muse

The wilted countenance
The single tear
The last I ever
Brushed away

Letters in a drawer
Pictures in a box
But those in the heart
Fail to fade

The hollow rooms
The silent spaces
I once craved
Now serve to haunt

Pen to paper
I try to write
But the ink
Has all run out

My muse
Has gone


(02/21/07)

flush twice

Ol' Thomas Crapper
In his own mind, dashing and dapper
He fancied how the women would flock
When he bragged, "I invented the ballcock."

-------------------

I wonder if Thomas Crapper
Ever experienced a leaky flapper
Did he always light a candle
Or leave the seat up like a vandal

empty

Ofttimes
I miss my friend
Not the shell you are now
You breathe, walk around, but you're not
Alive

Joyless
As I recall
The you who used to laugh
I'm scared I'll never see that friend
Again

someday

Someday waits on sun-drenched sand
For lovers two
Walking heart in hand
A lost and lonesome wind in search of sails

Someday longs for stroke of pen
To close distance
'Tween long absent friends
Someday sighs as stubbornness prevails

Someday hopes and someday dreams
And forever someday always seems
Promises someday often makes
Yesterdays left in someday's wake

Someday I'll make time for you
Do all the things we meant to do
Someday we'll go here and there
Someday will be soon I swear

Someday breaks in distant place
Where promises are kept
And dreams are chased
Father and son play catch in open field


(06/23/08)

colors

At first it's mostly reds and pinks
Kisses make it hard to think
It's butterflies and pencil hearts
With arrows drawn straight through

Then come days of grays and greens
Discontentment, jealousies
But if you make it through all these
One starts to form from two

Sometimes there'll be stormy blues
Things you shouldn't say or do
I'm sorry and I still love you
Are words you learn to say

If you endure to see the whites
Wedding vows, honeymoon nights
There'll be more colors to survive
As years just melt away

At first it's mostly reds and pinks
Some say it's but a crazy dream
Silly me, I still believe
In colors

adrift

Out here on this sea
'Neath white cloud castles
My vessel a float
The sound of waves crashing
More than enough
To spark memories of you

Knowing I should swim
Against the current
I close my eyes
And begin to drift
Feeling every undulation
Of the ocean beneath me
Not caring where it takes me
Not wanting to wake
From this dream

After awhile --
A moment, an hour
A day or three
My vessel comes to rest
It startles me awake
And I find myself
Far downshore from where I started
The progress I had made, lost

So I begin again
Heading out into the deep
I swim against the current
The salt in the water
Burning my eyes

Water washes over
My footprints in the sand
So no one knows
I was ever there

Too many days
I let the waves
Carry me
Where they will


(01/24/07)

questionnaire

Has he put all your pieces back together
Those ones that I sent flying

Those months I watched us dying

I know sometimes those take a while to mend

Has he restored your faith in some forever

Is this your happy ending
Or are you just pretending
I know sometimes it's a hard thing to admit

Has he been all those things that I was never

Thoughtful and understanding
You're so damn demanding

I know sometimes I wanted to strangle you

Has he made you forget those nights in heaven
And all those weeks of hell
Have you forgiven yourself
I know sometimes
That's impossible
To do