Games

You know these games you play,

They aren't for your victory.

Stubborn pride will drive you

To fracture this heart in me.

The sands of time will fall

Covering the truth they can't see.

Beside the lies you try to hide,

And warnings you refuse to heed.

But one day I will forfeit the game,

From you I will finally be free.

You'll slip on the sand all around you,

And in your life all alone you will be.

05.11.13
©Kerri L. Stanley

Forgiven

You haven't noticed how long it has been
Since we walked hand in hand through our lives
That you left me way back in the fork in the road
Resisting you and your sins and dreamless desires
Thinking mediocre is enough to sustain us
Nudging me along to keep pace with your step
Hoping my silence is my gratuitous consent
Not seeing that now there is really nothing left
Your weakness will blind you to the sad truth
But I continue to follow you down a treacherous slope
Because I know of no other means of survival
And my heavy heart has long since buried all hope
You can carry me every time I might stumble
I can hold onto you for wanting what you can't give
We will continue this journey because it's good enough for you
And because even a broken heart can still know how to forgive

11.25.12

Staying and Going

I’m here where I belong
And I’m not there where I should be
Tethered to this book we write
Whose pages are torn and incomplete
Like a diary that nobody should see
Whose meaning you will make your own
Erasing what really matters
While casting too many stones
Heavy as my heart has become
Weakened to toss them away
So they pile up along the boundaries
Of our life from which we can’t stray
I’m still here where I belong
And from there I still stay gone

04.12.09