Rain-Cloud Girl

Go listen on the greening plain
and tell me what you hear,
if dust clouds or a sweeping rain
might visit us this year.

She left so long, the rain-cloud girl,
with eyes that made you die.
She'd make the flowers all unfurl
and all her lovers sigh.

That girl I loved so long ago
and never knew her name,
I see in every winter's snow
and every summer's flame.

(Photo credit: "Wet" from Hartwig HKD on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Here's Your Mystery

"Oh, look at me, I'm so mysterious."
That's what she says.
Then she picks up the menu
and doesn't look at you.

"I'm just, you know, having a very serious meal here.
But go have fun with your sandcastles."
That's another thing she says
when she says what she says.

It wouldn't be any good to tell her
(again)
that they are sand sculptures!
Very different.

But how would she know the difference.
She's got no heart, is what I heard.
It wouldn't be practical.
She's too busy for all that.
Her lips don't long to laugh,
there's no strain that waits for release.
It just wouldn't be useful
to let those lips be kissed so sweet.
She's quite sure she doesn't want to be touched,
not a finger down the neck
soft and gentle as a feather.
Not a hand on her back,
or an arm to hold her close.
She's just not interested.
Of course she's not playing coy.
She's just not interested.

(Photo credit: "0239" from CIA DE FOTO on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

The Green Land

This is the happy land.
This is the green land
where no pain has ever come.
You don't have to be afraid to love here,
you don't have to be afraid to sit in the grass
and look up at the broad blue sky.
We have no fear here, no need of fear,
no hate, no anger.
They will never make us cold,
they will never freeze the warmth in our hearts.

We were made for loving,
carved from cloudy vapors
snatched from the happy valley.
We were made to touch,
the gentle pressure of a hand in a hand,
a light finger down the skin of the back.
We were made for these bodies,
we were made for this earth,
and we enjoy them
without guilt, without worry,
without doubt.
Without the million calculations of conquest.

Our bodies are not battlefields.
If I win, you win.
If you lose, I lose.
No struggle for supremacy.
No battle for dominance.
No call for submission.
No fear.
No hurt or be hurt.

Only simple desire,
shared pleasure,
and the trickle of water
across the green field with birds.


(Photo credit: "Chocolate Hills (Bohol, Philippines) (View on Black) (kthxbai)" from Mendhak on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Depth of the Ocean

She is moonlight on the mountain,
clarity and breath of midnight.
She is the sigh of the deep ocean wave
collapsing onto the shore.
She is the free bird's wing,
leaving the earth far below.
She has seen a thousand centuries,
and yet she's young as the first dawn.

Can you hear her on the wind
when she sings to the morning light?
She sings to the birds,
teaches them to fly in springtime.
She sings to the seeds,
teaches them to sprout and make strong roots.
She sings to the flowers,
teaches them to burst from the bud.

Do you know her name?
She is the beginning of every new thing,
light and the stirrings of dawn.
She is the great ocean's depth,
the sweetness of clear cool water.
Hers is the truth that survives,
and hers the eye that witnesses.
Do you know her name?

(Photo credit: "Beach Goddess" from micadew on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Don't

Don't wait for me.
I'm not worth it,
and I don't know how long it might take.
So don't wait for me.
I'll chase you through the forests, over the mountain,
and past the glittering city lights.
So don't wait for me.

I don't know how long it will take,
but it's longer than you'll like,
so don't wait for me.
Don't imagine what I'm doing,
don't think of how I want you,
don't wonder how I'll touch you,
and don't wait for me.

In fact, I'd much rather
you took no notice of me at all.
I'm much too busy,
and I've got a career to make.
I've got no time to spare
for these feminine entanglements.
So don't wait for me.

(Photo credit: "Waiting !" from Craig Sunter on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

And Your Line Is...

"Be my love forever?"
No, no good at all. Much too strong.
Besides, she might take it literally.
"Leave me alone?"
No, that's worse. Or maybe better.
It's true sometimes, at least,
so it beats the first one in that respect.
Hmm... "I love you?"
Nope. Generic, and too much.
Sounds desperate.
Plus she'll read too much into it.
What about "I hate you?"
No dice. Much too personal.
She'll think I'm just playing coy.
"You have a fantastic body."
Nopers. Too straightforward.
Too stiff, really.
She'll think I'm
not respecting her intelligence.
(They always like to figure it out for themselves.)
"How do you feel about leather?"
No!
Best to learn the girl's name first,
at least.
Guess it's back to the Gold Standard:
"Hey baby, buy you a drink?"

(Photo credit: "Tracks" from Kendra Miller on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Delicious

Can you taste it?
It's a bit like almond,
a bit like sugar.
Try it with dinner, every night.
It should take away the pain
in a month, or a year.

Can you taste it?
It's yours if you want it,
only if you want it.
Imagine the texture, if you like.
There's always a space to imagine,
always a little something hidden.

Can you taste it?
Hold it to your lips,
just the gentlest, intoxicating pressure.
You don't have to take a bite,
not if you don't want to.
But I think you want to.

Can you taste it?
Does it make your mouth water,
just a little bit?
It's unique, yet familiar somehow.
Just slip away
and let it melt in your mouth.

Can you taste it?
It's so sweet,
prepared with so much care.
What harm can it do?
A bit like almond, a bit like sugar.
Can you taste it?

(Photo credit: "boy meets girl" from frankieleon on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Dream and Nightmare

You were so brave,
just yesterday.
You knew you would live
a thousand years,
and never fear for tomorrow.
Never give in to the fear.
You know well what it covers over,
and you have too many dreams for that.

Sunny dreams of lovely flowers,
gorgeous towers, and spring that shines forever
in a life without an end.
Dark-eyed lovelies with longing eyes,
gentle music all around,
and peace in every heart.
A happy land
where all of life is simple pleasure.

There's no place like that on earth.
It's a cruel world,
with fighting and killing
over nothing and not much.
The truly intelligent thing
would be to have been stillborn.
Living is a nightmare,
and nightmares are cruel at best.

Who doesn't want to walk in dreams,
to spend an hour
wrapped in the joy we've wished for?
Who doesn't love a snatch of dream,
or a precious taste of memory?
Who can resist the siren song
of lovely honey words
and all we wish we were?

Listen here a little while.
Let me peel away the years.
You've worked so hard,
been strong so long,
so rest here a while.
Let me give you peace.
Let me give you calm.
Let me give you dreams.

(Photo credit: "Dream" from Moyan Brenn on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!

Babel

Brick by brick,
step by step,
day by day,
see them working
far out across the shifting sands.

See them walk out early with the dawn,
laughing anxiously
and scribbling notes no eyes could read.
Faceless, they speak little.
This is no place for human voices.
Here in the baking sunlight,
here in the original void,
here in the place where dream meets stone
and visions wander the earth,
harsh winds dissolve the human voices.

Still it rises, brick by brick.
It will reach heaven someday.
Tacit religion, their unspoken creed.
"A better world for our children," they say.
Sand is a cruel mistress,
now too hard, now too yielding.
Skeletons of failure,
ribs of steel and teeth of stone
stretch out to the hazy horizon.
Rise so high, they know,
and you court your own collapse.
But they are proud.
Better to fall to ruin
than never leave the ground.
It rises brick by brick.

(Photo credit: "Easter trip to Dubai (9 of 102).jpg" from Tue S. Dissing on Flickr)

Check out The Giggling Stream on Facebook!