Firefly

Each bulb is a firefly in the sky,
twinkling just enough to remind me of why.
Why we do what we do, and who we do them for.

I sit on the edge of a dark pier,
past the point of where the waves break,
the force shaking the pillars more and more each time.

The clear night stars only matched by the lightning storm in the distance,
brightening the earth's edge for just a moment,
fast enough you can't blink.
Slow enough to remember.

I've never seen anything like this night sky contradiction,
and I'm sure I won't again soon,
but this may be as close to heaven on Earth as I can imagine,
and I'm privileged to call this place some distant home.

Where my grandfather was given life,
not far from where my grandmother was given hers,
on the night before I finally see where my father was given his to understand how mine was given to me.
What a life. What a sight. What a storm.

All Our Own

Two kids in a wild world that was all our own.
A world shaped by musical notes and a curiosity.
A place where love can sleep still, above the trees.
We're always covered even on the wildest of days.

We didn't know any better, and we didn't care to.
Our way was the only way we needed.
I still see us through rose-colored lenses, serene and blooming.
And on any day less than immaculate, I know we'll wipe away the fog.

Our home has become wherever we are, all our own.

A Year Ender to Remember

Who knew a heart so small could be so big.
Who knew a tiny smile could laugh so loudly.
You are a warmth I had never felt until you arrived in slumber
and we shielded you from rain.
You are a spirit I always feel, I always hear, I always see.
You are surprise in something we already knew was coming.
You are a light that's always on.

But when you close your eyes, I hope you know.
We had never known something so pure before you.
You make us want more.
365 days a year and yet it took just one to change the rest of ours.
I never knew a such a little boy could warm a cold man's heart.
But this year knew.
And it was worth the wait.

I knew it then

I knew it then, all that we were capable of.
Holding a love gently in our hearts,
I knew it when less was said and more was done.

A home to come home to,
a brimming smile on a bright-eyed boy,
some strings of lights, a casual conversation.
This, I knew, would always come.

I think back to the moves.
A thousand miles for a thousand days of what would become our sweetest era.
That was our time.

But now, too often, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
And I don't know who to thank
for the calming peace that flows through me.
And then I realize, I must thank you.

If I never live another day,
it'll have never been about the joyous job or humble home.
For you are my life's purpose,
your love my grandest gift,
our love my greatest honor,
and all who come with it.

Never a doubt

A heart this full never yearns for something new,
only more of what it already has.
But a heart this full knows no greed,
it knows to love all it has.

Take it from a man who pleads for peace,
but a man who can find himself lost on chaotic roads.
I fought my way through enough dark corners to know illumination is my destined path.

I smile with lips, but my mindset is ethereal,
trapped by the sight of your glimmering eyelashes looking up at me.

Your cheery grin is reflected in your bright eyes.
 My heart never looks for a way out.

Instead, it rests knowing all that I possess.
And for these mere moments, I want nothing more,
I need nothing more than what I see.
For I am a witness of my own dreams,
coming true right in front of me.