Born The Coward

Today I felt like fighting,
I felt like losing

I wanted it to end;
With bruised and bloodied knuckles

With me left alive
And a coward left bleeding

My boredom passed.

And now I go to my innocuous dreams
The ones that leave my eyelids heavy

But like you, I feel a fight stirring
We all know it, it started the day we were born

It gets the people talking
And keeps them quiet

And it can keep us from killing ourselves
Because we still think we can win
END

Give Us Back To God

I always try
But I fail to fit you inside my head
And the condescension is to both-
You, and I

They say my time has already past
Lord, believe me:
My time has yet to come

When the end comes
And wrinkles take my face,
All will end as it began-
Painless
END

Divorce

I saw her wading in the shallows.
The sky was gray over the mute sunshine.
It was the first time I saw her face
bearing no smile.
Her veil, like the clouds, showed no sympathy
for the beauty laying behind them.
She spoke with a voice stained by my rebuke-
"What is, what can be, and what is already lost
Could have been me, my Darling. Just a wave in the sea
that the tempest tossed.
Could have been me!"
Her voice broke like her footfalls used to
in a rage up the stairs.
"I still love you very much," I said.
I said nothing else, nor did she.
And we paused for a moment.
Tears and sweat were crawling down my face;
her face was solemn, with expression only
to make a cloudy sky jealous.
-And a man fearing for his future.
Her dress was now wet up to her knees,
I could see them shaking.
My fascination shied -for my grief
was steadily earning its keep.
I was afraid.
"Here I am." I said.
Speaking with words I never believed in.
She took a couple small steps back shaking her head.
"No." She murmured.
"You said you would always stand by me,
but you left so long ago."
"Please, let me become you." I offered.
"Let the narrow and broad path be put behind us."
She bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears
like the clouds overhead.
She stepped away and they began to fall.
"Why did I ever hold your hand?" She said.
"You made me feel as if I wasn't alone; but we're alone,
no matter the pleasurable company
you might find yourself in.
I never should have let you touch me.
For now that you're gone -I feel as though
I'm the last honest soul drawing breath.
And the loneliest the world has ever known."
"I love you." I said blankly.
Those words had somehow lost all their truth-
for she believed me not.
-End-

Crossing Paths

I've been told the same things as you have
Look both ways before crossing the paths
Mother always said there is nothing to fear
Mother was wrong
END

Tea Kettles. Part I & II

Part I
Coming down from each tree limb
meeting the ground below.
We all well know
Autumn's cruel figure.
Each landscape sets another year.
I've spent years here,
and only now do I want the hotels,
and the cigar smoke to pour from my mouth-
like steam from the tea kettles back home.

I've smiled on your letters
from such an awful height.
I can't wait until tomorrow
to tell you how I feel tonight.
I've done too much in your absence.
END I

part II
I've found a way to sleep-
Shipwrecked.
Like a spent candle stick
peaceful in its brevity-
flawless in its separation.
O' how it comes.
How it goes.
...