House

I decided to build you a house So I gathered all I had and set to work First sketches Old poems pulled from old notebooks on old shelves Pieced together A place mat perhaps Or a foundation of dreams Scratched onto restaurant napkins Visions seen in the shadowy light of yesteryears I took a chisel and began carving on my heart I got tired and rested Got winded, tested Frustrated, blood-chested Until you soothed me and wrested the tool from my Calloused grip As my tears dripped I had dug a pit In it I tossed whims Scheduled appointments Time with you took precedence Rehearsals, meetings, clock-ins for jobs They all waited on our kiss What was missed? Between all the runnings and toils Simply moments of pure bliss I placed you down between these sheets Sort of like sheet rock Nailed, pinned, screwed, pounded Flattened, then set up straight to form the walls Within which I would pray You became my sanctuary An estuary dribbled and flowed there at the entrance Cooling pools of waters That collected after showers Warming slowly in the sun's power We needed a roof So I took two books and set them like a tower A crown above us One was called the book of Love The other you refused to read and I refused to give up But we both just laughed and shrugged I invited you in to glance around I pointed out walls that had fallen down And we both noticed cracks in the creaky ground But we set up a table and laid a mat down And you graced me with kisses and smiles and a gaze "It's a nice little house that you built here today."