I hear your thoughts through footprints

Slow and steady, mind wanders
imaginary friends and duties call
belly forward, head down
carefully stepping over pages of time

pitter-patter, pitter-patter
shorebirds running from the waves
hair bouncing on strawberry cheeks
as pages keep turning faster

feet dragging, knees give out
body slumps against the stairs
heavy eyelids don’t want to close
hunger for the finish line

I hear your tiny footprints telling stories
on your tiny tippy-toes
little girl, keep on dancing
sing your stories through your toes

angel tears

Are impossibly large,
big enough
one could fill a stream.
Early morning, mourning dew drops
clutching at your heart,
rolling down firey red cheeks
that just kissed lips and laughed

Fall from eyelids tightly closed,
lashes dripping,
glistening in the high noon sunlight
of the days’ emotional
motion of a childhood dream.

stream past lips that puff with sadness
tremble in their cry
mouth wide open
frown lines form on this angel,
angel of mine.

Left Behind

your toothbrush stares at me
its bristles dry, like the tear-wells in my eyes
every last drip used up
nothing left
to feed the weed that grows
in the crack you’ve left in

my heart like a boulder
hanging in my belly
drags with every step
if it had its way it would
stop
rolling and
sit
but life goes on, lives on
so I stare back at

bristles bent
like grass in a storm
begging for the wind to end
when will it end
this swelling in my throat
and when will the trembles
leave my hands
that used to hold

your hands
I miss the most
your fingers though my hair
hands
that held
our daughter
life
lives
on,
and the boulder
keeps
rolling
past memories of
your toothbrush