i and thou

what am i apart from thee and thou apart from me
doest thou know they say of us incomplete?
two parts that lone lie whole yet apartment share a soul
you and i, death and life, joy and pain, sun, moon, rain the same
hence these bane exist without its other

said magnetic oppositions fair
still the sun and moon shown together rarely
by design must offer distant solace of their being
yet from this vantage yearly kiss
and blackness of its blissful miss
seen closely but millions by, we thank God they don't collide
though they will by God and us by Him as well

so forget my hours fearing this
the ordered steps counting numbered days
introspective, dwindling, pacing incessantly wrong
i found death not mine to have just yet
though life i'd wished away mindless
of what held fast: two spheres apart by force alas
i worry less and ride the moon much older now
too, patiently remembering i and thou

jPayne archives
photo: jP 2010 roma

for Sam

where warmth lies kept inbound
by earnest consolation
the blameless savor doubt
thy wavering mattress patient

thy solstice turning nearer to
the heartbeat's fetal nature
thy waking blanket gathers heat
unknowing guise thine anguish

the sons of welding boys
there wean a younger two
a trifle breaks the hardening light
and melts the incidental eye
of man, his beast, and youth

4.5.10 jPaYne
photo jP 2009 nashville

i know what kind of eggs i like

its painful to know who i am
to realize the pit of my own soul, empty, bottomless
and to want enough of a love to fill and to fill it:
the lonely well full of water cool and untouched
and in the years it sought to now would only drink itself dry

but you
you know what kind of eggs i like


jPayne 4.3.10
photo jP easter 2010