The Distant Vision by Joe Ogden

I say no words, they may shatter crystal hope
For you shine like a cool desert star, as I burn inside
If I could walk in your footsteps across endless sandy tracks
dance under the same moon as you and hear your songs
in the tall reeds at the edge of the oasis
My heart would beat louder than my voice is

If you find a love greater then mine for you
then you must forsake me with my full bless
for you deserve no less, I will not turn my head
I know we have no world in which we share
Standing on each others horizon, you move on
nothing between us but distance

These words will be as near as I ever will be to thee
I shall not speak, so you will not know my name
Only in dream will you know me, in shadow
the edge of your vision, the whisper of forgot tune
I stand on the dune by the lost sand sea
When it covers my dried bones, each will be wind carved
with the love, I wish could be for me


For Runi's 800th Birthday bash

The Late Season by Joe Ogden

I look out onto fields of scarlet daises
towards imagined spike grass dunes
Bit by bit I forget the parts of you
The names of your god
till I remember only the feeling
but as I walk the unknown
You held my steady

But I am out of season
An empty stretch of coast line
Overtly romantic
Utterly desolate
A figure lost to the landscape
Screaming at an ever approaching sea
On quick and silver sands
‘danger signs’ I never saw
Gulls mock and swoop

Your love saves me
Later I sit where we once sat
sea spray splashes
against the windows
I’m warm, safe
High on cliff side
I drink mint tea
Then take the short walk back
to the place of scarlet daises
where you rested then told me

You are not gone from me
from where once I heard your song
No, you are just ahead
Just beyond human sight
Your tranquil footsteps calms the sea


For Runi's 800th Birthday Bash

Cotton Needle by Joe Ogden

I am the cotton needle
that you thread your cotton through
unseen you guide me
stitching me into the fabric of your love

At first I seem to hurt you with every dip and pull into your frame
Each loop making it harder for me to pull away
But over time I shine
Losing my roughness

Together we make a tapestry of life
never to be unpicked
When the end came
You did not snap the cotton of you love
the thread continued on down the line
No longer in the frame my part complete

I watch you now place the quilt around my forebears
Rapping them within the fabric of your love
each loop stitch the lesson of your wisdom

In many styles
yet a continues line
from the beginning to
the end


For Rumi's 800th birthday bash