Constant Awareness 

Alone, and my thoughts of you go soaring 
Into the endless blue sky and morning. 
You are the spirit of my days and nights, 
Holy as summer’s green meadows; 
As winter’s icy stillness. 
Your voice falls on my ears, softly 
Like snowflakes touching the ground. 
Your eyes speak love in moments of silence 
And your mouth sends me riots 
Of love songs and poetry from your depths 
Like you’d saved them to spend on me. 
I am consumed by constant awareness of you. 
You live in my soul; you come and go 
In bright flashes of my dream’s longing 
To hold you as close as your breath on my face 
When we open our eyes to the light of morning.


Magic Trails of Youth 

Night pulls a blanket of stars over the earth. 
The forest slumbers in the starlight. 
A wide-eyed owl sits in a tree 
Hooting to keep the night awake. 
In my dreams I wander the mossy paths 
Listening to the tree frogs, my senses 
Tuned to the faintest sounds of the night; 
A snail crossing the path ahead of me; 
Mice breathing under ferns, hiding 
From the sharp eyes of the Owl. 
Raccoons snoring in a hollow tree. 
A Doe and her fawn slurping water 
From a brook that sparkles moonlight 
Like diamonds glittering in the dark. 
Now in my dreams I'm walking 
On all the girlhood trails I’ve known, 
Opening like a misty thoroughfare 
Swirling around my soul, the memory 
Of places the heart remembers, dormant 
From long years on unmarked highways 
Leading to adulthood's brick and mortar life. 
Bricks hold the thoughts and memory 
Of what strife brings to one, past youth; 
Past dreaming and yearning for the softness 
Of a shadowed, whispering yard, lit 
By fireflies and youthful innocence 
Dancing in the magic of girlhood laughter 
Carried on the wind like some distant train whistle 
Flashing through town long after curfew. 
Morning dew greets the waking spirit of reality.

Annie Johnson is 84 years old. She is Shawnee Native American. She has published two, six hundred-page novels and six books of poetry. Annie has won several poetry awards from world poetry organizations including; World Union of Poets; she is a member of World Nations Writers Union; has received the World Institute for Peace award; the World Laureate of Literature from World Nations Writers Union and The William Shakespeare Poetry Award. She received a Certificate and Medal in recognition of the highest literature from International Literary Union for the year 2020, from Ayad Al Baldawi, President of the International Literary Union. She has three children, two grandchildren, and two sons-in-law. Annie played a flute in the Butler University Symphony. She still plays her flute.