Climbing clematis

It looks dead and gone
the bone dry brown twine
wrapped around an old pipe
beside a frozen fountain
Winter has unkindly stripped
the life from a once vivid vine
left a withered skeleton in its place
But all is not as it seems on the surface
for when the robins return
to pull the fat worms
from the spring soaked earth
tendrils of green velvet ribbon
stream forth from the brown branches
and by the time the wood ducks
lead their parade of chicks upstream
that ancient pipe is a thing of beauty
cloaked in a constellation
of bright purple stars

Walking to Walmart

Looking up at the Coke bottle universe
with its effervesence of stars
the crisp clear night slakes my thirst
like the miraculous cup of cola
that was our salvation one July
when as kids on summer break
we decided to walk to Walmart
because there was nothing better to do

and because we did not know it had closed

O how we despaired of those locked doors
the dark windows denying the hope in our hearts
the spirit of adventure shrivled like wood shavings
scattered and blown away by the hot wind
despair setting in with the realization
that the journey would be doubled

how had we not considered the return?

We would've laid down right there
on the molton lava asphalt, become
another set of abandoned parking bumps
had you not spotted the sign
lit up red and green like early Christmas
Grinder's Family Restaurant -- Open
redemption in the form of a cool blast of AC
and the deliverance of unlimited refills

Dark chocolate

Break open the chocolate bar
boasting 72% cacao
and it will teach you
that darkness is to be savored

Do not bite the bitterness
let it melt on your tongue
until it gives up its sweetness
slowly but willingly

In youth you could not handle
such richness of experience
you needed sugar and milk
to lighten the darkness

But with age you have learned
too much sweetness corrodes a smile
but the right amount of dark
can strengthen the heart