Tiferet she b’ Malchut Shechinah*
Sun shine wakes us.
I curl out of bed away
from the warm curved
embrace of your broad chest
and arms to enter the open
world, oh heart of love.

To care for our patch of ground,
to mow tall grass back near the swamp
until I reach mud’s edge, the shine
of standing water.  While you plant
the four tomato plants, stake
and lower the metal mesh
around them, I pull long grass blades
gone to seed from two flower beds,
lift border stones, following the white
curved roots into the earth, slowly
draw them loose. 

Then for a moment we stop
to gaze into the open crimson cup
of the red-orange poppy, its blue-black
womb, dark pollen spattering the vulva
of poppy seed dreams.  Oh heart of beauty!
heart of love’s desire, heart of balance, heart
of this back yard paradise we keep
as it has kept us in beauty, balance
and desire all our married lives.
                                              6/4/2019
           *Heart of Balanced Beauty w/in Indwelling Presence