a poodle in the universe: love poem for old people

i greet you , child
with bad dreams,
Lady,  hands in gloves
cleaning your house

fighting with cockroaches
and spiders in the web
between memory and mood,
lift your eyes, i am here

half in my sleep, half out,

my skin dreams, 

my heart whispers,

my mind breathes

i don't wish to die

in a strange place

nor at my house

but at home

let me join

your pain,

give me a home,

in your solitude

i don't wish to live

in the arms of the void,

but walking the waste land

i want to hold your hand

how much i missed

your laughter, your eyes

i want to make love,

bury my lips in you,

my soul touching 

your secret places,

my skin losing

all pain in the soft

embrace, the sweetness

of slowed down hours

so we are forgiven

our happiness

may we wake with

a smile, all doors open

for light to enter

with mercy and grace

let us hold each other

as we must let go,

each moment is eternity

and days together

may be blessed

with peace, with trust,

with courage, with

grace and reconciliation

let love burn clear

and widen the space

where our bark falls,

the encrusted shell

opens to life again,

and i will laugh

and fight to protect

our gardens,

dust ashes from roses

and dig out the weeds,

i will bend to love

and do my work.

and when fragility

reaches the marrow

we will adopt each 

other as child of heaven

and care until we

may reach our 

place of departure

through the gate

from where we have

come to be and to travel.

i wish to live,

i wish to live

still i am here, like

a poodle in the universe,

jumping the long grass

tickling my underside

and all tulips greet

our passage, erect

and open, bright

with the colors of earth

we don't need to forget

dying to be alive,

we don't need to turn,

all turns and all stands still

in this we walk as children

not knowing the fences

nor the prophecies

of memories old

i give you my hand,

there is nothing to fear,

out of shadows

there is a clearing,

a spring in the forest

where we can sit for

a while, the time before

dusk when birds stop

their song for a pause

in the music of time,

and we may sleep

from dusk to dawn

with foxes and hares

in the bushes, the moon

moving the tides, and

our breath in between.

i cannot wait, i am

old, you have to find 

me in the longing of

your soul, i am there

as we are everywhere

even in the cry of gulls,

in tickling poodles

and in the sound of the sea

from there and here
i greet you in your
poisoned tiredness, the
anesthesia of exhaustion

i ask, why do you need
anesthesia? what is your torture,
why do you cut so badly,
bleeding out your soul?

Lady, we are old, but
we live, and with our suffering
will be our joy, this is
our only paradise

Wake up, though the end
is nearing, the orchards will
flower, the bees carry pollen,
and the old trees will bud,

grass will green out of ashes,
the scent of the first hay
will fill the air, and in the
sweetness of apples we

will meet life and death,
the taste so precious:
there is no boredom
nor waste, all flows

into each other, all
will be transformed,
wake up, the trumpet calls,
transcendence is now

and nothing is later,
later all has changed,
the leaves will tumble,
the trees stand naked in snow

and snow and ashes
will fall together
and now will not have existed,
postponing is killing future

and Lady, i tell you
no rose will not blossom,
all mystery unfolds
with no prevision of end

Come, let us be like flowers
naked, coloring our world,
possessing nothing
but the strength of growth

offering our tender petals
to the weather and wind,
hand in hand
until we shall be taken away.