Poetry
Whispered Dreams
by
Catherine OBrian
Your breathing serenades
my whispered dreams,
rising and falling in the night.
The Letter
by
Catherine OBrian
As my fingertips glide on
the faded page,
now aged to a golden hue,
your words touch me once again,
parting thoughts from a true friend
lost to the everlasting.
Beneath my fingertips
are your words of courage,
gently carved into the yielding paper
and tinted midnight blue by
the tip of the pen that was guided
by your beloved hand.
Would that I could now
grasp that pen and
write your name,
but that writing instrument
is long lost, like so many
small important things in life.
That is why I touch you
in the only way I can,
by gliding my fingertips
across your courageous words
on the faded page,
now aged to a golden hue.
Separate Ways
by
Catherine OBrian
There are no unspoken words
hovering between us.
The most dense of silences
engulfs us.
Memories we shared
have fled like frightened birds,
Carrying with them our glimpses
of future togetherness.
We circle each other warily
angling to be the first to walk away,
And then we both unravel,
as the tie binding us is shred in silence.
Silence
by
Catherine OBrian
When the only way to dream is to sleep
and hope is but a wish to forget,
the future looks
as dull as the yawn of a cat
sated and drained of curiosity;
as treacherous as a freefall
through unfathomable emptiness.
I look up from my desk,
staring vacantly at dusty books
carefully collected over my lifetime and
thoughtfully arranged on towering shelves.
Why should my uninspired hands
reach up to open one?
What words could bring color
to my washed out dreams?
Like Dante’s Virgil,
these writers were my friends,
but now I sense that they would reject me
just as firmly as I disown myself.
I open a once favorite book that I find
in a precarious pile of clutter on my desk.
I turn the page and rest my hand
on memorized words that once touched my heart,
but now I am numb to their meaning.
All that remains is an empty gesture,
my open palm resting on the page.
Yet the coolness of the page soothes.
Suddenly my cat leaps
and settles by my hand,
entreating me for its next meal.