Release
By Lilith Lynn
Rogers
They say we have no winter
here
but driving west through early spring
green hills,
the kids and I smile at pink blooms
and tiny leaves on the apple trees
in the orchards along the road
and laugh at eager sheep and cows
exulting in the sweet new grass
in what had only lately been
a brown and muddy pasture.
At the sea
people strolling back and forth
in the newly shining sun
smile and wave
at us and one another --
strangers all but joined today
in our intoxicating release
from the rainy constraints of the short
intense Northern California winter.
Like the soft waves they follow
the children run back and forth
with their great discoveries
of broken abalone shell and red crab claw --
shivering and shouting when
the icy ocean chances to wash over
their pale, shy, freshly-bared feet.
For the first time in
months --
since winter began I think --
my heart is quietly open,
my senses sharp
to the delicious world about me
in the way they are only after
we have made love to one another
for many hours.
II.
We are together again!
We are TOGETHER again!
After all these weary
weeks
of sad and sincere struggle
combating separately our loneliness
and continued desire
we are together again.
Not that we didn't have
"good reasons"
I wanted you to loosen
your strong hold
on me.
You wanted me
to know
what I was giving up.
Then -- last night --
bright with stars and fresh with scent --
RELEASE!
Magically,. my heart was open to you
once more --
again I felt your power to the fullest,
again I was in awe
of your beauty, your inner light.
You loved me in a new way
a way that both holds tight --
so tight -- and lets go simultaneously.
A way that suits
my equally urgent needs
for space around me
and firm ground below me.
Oh, most clever and tender
lover!
This morning we woke
together
and -- in the gathering light of this
early spring -- celebrated our renewal.
Oh my dear friend,
great is my heart's relief
and marvelous this release
into love of you -- of us --
once more!
February 1987
