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WHY
Old bent and broken
Like some worn out shoe
Why!! Where did I go wrong, what did I do?
I served my country, paid all my dues
Now all I have left is this worn threadbare suit
For the next few hours I'll just wander the streets
Find an empty doorway, have a few hours sleep
Food! Well at my age a littles enough
A few discarded chips or a hard stale crust
I think of my comrades who gave up their lives
Now I wish I'd died with them
Beside them to lie
Its not my fault that I've grown tired and old
But who's going to mourn me
As my body grows cold
This is an edited version of something I wrote a long time ago and is written for all the ex servicemen who will be spending this Christmas hungry and cold in a shop doorway

Reposted for Steve  Reimer, Mark Cleavenger and all who have seen the bitter truth
 Dec 2014 Crystal Erickson
tyler
And felt as beautiful as you think she is.

I wish I walked into a room and grabbed attention as much as she grabs yours.

I wish I spoke and captivated someone the way she captivates you when she says your name.

I wish I awoke in the morning and heard my true love's heartbeat next to mine as she does every day.

I wish I knew a love as strong as your love for her.

I do not wish for your love, though, because I know that is one thing that is far out of my reach. I only wish for someone to love me the way that you love her, so that maybe someday I will love him as much as I still love you.
 Dec 2014 Crystal Erickson
E
you're every lump in my throat that i swallow down
in December you're an abandoned seaside town
you're the ghost who loves her reflection to be cast on my wall
i'm still waiting for you to be nothing at all

i'm the unknown number in the middle of the night
i'm in the eyes of a boy who you're thinking just might
make you feel the way both of us once did
i want to be a shadow beside you and forever i'll live
Mark Cleavenger & Christi Michaels  
   * ~ * ~ *
Aging with Grace
As Fruit is to It's Tree
Ripe...Now Ready
To be Set Free
Seasons of Harvest
Shall Never Cease
Growing Ever Forward
From Vanity to Peace

Conflicts Between
Instinctively Known
Able to Transcend
Willing to Grow
At what Point will
My Time Here Cease
I Await Transition
From Vanity to Peace

Lessons from Our Youth
Bring Us to Ponder
Culmination of Our Years
Age Reveals Such Wonder
Relevance upon Sunrise
Fulfilled by Sunset
I Yearn to Transcend
From Vanity to Peace

I Strive for Spiritual Contentment
Releasing all Resentment
My Ego Served Well
Now its Time to let Go
Looking Towards Future
My True Self to Show

From Vanity to Peace is What I Seek
From Vanity to Peace it is
There I Shall Peak
From Vanity to Peace,
Of this I Do Ponder
From Vanity to Peace,
My life's True Hunger



A Native American Aphorism...
"No Spiritual Wise Man ever Yearned to be Younger"


Conception: Mark Cleavenger
Verbiage & Editing: Christi Michaels
Copyright © 2014 Mark Cleavenger. Christi Michaels. All Rights Reserved.
Great  Honor to Be invited
To Co-write with Mark
This profound  piece
"VANITY TO PEACE"
 Dec 2014 Crystal Erickson
ahmo
What do you have to hide,
some beautifully broken side?
 Dec 2014 Crystal Erickson
ahmo
A brief, but passionate inhale.
Who would have thought,
of the autumn in her eyes?

A sweet, delicate voice.
A beautiful sound to detect.
And never forget.
And never regret*.

The stud of a nose
Her own clothes and eloquent verbose
An unheard of strength
That she shrugs off like dirt.

And she knows of Dad.
Because she has been there too.
Not just for the smell of *****,
Or for the pain of just one bruise,
But for the depth behind
A clenched fist
and the struggle for eye contact.

It was 6 AM.
In the autumn.
And things just happen.
But see,
it wasn't just a thing.
It couldn't be.
The way I held your hair
And hid it safely behind your ear.
And accepted the kiss
That my fear could not initiate myself.

It was the blue,
And the blonde.
The black of the beanie,
And the spots of the sweater.
It was the look
and the smile
and the inhale.

And then
it was the stars.
And the stone wall.
And the Boston skyline.
It was the teasing.
and the alcohol
and the spot by the river.
And it was autumn in her eyes.

It was heaven in the trembling of my knees,
and in that kick in the shin,
and in the brownie brittle,
and in the passionate kiss in the room upstairs.
It was hell in the uncertainty.

And as the time will pass,
We will attract or repel.
Naturally.
And where this ambiguity chills me to the bone,
I find autumn in her eyes.
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