carved to me

you were carved
to me
like a cut heart
on a tree
and our wounds betrayed
the softness and its shell.

~

RNH

for LMH

I will grow anywhere that I am

planted, like the dandelion suns, wild

and free. I will roll

like the resurrection tumbleweeds, 

thirsty for the right moment and ready

for the hope that blooms

with spring, if only I am patient. I am

as strong as the prickly cactus. I am

fluid as the honeysuckle's sweet scent. I, too,
can conquer steel.

My love is a fenceless love.

And wherever adventure halloos, from the stars
to the tree line, just look and you will

find me there. 

~

RNH

emBraced

When it rains,
Will you fold
In fury, be brushed to the gutter
And surrender
Wherever the current may flow, or
Will you bear
This downpour
And its weighted nourishment
Held by your faith
That you hold the sky.

~

RNH

Sustain

desire spiraled out

in blue

sequined tendrils

so that wherever you reached 

you shone. 

~

RNH

inky

i find myself asking,
who are you ?
to the mirror, to the shadow.
who are you ?
to the lamppost, to the street.
and the particles that wait
for an answer, drift
like cursive-drawn eyelashes
discovered by a thumb
on inky cheeks.

~

RNH

Testable

Life does not consist of tests.
At least, not the paper kind.
Not the bubble-in,
circle one,
multiple choice kind.
Not the measurable, scorable,
undefeatable kind.
(At least, they feel that way.)

Life brims full of emotions--

It's in the bubbles of shared laughter.

It's in the circles of people you can trust.

It's in the choices that you always have, to withdraw or persevere.

There are no rulers in this arrangement.
No expectational brackets, no condemning
metrics here.

And although your youth
may be quizzed to its wits' end,
Do not let these decided scales define you.
You are so much more than a printed digit to me.  

~

RNH

before, they said

before you could fly, they said
you should run, and accumulate
such momentum, that all that remained
was to jump

and before you could run, they said
you should walk, and observe
how each first step determined
the next one's precarious fall

and before you could walk, they said
you should crawl, and accept
these limitations
as the order of boxes to check off

but I applauded, shouting praises, when you
sprouted wings and flew
from the trenches to the sky-tracing mountains,
your potential, I already
knew.

~

RNH