light creeps
into morning
as hope
erases
the darkness
that came
before
other writing
dreams half remembered
there are dreams
half remembered
on waking
to a room
soaked in moonlight
with long hard hours
left to morning
and the wine
long gone
from the cup
remembering LA: their marks
nothing broke
that wasn’t already breaking
nothing lost
that wasn’t already almost gone
those years
like an eternity
left their marks
on heart on soul
and yet
I would gladly relive them
if only to taste
the sweetness
in your smile
one that seems rather appropriate to repost now with some minor changes
sometimes late at night
when the words don’t come to paper
and my mind drifts too far from the reading
I entertain myself by exploring
a past that could have been
if I had made other choices along the way
to where I am today
no good can come from this
but it does reaffirm the present
since whatever I could have done
or might have been
would not have allowed me to know
some of the people whose lives
intersected with mine
and having those people, those memories
still alive in my heart
as well as the memories, the people
still to come
all making it worth whatever price I paid
to get here
staring somewhat resolutely
toward the next decade
of what is this life
life
a long road
that twists turns
with no end
in sight
life
standing at the edge
there was the sea and
the plaintive cry of seagulls
you stood at the edge
with a look I could not read
waves broke
the sun did not shine
last links
brittle letters
with age
photographs
in an album
the last links
to people
events
almost gone
from memory
in my dream
there’s shrimp scampi
an open bottle
of Pinot Grigio
two plates glasses
two chairs at the table
and you
whoever you are
sitting opposite
there in my dream
in my dream
yet again
once
many many years ago
I sat on the beach
in Santa Monica
long after midnight
waiting to see the sunrise
I had a bottle of scotch
or maybe bourbon
as company
and watched the horizon
sometime
in the early hours
as it became light
all around me
and there was no sun
in the sky
I realized the sun
rose in the east
and set in the west
it was the wrong coast
for what I was expecting
a lesson there
I learned
either change your expectations
or your coast
a lesson here
I am learning
all over
yet again
through the trees
the breeze feels cool
on my face chest
a bird calls somewhere
beyond the yard
and a statue of Ataturk
can be seen
through the trees
a schoolyard empty now
still an hour before
the call to prayer
but my soul
finds peace
in the space
between the leaves
in the air
not quite dawn
not quite night
Leonard Durso 