Gray Skies

Delta Violets

Gray skies

pushing downward

pressing 

against me 
weighting my world

like concrete dust

February violets

pushing up

beside the sidewalk

a flicker of

color, a sweet

breath

Gray unzips,

loosing rain

held captive by

chain link clouds

now thrown down

to earth

Pounded, buffeted

I dissolve 

melting, flowing

into puddles

storm drains carrying me

downriver

toward the delta

Willingly 

I sink

under,

water closing 

overhead

Peace is a

death metaphor

designed by poets

who have never

scrambled

for air

Delta violets

save me,

cushioning my fall 

into the deeps

lifting me

to the light.

                  HC 

                       2-10-2010