Leaning Into Grace

The Echo of What Remains Collected Poems of Wanda Lea Brayton

You spoke to me in the silent laughter of tulips,

gathering my hair with your hands,

wishing for fields to spread its golden mass.

Your eyes were quiet and filled with light.

We danced in small spaces as the stars

peeled back the canvas of night

and the moon rose, 

touching your mouth tenderly.

You offered everything 

to one who had nothing left to give.

My empty hands understood your bold truth

and opened to acceptance. Dreams were woven

in a single night, blankets for the future

to shelter us both from the coming storms.

Clouds formed into a swan, 

its pastel wings spread wide across a prairie sky 

and I knew it was time to forsake all of those things 

that could never claim my heart as you did.