a shock of love

i
as i grow older,
   or shall i say,
   as i open my heart to
life

   i breathe
   i feel like a
newborn.

ii
love is never far away
   always burning
   close
inside the chest

always keeping the happy
   child alive
always illuminating
   fairy tales
always teasing the
   darkness.

iii
one day. one awful day of
   wonder
   we leave the shadow of
   our parents’ hearts

& face the fatal shock of
   the sun.

iv
day by day, i am carrying
   the body of my dead
   father across my
   shoulders towards
heaven.                     
patiently, i am coaxing
   my dead mother to
wakefulness.

v
life passes
   too quickly &
   more slowly than
   we can bear

growing upward &
   downward into
love

   painfully at first
   then
joyfully.