Do not promise
To love me to the moon
And back
I don't want that
Just love me
Right by my side
And do not leave

I haven't prayed since that fateful day back in sixth grade
but lord knows for you
I would've knelt beside my bed
clasped my hands
and spoke to god
I would've asked him for a girl like you
with hair that calls for my fingers like the call to morning prayer
a laugh that wakes me better than a steeple ever could
a smile brighter than the pearly gates
eyes more beautiful than any stained glass window
a voice that sounds better than the loudest hymn
a mind that holds my own personal bible
and god would've sent me you
the angel he knew I needed
to make this place feel like heaven

Feel free to mourn me when I’m gone,
When I will not be back again.
It’s natural to grieve at death
For those who miss you so, I know.

But don’t forget to celebrate my life
And all I’ve done on this fair earth.
Be full of joy about these things:
Immortalise me for my deeds.

I hope to live for many a long year:
If possible cheat Death immortally,
Perhaps by going somewhere safe
From the Grim Reaper’s deadly scythe.

I hope for many table tennis wins
And trending poems, before I leave this mortal coil.
Iambic rhythms throughout cyber space,
Free verse expressing a greater vision.

I’ve planned ahead by writing this,
And might have jumped the gun maybe.
But when you read this out perhaps,
I might by now be Free.

Paul Butters

© PB 19\6\2016.

I am of a strange alchemy.
Iron and tarnished silver,
with porcelain hands.
The rest feels like glass.
Fragile.
Vulnerable.
As though the smallest tremor
could send me falling
to shatter.

Have you ever fallen in love for an instant?
For just a moment,
all you want is that person.
For an instant,
everything is frozen.
Then all in the same moment
it all changes back
and life hits you hard
and that person never crosses your mind again
but in the back of your mind
you will always remember that love you had
just for that short second.