I cannot recall the best advice
I got from my father
but the best
advice I got from
a man that's not
my father
is to
make friends with loneliness

If you and loneliness are enemies
you'll be lonely

but once you and loneliness are
friends you'll be solitary

The difference between loneliness
and solitude
is the difference
between
the naive kid who thinks one's
happiness depends upon others
and the wise sage who knows that
one's happiness depends
only on
one's self
and one's self alone.

..                only                                          
­               star fire                          melts              together
       ­   say my only                       say                  forever
       bright    electric                    shining          through
  ­   only              shines                so bright        as you
   opportunity       and                 treasure
  rush and rule and ring               and                record
casting down            their               crowns together
say my                          only                say forever

Looking back on everything
Like a distant movie scene
Sitting cross-legged on the windowpane
Last December
There's a fire in the fireplace
The light dancing on your face
As sweet Miles Davis plays
I remember

How have you been?
Since we last began
All those things I couldn't stand
Seem like nothing
I waited in the hospital room
I hope you're better. Then I am too
There's nothing I wouldn't do
In the beginning

Is the summer sun too much?
Is your skin too hot to touch?
Is any of this enough,
For another?
I can look into your eyes
Like I did so many times
But now I see a friend of mine
Not a lover

Sometimes things just fall apart
They can fall back together
Nothing is ever now or never
Or forever
No matter where you are
Or where you'll ever be
If it's without or next to me
I remember

Summer, field of fresh flowers
Backyard bonfires
Among cinnamon flavored daffodils
Hazy nights, and hazy days
Hazy cold dark maze built into the back of my mind
Every crack and corner and secret passage ingrained into my memory
Every trap and snare and pit of shame
Suffocating, emasculating holes
Arguments and pain pills and disappointments
A unique enemy in a dungeon I can’t ever really leave
Because even when im gone away
It's in my blood, that sweet smell of cinnamon