Gratitude

I’d give my life for them
And I’d run away from them
For a moment of silence
Deaf to my ears
For a moment in the sun
Blanketing my soul
For a moment to remember
How much I miss them
And I’d run to them
Because they are my life

02.25.09

I See Right Through You

It’s like saying it’s yellow
When it’s really gold
Or pretending to change
And conform to a mold
Where you can’t quite fit
To the stories you’ve told
And warmth is still absent
Even away from the cold
Your eyes will betray you
In your imagination so bold
You think you’re so clever
With your cards that you hold
Refusing to back down
And admit you should fold
Keep lying to yourself
But I won’t ever be undersold

02.25.09

Rape of Innocence

He opened the door
Without knowing
That fire spreads more quickly
And we all breathe the same
Oxygen
Too late to shut out the images
That should never have been seen
Now burned and charred along
With their innocence
That can’t be reclaimed once
You’ve been raped
Bless the child who lit the match
That started the fire
Where oceans of water can’t
Drown the flames
Or wash away his parents’ sins
That smolder in the aftermath
So knock down the debris and rebuild
Or renovate and repair the damage
With the likelihood that every damp day
Thereafter
Will permeate that memory you are trying
So hard to erase
And the soil under which the door had stood
Will never know drought
Yet no matter how hard you try to plant
The seeds to bloom flowers
Only ugly weeds will emerge
Offering polluted oxygen you don't want to
Breathe


02.18.09

Self-doubt

He stands outside the circle
Unwilling to step over the line
Looking at the broken pieces
Of what he must leave behind
Turning his back to that life
And slowly making his way
From the pieces he couldn't fix
Since he threw them all away
Soon coming upon a door
Open and welcoming
But he passes it by moving on
Certain he will never fit in
One meant to live alone
Having broken so long ago
Unable to step over the line
And becoming his only foe

Fall '08

Dead Words

Sometimes you toss
Your words around
Like the wind tosses
Dead leaves
And when I refuse to
Catch them
They will fall dormant
At my feet
You can gather them
In a pile
And again toss them
In the air
But they will fall to the
Ground again
And again onto deaf ears
Harsh winds, I will steal
Myself against
And block them out with
A stockade fence

02.03.09