The Shortness of You

22,958 days
was all you could stay
but it wasn't enough
for anyone who loves you.

I am back
from the edge
of the earth,
and your memory
is all that remains.

The ocean is not as blue,
the birds do not sing
the way they used to;
life has gone on
without you
but I cannot ignore
your absence.

Every second
I am here
and you are not
is a second
I hate
and wish did not exist
because life without you
is no good.

There is no sense
in the end,
no solace
in your silence.

22,958 days
is just not enough.

Hollow Man

You said all the right words
with an easy smile
and a salesman's heart.

Did it surprise you
your words weren't enough
to bring me
to my knees,
flip my dress up,
change who I am,
turn me
into a cheap one-night stand
you could tell
your friends about?

The truth is out,
everyone knows
you're a smiling
Jack O' Lantern
with a hole
where your heart
should be.

You are a blip
in the heartbeat
of my memory -
nothing
I want
or that I lost.

Just another smile
in the crowd.

Your Loss Remains

I turned you on
like a light in the dark
and suddenly
the world felt
brighter than the sun.

But it terrified me -
the light
the heat
the burn of wanting you.

So I turned you off,
clipped the electric current
between us
like a bad breaker tripping
in the middle
of your favorite show.

Now I'm alone
and you found someone else
to turn you on
and tune you in,
let you have it all -
no questions asked.

You've moved on.
I'm without,
but I remain
satisfied in this life,
for I am the golden ticket
you thought I was -
you just weren't
fortunate
clever
or truthful enough
to win me over
as easily as you thought.

You think
it's my fault
I'm in the dark,
but I like it here
and you
are not the bright light
I thought you to be;
you are
just a passerby
on his way
to a less fulfilling
destiny.

Rejection

Blank screens

Empty call logs

Missed glances

Only memories 

of what never was.

We had a handful of minutes 

and promises,

nothing more -

you made sure of that. 

And now?

What is there to say?

No words are as loud

as the silence between us. 

I keep telling myself

it's better this way. 

Maybe tomorrow 

I'll believe it. 

Check Mate?

Every sentence you speak
is like a line I wrote
twenty years ago
when someone asked me
what the perfect man
would say.

Your words move
through me like a tidal wave,
knocking me out
with the ebb and flow
of their syllables.

But what you say
is not the same
as what you do.

Anyone can talk
a good game.
I should know -
I do it too.

So what now?

The words have run out
and it's your move.

Connection

In your eyes
I am everything
I ever wanted to be.

In your arms,
the world falls away
and it's just you and me.

Alone
I wait for you.
I've been waiting
for you
for so long.

Otis Redding
couldn't capture
the possibility
any better in a song.

But I just keep waiting.

Beginnings

Hand to hand,
You hold me close,
Kissing me slowly,
Please don't let go.

I want more;
How about you?
I can't tell
If you want me too.

I say no
But I want to say yes.
I've never been here
and my mind's a mess.

I want to call
Send a bunch of texts;
But if I put it all out there,
What's left?

So I wait and I wonder,
and I leave it to hope.
Maybe you're the one
Who won't let go.