Dig Deep

Dig deep into my heart
Excavate it, examine it.
Exhume who I am at heart.
Sift through my shifting sands,
These layers of light-heartedness.
Dig deeper, down to my
Time-compressed depressions.
Unearth the tombs I have
Buried to protect my secrets.

Sift the colors through your fingers
To find the brilliant hummingbird,
Whose jewels reflect my awe and joy.
Study all the birds as they fly.
To understand my love of the open road.

Dredge the water that bubbles up
To nourish the birch and aspen
That transport me to another place,
That bring me peace, and
Wash away waves of pain.

Excavate the roads I’ve traveled.
Survey the paths I’ve chosen,
Carefully guarded from view.
Uncover my reasons why,
Without judging my history.

Dig deep into the fragrance of night
Kissed by the moon that holds me
Envelopes me, transfigures me.
Unearth the darkness that I am,
That lives within and binds me.

Mine carefully around my family,
My mother and my daughters.
Irreplaceable treasures who
Have moved out of my daily life,
Leaving an abyss filled with echoes.

Tunnel, if you can, under bedrock
Til you find a vein of words
Leading to a lode of poetry, of music.
Undiscovered and never shared
For fear of exposing who I am.

Dig deep into my heart
Excavate it, examine it.
Exhume who I am at heart.
But do not break it in two.