Sarabande

Sometimes when we're dancing
and our measured step's just right
I wonder how my music played
In a monody of life.
And as I hold you near
And we dance across the floor
Other partners fade from view
As I ponder what's in store.
Will we keep on dancing
With the music changing beat,
Or will there be a sameness
And the tempo just repeats?
And if it never changes
As I hold you in my arms,
Will it lessen our sweet concert
And dampen dancing's charms?
With your hand in my hand
And our bodies swaying so,
It's hard to measure failure
When I'm trapped within your tone.
Because you are my music
And the dance is just a way
To move us in love's rhythm,
Hear the beat and feel the sway.


©2002 Trish Shields

Spring Brake

Gaia stretches forth after being in
the brittle grasp of winter
slogging along through
intemperate late winter storms
that still bully the spring

Reaching ever higher as it mimics her
quest for sunshine
sweet bulbs and seeds sprout forth
their struggle unremarked
as insects hatch, live and die
within heartbeats
or the long exhale
of bears still blinking away the frost

Bare limbs scratch the sky
longing for the glory only buds can bring
while the forest takes its first breath

And with the occasional rust coloured leaf
still clinging to an existence it can never repeat
the exhalation of spring fills the air

Even the earth seems to slow its pace
tangled in the greening
and preening Gaia revels in
before falling head first into
the rush and dalliance of summer


©2002 Trish Shields

Mercury Rising

trippy tippy tips
of my fingers
are dancing across
trigger happy skin
burbling and coursing
with quicksilver blood

silky suction sighs
from hot greedy mouths
form bombastic words
accenting emphatic
yet silent piercing
oceanic cries


©2001 Trish Shields

Heart2Heart

As we walk together
this varied path of life,
filled with joy and wonder
with discord and with strife,
our shadows intermingle
and yet exist apart;
light and dark a tangle
two sides of the same heart.
I long to feel your kisses
against my fevered brow,
and though each one dismisses,
such yearning seeds we sew.
With my words unspoken
of shared impassioned dreams,
each glance a heartfelt token
each touch more than it seems.
The happiness I seek
in the cradle of your arms
would but a friendship break
buying heartache for mere charms.
And so we walk our path
though arm and arm we go
our love a separate task
helping kindred spirits grow.


©2001 Trish Shields