Sunday, August 24, 2014

You Are It For Me

Someday my prince will come.
He will be tall, dark
and devastatingly handsome.
He will be mischievous,
a little devious
and much too smart.
I will need a dictionary
to keep up with him
and he will play guitar.
He will sing me songs
like "Under the Bridge".
He will tell me I'm beautiful
and talented.
He will have a normal life
filled with warmth and love.
His family will embrace me
and make me feel
good enough.
He will encourage me
and tell me to go forward.
He will be there when I lose
hope and my mother.

Someday my prince
will come
and everything
will be as it should.
I will be happy
because he will be mine
and life will be
better than good.

But I catch my breath
when I look
at my list
because I know
that you are my prince.

My someday is you,
but you are my past.
How can my future
already be gone?

In Between the Beats of the Past

You once said
out loud
for all the world
to hear,
but words
only I heard,
that someone
said I was
the love of your life
and you agreed
like you were saying
yes to dessert
or more coffee.

Do you remember
these words
you said so easily?
Did you know
how long
they would haunt me?

How careless
of you to say
my heart's desire
out loud.
How dangerous
a spell you cast
that night,
binding me to you
with no
cure,
no end
to the madness
of what could've been...

Captured
in a moment
so fleeting,
my heart lives
in the beats
of our past
where you
gave me life
and hope
in a sentence.

I am yours
and always was
since the moment
you spoke
me into existence.
You cannot undo me
or free me -
I am yours
and always was.



Almost the Love of Your Life, Not Quite

How many copies
of me
will you go through
before you see
none of them are made
with carbon?

Twenty years gone
like sand
through your hands
and you still think
she's out there -
the girl of your dreams.

Don't you remember
sitting across
the table
at Burger King
and telling me
you'd found her?

Maybe it was
the fish sandwich
talking,
but I thought
you finally got it -
I am her,
she is me,
let your dreams
be answered.

But the next day
came and went
like you'd said
nothing,
like I was nothing
and the someday
I thought
had finally come
was gone.

And we moved on
like always
and you're still looking
like always
for the girl
I could've been
(and was).

Maybe you'll get close
and the next one
will make you happier
than the last.
But I know
better than I know
my own name
I would've made
you happy best.

It Wasn't You

Talking all night
until the sun comes up,
laughing so hard
and for so long 
that we forget
what was funny
in the first place,
smiling until our faces
ache
and our jaws lock,
never wanting this moment
to end - 

I miss all of this - 
not you

because 
the way we were
is the way 
I could've been
with anyone.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Hold On To Me

Like a merry-go-round
the world keeps turning,
but some of us need help
staying on. 

And when our arms
are too weak,
our will not as strong,
we need a little help
to keep holding on.

So grab my hand
when it starts to slip
and never let me go. 

I will do the same
for you
even if you're not someone
I know. 

Let's help each other
stay on this ride
and find joy where we can;

because who knows
what will happen next - 
it's all somebody else's plan. 

Be the Spark

I pull the darkness over me
like a warm blanket;
I don't have the energy
or tools to fight it. 

Daylight is too loud
and I don't want to move;
pain sets my bones on fire,
charring the muscles and sinew.

The words I want to say
never seem to come out.
They are loud and senseless,
so I leave them in my brain 
to roll around
like a bowling ball,
knocking all the good down. 

My scars are invisible to the naked eye,
but that doesn't make them hurt any less.
The bone cage around my heart keeps shrinking,
and only sadness is left. 

The blanket buries me in a hole
that I am not tall or strong enough to climb out,
and I don't know how to ask for help,
afraid to bring someone else down. 

There you are in the darkness,
offering me a hand and helping me up,
pulling the blanket from my shoulders
and telling me today I'm good enough. 




Saturday, August 16, 2014

The Musician of My Heart's Song

You tuned the strings of my heart
like you were tuning your guitar.
You strummed your fingers
across my skin
and set my world on fire.

You played me like a Stratocaster,
made music where there was none.
Our song was the sweetest I'd ever heard,
and then in a moment you were gone.

My heart strings are broken,
I cannot find my song.
You have left me alone forever,
and the music is lost.



Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Robin Williams 1951-2014

O captain, my captain
your toughest battle is done.
Our love and adoration
was just never enough.

How we will miss
all the smiles you gave us,
Your heart was everything -
your humor a plus.

You made us laugh,
you made us cry,
and here we sit silent
asking ourselves why.

You seemed to have it all,
but what did we know?
The sadness kept pulling you down
until you were lower than low.

How empty life must've seemed,
how alone you must've felt,
to think that this was your way out
and no one else could help.

I will think of your eyes like stars,
your laughter like the moon
and I will cherish your time here on earth
even if you were gone too soon.

I hope you are at peace
now that the war within is done,
O captain, my captain
63 years with you will never be enough.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Nobility of You

I would give
every breath
still to come
just to keep
you safe.

You would give
all the minutes
left
just to keep
the rest of us
free.

To Our Military

You wear no cape,
you have no alter ego.
You might seem
like just a man,
but I know
you're a superhero.

You can't leap tall buildings
in a single bound,
and you're not faster
than a speeding bullet.
You aren't part arachnid
or wearing an invisible shroud,
or some breed of wolverine,
or a jedi-knight-in-training.

You don't have Kryptonite
and you aren't bullet-proof,
invincible, or someone
who will win every fight.

But none of that stops you.
You keep going.
You keep fighting.
You keep hoping
this will be the last time.

And hopefully,
one day you'll be right.

You may not look the part
or wear a costume
with a mask,
but you're a superhero
nonetheless
and I thank you
for every second
of this life
you have protected.