Month: May 2018

Fade away

If I could remember only
One thing about you
For the rest of my life
Let it be those
Few times
I’ve seen you
Smile and
When those cold
Hypnotic eyes
Of yours shimmer
With genuine delight
Even if
It’s only briefly
Even though
It’s because
Of someone else

Memorial

All we could give you
Was a heart for what you did
When you really needed help
To heal your shellshocked head
Or a place to stay
When the mortgage you couldn’t pay
Or a decent job for when you were discharged
Trying to make ends meet as a civilian-at-large
But all we could give you
Was a medal on your chest
As the only recognition you gave us your best
Though much more to you was due
And for that
I wish our country could have honored you
Much better

Badly

I so badly wanted
To talk to you today
But I couldn’t
Cut through the
Barbed wire that
Was your entourage
And when you stepped
Outside the security perimeter
To indulge in appetizers
It reminded me of the time
I tried to small talk
My way to you heart
At a similar event
A year ago–
When I tried to ask
Your opinion about
The varieties of chili
That was on the menu
And you quickly
Gave me an answer
And simply walked away

Today you stayed
In your silo
And I stayed in mine
I would glance over to
Where you sat and talked
As I talked to the
Same person the
Whole time
I was there

I hoped to leave the shindig
Before you did
But you and your gal pal
Seemed to have the same idea
Of leaving early
So I had to time my exit
So I wouldn’t catch up

Leaving the restaurant
I hoped I had given you two
Enough time to make your escape
I made an odd last minute
Decision to change my route slightly–
Which I soon realized
Put myself unintentionally
In your field of view
So I kept on walking and
Hoped you never saw me
As I got to the parking garage
And climbed the steps
To get to my ride
Because I so badly wanted
To return home and have the day end

Unread

If I could write
A thousand books
But not a single one
Did you ever look
Inside to read
Just one measly page
What would that
Mean to me?

I’ve lived for
Fifteen-thousand days
And if I’d only live for
Fifteen-thousand more
Please let me spend
All that time
Wandering a
Foreign shore

For the world I live in
Makes no sense
I’ve yet to see
Some recompense
For feelings I’ve
Given freely
My heart poured
Into silly poetry

I can confidently
Write
What I admittedly
Have felt
Can meaningfully
Piece together
What would
Needlessly
Be thrown away

For I wrote it all
To know my truth
If I possessed what it took
To find the light
And the dark
Deep inside of me