Perspective at Dawn

For Keith Nelson and Joan Jones,

on their wedding day, November 21, 2009

It was an honor to write this for my friends and share it at their ceremony.

perspective at dawn

shut your eyes and take love by the hand,
a petal in your open palm,
fingers splayed to the horizon,
with gentle and deliberate grace
so as not to crush its intricate allure,
its infinite artistry.

celebrate and dance and play in the vibrance of love’s
two dreams grafted, growing, becoming one.
energy unbounded,
love reborn.

look on love’s face and notice, not only
the glint in the eye,
the seduction of the brow,
the curve of the lip,
but note too the lines etched from smile,
the lifeblood in the cheek,
the subtle hunger that draws you close,
the breath that feeds the cells of lung and heart and heat.

let your voice, your word and the spirit of your song
be your compass
as you venture into uncharted waters,
beyond the map’s edge
and let love rain joydrops to nourish your landscape.

through the tempest, when darkness settles,
risk all for love’s unfolding.
and when dawn pours forth each morning,
renewed and sacred,
it presents a novel perspective of light and life,
an invitation to awaken.