It's taken me all the lifetime
That I've known so far
To get exactly here.
It's taken me
Roads and roads and roads ~
Counting the miles
Sometimes even the lines on the street
And playing games with the passing colors of the cars.
Boarding ships
Those ships full of countless faces
Packed into cabins
over oceans
And me... sneaking onto forbidden parts of the upper deck
To watch the sunrise on the water.
And planes
So many airplanes
I have flown on since before I was two
Running up and down the aisles
As a tiny little child
Making friends
With all the strangers
On any flight through the sky
And I still do that don't I...?
 
 It has taken thousands of cups of coffee
Breakfast in cool little diners by the highway
Midnight rest stops in the mountains of Tennessee
… Countless walks on the beach.
All those gorgeous ocean shores
On this and the other side of the earth
With my feet sinking into the wet sand
while the cool waves lapped and tickled at my ankles.
And wandering down paths in the woods
The Redwoods were my favorite.
Trees so profound
In that California Forest
As a child I was sure I would reach heaven if I climbed one.
 
Years of exploring city streets
In every state
Walking by shops and little cafes
Where music from street performers
Would call to me.
And I never did stop traveling…
Meeting the eyes of strangers
In so many bus stations and airports
Lingering in shops
As I walked
through that airport in Seoul, Korea
I took off, told my friends
I'd be back in time to catch the plane
just wanted to find the perfect souvenir to take
home with me
When truthfully
I was hoping to see
you.
 
I remember climbing Island Mountains
and shopping busy markets
in the Philippines
on the other side
of the world
where I saw sights
you wouldn't believe
and I
could never describe ~
then back to the states
where I walked, wandered, waited and watched for you
the way I do.
 
So many people I met
and every face I saw
looking for that one single spectacular connection
I knew for sure I would find
I always
knew.
And all those roads
all the flights
all the ships
and roaming nights
they served me well
so perfectly well
because here you are now
in my life.

​Charity
12/14/13

Bring me into the night with you
taste the darkness on your lips
study me with your fingertips
let's become the midnight hour
tangled up with one another.
Give me back your beautiful mind
let our thoughts
and bodies entwine
as one
 again.
As we were at the beginning
and will be at the edge of eternity
in the place 
that some may call
 the end.
Take me in 
again
with you.
The darkness understands us
so much better than the day

and when we are together
all our words unspoken 
will not be painful silence
but instinct and body heat
filling the spaces left
 by words unsaid.
Everything will be clear
when we are near
 to one another
so close that we become each other.
For together
we are darkness
we are night
we are formless
and entwined.
We are more than any one mind 
could possibly imagine
a cosmic distraction
when we touch.
And I do not claim to know much of us
but I know this
our one night together would be
the one night we would remember
(or regret missing)
for the rest of our lives.
So bring me into the night
with you.
​

​You didn’t see me in the light
nor in the night

did you?

you did not see me from a distance
you did not recognize
me
at all…

did you not see me
passing like a shadow through the trees
did you not see me
gliding like a ghost along the breeze
did you not see my reflection in the glass
as I did pass
like a sigh
from a thought of yours
to a breath of mine

~ did you not know me
ageless and eternal
touch my hand
and feel the energy
that burns
beneath my skin
did you not notice the stars
watching us
through the window
when we met
and the moon curious
as it peered at us
wondering if we would remember
or forget

And did you
or did you not remember
that as we travel
through life
we unravel
the mystery of our souls
the mystery we hold
~ where we come from
where we go
did you not see me
did you not know
that I exist
just the way you did
within
the place in between
the seen and unseen
and it was your smile
that brought me back
once more
to this track
of reality
​
I needed to exist
to be
human one time more
to see you
touch you
again
feel the heat of your skin
against my skin
even when
you did not see me
clearly
know me
or remember
that there ever
was ever a we
in between earth
and the eternal
ever present
existence
so far beyond
this track of reality.

​Charity Janisse

I have to believe that you will be
there when I wake
when all this fades
and I have nothing left to take
except a hand
that understands my hand
and nothing left to see
except a set of eyes
that look intently
into me
and a silent smile
that understands
the depth of a feeling which I refuse to diminish
by attempting to transform it into words.
A touch, a look is all that I have left
to give or to take
and that is why
I have to believe

I must believe
that you will be
there when I wake.