—from All the Way Through
You’re painting rain
into this dazzling day.
Don’t worry, your secret
is safe with me, cuisle mo chroidhe.
I know your heart is locked
in loss, no way to pivot
without spiraling into a white abyss.
But I long for your laugh
between the cedars, the way
you pause before answering
the woodpecker and twilight
with a frosty kiss. How, curious,
you lick each dawn with mist
rising from valleys and lakes.
How you rain gold, red, and rust.
How the taste of earth is just a short sleep
before beginning again.
Gaelic: vein of my heart/sweetheart
