Jericho

  
You hide behind battle-ready walls

Rough surfaces immovable

Bristling with notched arrows and poisoned spears

You peer out from protective shadows

Guarded

Unreadable

But I see you watching

Glimpses of your wariness revealing your heart’s defense

A tender treasure shrouded behind your carefully indecipherable barriers

And an empty throne that is rightfully mine

You wait until your action is response

Your course determined by perceived climate

Your strategies so thoughtfully mapped

Executed with needless vigilance

I come with intent not to conquer

But to intertwine

I linger beyond the impassable ramparts

I stand at your sealed, locked gates

My hands are open

Raised in unarmed surrender

My feet feel the fine, quick tremors

Birthing possibility of earth quaking force

I carry the keys

I wait for the walls to come down

                      

                             ~Dana Smith