Without knowing why

Here I sit
without knowing why

gazing up
at the shimmering leaves

on the back yard wall
and wondering how

I came here at all
to this sad lovely instant

because you called

of course

because you call

One for Leonard

Last night I didn’t say my prayers
but whispered Leonard Cohen songs instead.

They bathed my heart
in sorrow’s deepest glow

until I knew I wasn’t on my own
and then I slept.

Tonight I’ll mutter every
prayer I know

and one for Leonard

and if they sang his songs
in church,

I’d go

just once for Leonard.

words said along the way

at the intersection

at night
through day

silent words
felt along an ancient way
before and behind each other word
I might think or say

through all the stations
of the day

words
no more in need of memory

my blister strip of pills
held like a rosary

ever with me
Lord grant mercy

the day slips by so fast
I wonder what the point is

so I fix a point
gather the day

breathe

pray

and soft falls
the wall clock

time ties
a slip knot

I pull back the curtains on the day
and find it has already gone

too late for yoga
meditation
qigong

I slip into the river
of the endless night
to find you no longer there

it is never too late
for prayer