and tree frogs.

I guess if I ever saw you I thought things must be ok.

stepping outside's like walking in a terrarium.

crickets and frogs sing at full volume.

and the stars sing a silent d minor.

let's go to loch ness park.

I pretend to sleep.

as the eagles play again on the eight track.

is that angel dust?

red wine spilled in your daddy's white cadillac.

the wicker man and susperia.

a trailer in the middle of the night,

and fog everywhere.

you said that's what it means to be a kid.

I just tried to follow you.

emerson lake and palmer and some other tragedy.

but you had changed and everything else too.

sven.

golden.

we'll return one day.

and towers and powers that were.

shall crumble...

but what of the little ones?

who slipped into the forests?

sven.

minneapolis minnesota july 2013.

carnival.

we're at a carnival,

I turn around and you are nowhere.

I wander behind the tents and

I see a wagon that looks different than the rest.

how it glows in the summer night.

st. stephen you are to me.

and your smell is what I remember.

we forget the name of that song

I heard in your car.

you said we'd never forget.

there are too many people here,

and I can't hear you.

the heat is too much.

you say it's ok.

but I know it never will be.

let's walk awhile in the hills.

do you hear that bird?

it's a whippoorwill lost.

the moon sailing home 

is never lost.

sven.

october 1940. lee russell. delta co. fair, co.

library of congress. american memory.

two little boys.

you were always there with me.
you sat there smiling and I knew.
but what a mystery
we are to each other.

silence of the cosmos.
and sticky fingers.
your hair so sweet and yellow.
and sugar in your tea.

when do we pass through here again?
a mellow day in october.
pumpkins and ghosts and batman and robin.
your train is coming tomorrow.

how we all cried when the sun burst.
up so late to watch a cascade of stars.
they fall to catch the rain.
but they were never here anyway.

why don't you tell them that?
it's time to go to sleep.
everything's all right and tomorrow is tomorrow.
let the owl sing as she hunts.

no more tears, no more pain.
let those who would destroy, meet their fates.
let the time roll on and call on us suddenly.
you are mine forever.
sven.

beneath the sea.

I dreamt I was beneath the sea
and I was young again.
the sun couldn't reach my watery home
so lonely and cool.

stones taller than trees reach up from the deep
while your tears flow leaving diamonds behind.
but the earth and stars notice nothing
and the moon shines on the water above us all.

you said that's what heaven was.
a voice so familiar speaking a language I don't know.
your dreams shouldn't ever end.
and a family brings it's own...
sven.

have you seen the bridge?

it's always cool up here
and breezes blow in from tokyo or brazil.
but from wherever the heart is...
is the stillness of stone
or the thoughts of a tree...
hard to fathom?
sven.





marin headlands san francisco california may 2013.

reasons.

shannon stumbles in

and takes a seat

breathing loudly

and I think I hear a moan.

I ask about everything.
where are we,
when do I get to see her?
everything is turned upside down.

I know this is it.
and wonder out loud, I think,
why do we do this?
never fly solo.

we brought the box
you said never to open,
inside is empty
except for her story and one gold key.

tomorrow you will understand.
the reasons are now clear.
like a puzzle we couldn't solve
you explain who she is.
sven.

only.

do you sometimes wonder why?

and as you do, start to lose it.

we walked for hours on that street,

and never saw a thing.

so many people clamoring.

and so many people hurting.

the sun in your eyes blinded you momentarily,

you said that's why you fell.

a cloth bag gone missing.

what was in it?

more important yet, is how.

and why do they sit and stare.

a little boy who can read

but remembers nothing.

a little girl who is innocent,

without a doll or a purse.

it was her that you saw.

it was him that you sang.

forever now, it's only a little while.

but you misunderstood.

take care, heed you're next move.

you will need time to think.

you will need some space to breathe.

despite my warning, go now.

sven.

the haight san francisco california may 2013.

wait.

wait a second.
you were there...
how was the ball?

tomorrow a new wind blows.
and too many worries...
but the words all still fit.

and you were never prettier.
if we remembered it right...
the breeze that day came.
sven.

the horn player.

don't cooly reject that notion

you're dreaming again.

she says the way out is up

and the way back impossible.

the older we get the more we can see

the view from here is fine.

her perfect smile and a lot more

and trees and old friends have all gotten taller.

you wondering endlessly

where the road leads it's all the same.

a perfect sunshine

and keys that were meant for some other door.

sven.

may 2013 the great highway san francisco california.

turn.

dream on.

you may not want to. 

but if you ever go.

don't leave anything behind.

you may want to just sleep.

and you can see the fountains.

there's a place that's so peaceful.

the air there is so clean and there's no reason not to breathe.

three and more for the next door...

and thirteen days left if we make it.

sven. peace.

CL.