When the lights
go out
is there any doubt
where we both
should  be?

I just cannot write the words
that I want
cannot find them anywhere
so I won’t
I will leave it
and try again tomorrow

Your love
makes a fool
out of my love
your love
walks ten miles more
than my love
your love speaks sonnets
my love mumbles
your love screams
my love whispers
your love
fills the room
my love
locked in a tomb

All this
I am grateful for
All this
I hate us for

I don’t fit you anymore
truth be told
you don’t fit me either
we are weird jigsaw pieces
at the edge of the puzzle
the ones you can’t quite work  out
where to put
for ages
then suddenly
out of the blue
you see it
that’s where they go
the puzzle complete!!

You want all of me
you say
but you already have my heart
What is left of me ?
my limbs ?
take them if you will
but know then
I can never
ever
dance
with you
again.

I cannot mop up
all your sadness
but I will try
I cannot laugh loud enough
to silence your cry
I cannot dance long enough
to make you fly
but trust me
I will try.

let our love fly
let the gentle breeze
ruffle
feathers I didn’t know I had
until I saw you

The children are all
gone now
just me and you
left
to haunt these halls

Come on now
you said you would sweep me off my feet
that was the deal
on a  late night New York City street
so why am I still standing here
feet firmly planted
right here
on 127 West 88th Street?

word on the street
is you’ve been looking
for my heart
truth be told
it’s not that hard to find
in fact
I wear it on my sleeve
most Monday afternoons
Tuesday evenings
yes, those too.

Don’t play with me
or perhaps do
just know
fair warning
I was born with
a hand full of aces

If someone almost
loved me
you did

You asked for truth
I tried .

This is nice
I said
this is love
he said
no
this is just nice
like
I said.

I knew what
I signed up for
just
didn’t expect this much
noise

The end came quicker
than either of us expected
I would have marked it
somehow
if I had known
not quite a party
but maybe
an inappropriate balloon?

If you asked again
after this long time
I would still say
No

I know I lost you
That’s true
I’m sorry
It’s  true
It’s Manhattan
you know.
the score!

I loved you
for about an hour
on a random beach in Dublin
sometime around 1979
or there about
friends say it never happened
I was too young
but it did
I know
I loved you
for about an hour
on  a random beach
sometime, somewhere , somehow
I loved you
for about an hour
on a random beach in Dublin
around 1979 or just before.

Let’s live out loud
or at least
let’s try
at the moment
we are just a whisper

Do you love me
he said
I will try
I said

You are not stupid
you know
there are roughly 267 questions
scattered on the floor
go now
I will sweep them up
I will put them somewhere safe
away from you
where they
will only have meaning
to those of us
who
know enough
to
sweep the floor.

Do not ask
for answers buried deep within
my heart
they have laid  there
for so long
unattended
and forgone

I will leave it now
I will let it lie
I will close my eyes
if you admit the lie

You make me

a little
less
like real

You are beautiful
he said
I accepted that
with dread.

You
were
born
to save

What’s your super power Mummy?
said my beautiful blue eyed boy
mine is ‘ I can fly’
I can live without love
promise me
you will never try
to fly that high.

I knew myself better
when I wore
another man’s
clothes

Let your sorrow fall
like acid rain
upon your palms
it will burn
right through
and ignite your soul.

if we say stop
scream stop
shout stop
cry stop
utter stop
whisper stop
whimper stop
long enough
loud enough
enough enough
then surely
at some point
eventually
enough will be enough
at some point
surely?

Your flowers arrived
before you
you always like
to guarantee
a smile.

I love you
like no one before
I love you
like I was free

Don’t call it
not now
unless you are absolutely sure
don’t try
Don’t call it
not now
because we have a hundred other ways
to make it fly

In all these years
we have given
a million smiles
to each other
surely
we  have one more left
between us

maybe
let me not be the last ember
in your fire
I still have a flicker
within
that could ignite
to a higher power

I dance every night
in vain

I am searching for
New York City
in your eyes
wading deep
in Wall Street lies

Oddly
as we sit here
at the dying of another day
I remember little
except
the words we didn’t
say

Strangers
in our house
which one of us
will speak out?

I am patient
I am kind
but please know
I am two  minutes away
from not giving a **** .

I don’t know what happy
is anymore
I can’t feel it in my
core
life is now about evening up
the score
which means
happy
can’t live inside me
anymore

And then
out of nowhere
you said
Hello!

Grab my wrist
I will not resist
pull me up
so I still exist
grab my soul
from this stagnant land

My brother got the brains
my sister got them too
so I decided
I would learn to dance
and I haven’t stopped
ever,

I don’t know.alone ness
although I am touching the edge of it
It’s sharp but
oddly soft
it’s cold but
strangely warm
it’s alien but
somehow feels like home

I
wish
I
was
a
little
bit
more
like
you

You haven’t mistaken me
for someone
you used to know
You have mistaken me for someone
I used to be

We are
an
unvarnished
masterpiece
We are
an untuned
piano
We are
an unfinished
script
We are
an abandoned
novel
We are
an unsung
melody
We are
A love story
never told.