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An old man by the trail I'll lie, Left behind, left here to die, Left for obligation's sake, It's duty's path that I must take. Without me, has the tribe moved on Not moved a bit, that I am gone, Left behind with halt and blind, Tribal rules can be unkind. One of the tribe so many years, No time is left for sorrow's tears, I've learned how I am duty bound, At last, to rest above the ground, The ground they'll place me in at last, When my final season's past, If they come back at all this way, Finding here my mortal clay. So, dying by the trail I lie, Left behind, left here to die, Death easing, ending tribulation, Discarding long held obligation. I only ask the shaman chant, A last death song that I can't. I've sung for many at their last, Someone sing when I have passed. At last, in peace, I'll lie along, The forest with its sweet bird song, In death, rest will at last be found, Beside the trail, on cold, hard ground. The Earth is sacred, so they say, My friend, I'll rest here for today, Tomorrow's not within my view, So today, I do what I must do. If somewhere a spot I've earned, Where love's accepted, never spurned, Perhaps the gods will make a place, For one who's run his final race. A warrior for honor's sake, Who never asked for more to take, Than what the tribal rules allowed, Who faced all others head unbowed. This final task I'll do for all, Answering one final call, An old man by the trail I'll lie, Left behind, left here to die, • Donovan Baldwin

For what is Braille, but, The reading of stories Through curious fingertips, Touches of wishes and desires, Transmuted into thought, Transmitted into the mind, Just as stories read upon her Resilient and rising skin, Touching of textures Becomes part of a body of Literature of lust and love. • Donovan Baldwin

within our embrace aware of the shape of you that you bring to me quietly thrilled that you can trust yourself in my eager armss even more perhaps that you can trust me also with your trusting embrace • Donovan Baldwin

Alone is what happens When time passes, And, you don't. Alone is a place which exists Without space or time Which still exists within. Alone means years pass, Leaving fewer yet to pass, And, less to fill them. Alone is what happens, To everyone, Sooner or later. • Donovan Baldwin

The sand rolls from here to a far distant shore, Formed by the sands of ages before, Where sand follows sand, sand is followed by more, Sea bordered by sand, sand forming shore. Death stalks the sand, a life-stealing shade, Wasting the lives, which other lives made, Living and dying as each day starts to fade, Where cool shadows bring life, and death is a shade. • Donovan Baldwin

Have I once known you in Some other place or time? Were we lovers then, Winging forward to the now, Where we find ourselves United as before? These eyes, these lips, Seeming delightfully new, Are yet, somehow, So famliar, and, Joyful to behold, To touch once more... Or so it seems, that You and I once were one, Lost to one another... Seeking through eternity, For that one who Filled and made us whole. I gaze upon you, Reach for you, In your newness to This time and place, And, with wonderment, Confused by familiarity And ease, must ask, In this now and here... Have I known you in Some other place or time? • Donovan Baldwin

(An older poem I stumbled over, from the time I was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.) As a boy, Half a hundred years ago, I lay sleepless, Shirtless, Sweat trickling, Sheets sticking to me, The one window of my room open, Old box fan Droning in the corner. I dreamed and imagined all sorts of things, But never thought To dream about a cooler place. In Florida in the Summer, heat was... And humidity went without saying. So, each Summer night, A few steps short of misery, I lay awake for hours, Mind traveling along the corridors Built by images made from The books I read incessantly. Later, Girls and cars having been discovered, And cars, At least, Conqurered, Hot nights became cooler, Driving down Palafox Street With windows down, Or, Out to the bay. Eventually, Hot Florida nights included Two A.M. feedings, And the occasional rush To an emergency room. Now, no longer in Florida, I have air condtioning, But... Still often lie awake, Sleepless, sticky with sweat, As the medicine works To slow the progress of The cancer within. ...Which the boy never imagined. On nights like these, My mind wanders up and down Even more corridors, Including those built by more books, And a half century of living. No more chasing girls Or driving up and down Palafox, Or to the bay, In the moonlight... Except in my memory, When I remember... Hot Florida nights. • Donovan Baldwin

drops of summer rain bathing precious parts of you oh to be water wedded to bare skin trickling along each curve dropping from each crest your hands moving me places about your body in mutual caress • Donovan Baldwin

Reading with curious fingertips I turn each of your pages, Caught up in the fiery passion Of the story written within The hot and trembling leaves Which lay between the covers So camouflaged in a way To divert the suspicion of all But such intrepid seekers of The sensual truth as myself. • Donovan Baldwin

Before the mirror, smile and show The secret 'you' that's never seen, Alone there you can show yourself, The 'you' that others cannot know, And, even you cannot be sure of. Is the image before you reality? Is it a fiction which reflects reality, Or, a fiction just reflecting fiction? Can you honestly say? For none of us has ever seen The far side of the mirror, Or, having gone there, Looked back and seen ourselves. That might be called 'madness', But, is that madness, The reality, The fiction, or, The reflection? • Donovan Baldwin

We stood on concrete girders, Me a wise teen boy, Temporary, Apprentice carpenter, A funeral passing beneath us, I gawped like a young fool... I was. "Take off your hat, boy," Big John hissed. "Pay some respect boy, Someday that'll be you." I did, and also learned. lthough I had a life, Not all lives were mine, but, All were as important. Pay some respect. • Donovan Baldwin

We find ourselves At a moment of wonder And are told that this Is an evil thing. How can this be that Such an exciting Exhilirating moment, The sharing of which Makes it exponentially More angelic for both Can be considered sin? I prefer a deity which Consecrates such times. • Donovan Baldwin