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

Undreamt

Silence trapped in every corner
It is worse than a rainy day Monday
Idling at the edge of the border
I can still hear everything you don’t say
Your dreams are way out of reach
As dormant as the darkness is black
A trust that too many times has been breeched
Too stubborn to try to turn back
Forward together we must go
To the fork ahead at the bend
Debts to each other we still owe
Will go unpaid even to the end
The cost for these dreams is too great
For they cannot be found hand in hand
They will never be worth the wait
When you can’t move your feet in quicksand

08.06.08

A Gifted Teacher

06.16.08