Valentine/Love Tanka

bathed
in a cascade
of moonbeams
I think of her ways --
tender yet daring

you cry out
we've traveled on parallel paths
wait for me
where the earth touches the sky
I plead

surfing
the waves of memories
I listen intently
to the ebb and flow
of your whispers

three thousand
miles apart
divide everything --
we see the opposite sides
of the same full moon

your face
photographed
by my mind's eye
remains a delight to me
though 30 years have passed by

I wish
I could land on you
in the guise
of a ghost
like Swayze did to Moore

gazing
through my naked eyes
at your wrinkled face
you are the same woman
I married before the altar

my heart
heated red
in secret passion
for she casts her glances
unashamedly

the autumn moon
hangs over my window
rippling the lake
of my mind --
her smiling face

I spring
into the air
trying to grasp
the white tail
of your departing plane

Special February Issue of Sketchbook (Vol., No. 1)