Paraphrase: Poems

Paraphrase Oct 2017

1
She never believed in fairytales.

Princes dressed in sharp coats,
Nauseating romances in long boats.

In magical lands at the end of lost trails.

Underneath non-functional clocks, where time,
With it's hands tied, doesn't travel in straight lines.

She never believed in fairytales.

2
She never believed in people.

Dressed in shorts, jeans and suits,
Fabric attempting to mask revealing truths.

Pretending they lived in ******* steeples.

Pretending that love, like the taste of cheap wine,
Could be forced to be made, forced like tears from her eyes.

She never believed in people.

3
She never believed in love.

Was it the pain that was never hers to feel?
Why she dressed in black, when she loves herself in teal?

Was it love that she let him take her from above?

Why she muffled her screams so nobody would hear?
But herself, year after year, after year.

She never believed in love.

4
She never believed him.

His words were as gentle as his touch,
He didn't answer her questions, he didn't ask for much,

But that she run her fingers on his chin.

And he told her he loved her, in gasps and shunted breaths,
When lust gave way to love, in a grip tight enough to keep her from death,

She never believed him.

5
"Where have you been?"

She asks him, ill made accusations,
On a long boat, dressed in a sharp coat, constellations,

Making signs the universe wanted to be seen.

The love in his eyes blinded her,
"I feel like I've been wandering forever,"

"And until I met you, on these lost trails"
"My love,"
"I never believed in fairytales."

#love #subtle #fairytales

Borrowed Clothes

Paraphrase Feb 2018

Borrowed Clothes

I've been walking,
Down crowded streets,
Dressed in suits that fit you,
Better than they do me.

Your smiles, your eyes,
Listening to music you chastise,
In all but shoes that fit you,
Better than they do me.

And changing into something else,
Makes for vulnerability,
Naked fits you,
Better than it does me.

And yet I feel lighter,
Like thoughts of floating away,
On ripples and waves,
Of the river, with views,
Of lights so far beyond me,
When seen from boats that carry you,
Better than they do me.

#selfdiscovery #boston

Chasing Skies to the Edge of the City

Paraphrase Aug 2017

Chasing Skies to the Edge of the City

I have been here,
Since the bench we now sit on,
Was still a tree, swaying in the wind.

Since the surreal morning skies we see,
Were just thoughts,
In a young boy's untethered imagination.

I have been here,
From a time when change of seasons were marked,
By the games we managed to play.

Since adventures that we embarked upon,
Were just harmless journeys,
Of 13 miles, to the very edges of the city.

It is time for me to go,
Chasing surreal skies I have not already seen,
To the edges of new cities.

This time, I will be gone long,
But when I lose myself,
To untethered imagination,
It is still thoughts of you I'll see.

Wait for me, my love,
For when I give in,
To whims of temporary escape,
In your arms is where I'll be.

It is time for me to go,
Chasing surreal skies I have not already seen,
To the edges of new cities.

#farewell #places #home #time

Cold Feet

Paraphrase Oct 2017

Cold Feet

We've always been the kind,
To walk it off.

For what's so heavy in our chest,
Is much lighter with our feet,
In motion.

We've walked together, in the sun,
And the rain.

We let the winds carry our stories,
Into forbidden categories,
With refrain.

But now these streets are too cold,
For our feet.

Light words have turned to heavy breathing,
Vocal affirmations to silent pleading.
Incomplete.

And all of our meaning has blown away,
Like color at the end of fall.

The winds that have our stories carried,
Now drag them through dust, coarse and arid,
Slowing us to a crawl.

You must wonder, if I found any joy,
In burning all our bridges down.

I just prayed that this heat,
Would find it's way to your feet,
And would help you get around.

You've always been the kind,
To walk it off.

For what's so heavy in your chest,
Is much lighter with your feet,
In motion.

#reflection #self #hidden #meanings #loss

Flight

Paraphrase Sep 2017

Flight

I don't want you to know,
The things that changed,
For me, one dark rainy night.

The sky fell at my feet,
And the stars cut through me,
Like police sirens, through the calm of night.

And I walked, and I ran,
Out of sight, out of breath,
Till no one could see, my plight.

And I found myself on,
The corner of 12th,
Where you had last been in my sight.

I was meant to get,
You here to this time,
And it is here that you take flight.

And I'll watch as you fly,
Till your hair touches sky,
Till your eyes are blinded bright.

Fly away, love, far away,
To where you can't see the pieces,
Of where I broke that night.

Fly away, love, far away,
I don't want you to know,
What happened one dark rainy night.

#loss #solitude

Footsteps in the Snow

Paraphrase Feb 2018

Footsteps in the Snow

Take me in,
I'm a little closer, she wrote.
Take me in,
Winter winds are colder,
Than you know.

Take me in,
I feel a little older, she wrote.
Take me in,
These winds get colder,
As you go.

When the morning comes to break,
Our whispers by the shore,
I will take the wrong route , look
For your footsteps in the snow.

And we'll pretend that the years that fly by,
Have made their way across New York skies,
And have found themselves in caged confines,
At the zoo.

Take me in,
It's hard to sleep here, with the ghosts,
Take me in,
Arms and eyelashes,
And glow.

Settle down,
Settle down,
I know the place where birds,
Have always found you.

Settle down,
Settle down,
I know the place where words,
Have always found you.

#love #doubt #time

Ice Castles

Paraphrase Jan 2018

Ice Castles

We could be,
Anywhere in the world.

Walking the rain,
Watching the lights,
Exercising refrain,
Our heads in the sand,
And fingers in frostbites,

We could be,
Anywhere in the world.

And yet you find us,
Walking gingerly across,
A meadow of whites.
In peaks and plateaus,
Warm chocolate and cold toes,
On freezing Boston nights,

Thinking,
We could be,
Anywhere in the world.

Pretending,
That these castles we build,
On thin ice,
Will last till sunrise,
Far past when the seagull flies,

To remind you,
That we could've been,
Anywhere in the world.

#travel #possibilities

Masks

Paraphrase Aug 2017

Masks

I'm selling all my faces,
All the ones I've worn,
From the happy to the torn.
The one with the smiles,
The one with the scorn.

I'm selling all my faces,
To anyone willing to see,
Through the one on me.
The one that hides my scars,
The one that sets me free.

I'm selling all my faces,
But there's one I'm not so keen,
To be sold or to be seen,
It's the one that's burnt on me,
The only one I mean,
The one that no-one's seen.

I'm selling all my faces.

#faces #masks #reflection

More

Paraphrase Sep 2017

More

I would never,
Want to be,
Your light in the dark.

If anything at all,
I'd be a purple flare,
Against a bright afternoon sky,
On the longest day,
Of your life.

Shallow Waters

Paraphrase Jul 2017

Shallow Waters

We are,
Sitting on water tanks,
As the clouds begin to play childish pranks,
With the moon.

We have,
A perfect moment in an imperfect time,
Your palms squeezed into mine,
Not a moment too soon.

"Where are we going?"
"Nowhere, for now."
"We'll figure out where, once we figure out how,"
"As we go."

But I want to take you,
Taste your soul through sealed lips,
Hold you tight in my arms, as we take trips,
By ourselves.

I want to let go,
Every joy and misery I've ever known,
For a second with you smiling, your hair blown,
In an open car, on the open road.

So take my hand,
We can go drowning in these shallow waters,
Alone in our darkness, among light that never falters,
And let go.

You can fall,
Know that broken people put back together,
Feel as good as new, as good as never,
But, for you, I'll try,
I won't break, I won't cry,
I'll hold on to you, like reason, to the only thing that matters,
So take my hand, we can go drowning,
In shallow waters.

#shallow #waters #temporary

Storrow Drive

Paraphrase Sep 2017

Storrow Drive

I know,
That our time together,
Has felt,
Like velvet.

Like a gentle morning walk,
Along Storrow Drive.
Like taking flight,
On weightless wings,
Or listening,
To Bach,
On violin and strings.

But these wings have begun,
To wear me down,
The strings in my ear,
Now tie me from toe to crown.

I don't mean to end this,
For you and me.
But you should know,
That the next turn on Storrow Drive,
Takes us right into,
The raging sea.

#boston

Two Spoons

Paraphrase Aug 2017

Two Spoons

It's another Tuesday afternoon,
The stench of gloom in the air overpowered,
By the smell of sugarless, herbal tea.

I should be on my way soon,
I look down, the eyes of a coward,
Surrendering to words that escape me.

"I’m leaving, on a hot air balloon,"
"I won't be back till the hills are snow cowered,"
"Lifelines of white, against a flat lining sea."

"But I'll be back soon,"
I say, but she's gazing skyward,
"So this is the night, He promised it to be."

"Too many months of June",
"Has my poor heart encountered,"
"It is time for her to be free."

"And if this shiny moon,"
"Were to be crimson and flowered"
"Wouldn't make a better goodbye, than this is to be."

So the birds sang a tune,
We looked back, staring forward,
One final time, we took our first sip of tea.

"If this is to be,"
"Our last cup of tea,"
"May it be with sugar, grandma,"
"Two spoons for you,
Two spoons for me."

#farewells

Uncovered fingers

Paraphrase Aug 2017

Uncovered fingers

Maybe,
One winter morning,
In landscapes very different,
From here.

Brews,
A gentle snow,
As soft as light grazing against,
Water, so clear.

Maybe,
Outside your heavy doors,
You'll walk into canvases of white,
And blue.

Waters,
Frozen still,
Like I wish this moment was,
With you.

The winter's cold,
On freezing, uncovered fingers,
Will feel less harsh,
Than time.

We're trapped,
In a snow globe,
But I'd stay for as long as you
Were mine.

#snow #globe #time #frozen

— The End —