glove

of a Women long gone

brushes against my cheek

and I am struck

by memories

that cannot leave.

 

Paul J. Seaman

 

.