If you should see me
Walking by
Hair shorter
Say hello
Say hello

If you should spot me
In a crowded dance
Body thinner, or thicker
Don't wonder,
Don't wonder

If we should fence eyelines
Gait slower,
Don't gut and run
Say hello
Say hello

If you should call me
I'm still here
Adorned in jewels
Ruby sun, sapphire waters
Ask for my emerald green
Emerald green
Ask for me

A country road has spoke to me
Narrowly rolling out 'cross twitching grass
The wind, impatiently describes
The sea I will be crossing with a gust

We friends speak of longing, spoke of leaving
And leave I did, left you behind
Return made quickly, for I reeled
In much to do, though little told

And you saw in me, not your friend
But your friend's friend, a soul without
And gone was the boy you dreamed about
As friends do, at times

But not for better, nor for less
We spoke of what you'd lost
And I told what I had found
What learnt travellers on roads like mine

All the wonderous minds you meet
Shine like medals in your eyes
Each footstep placed broadly ahead
Lifts your feet that little more

Each lonely mountain conquered makes
Your loneliness more comforting and
Each piece of silver found and spent
Is a strand in your feathered coat

'What day we meet, some other day
Our paths should cross when I return
Or you, hungering on words I spoke
Came to find me and find me do

You'll see me at the riverside
A cup in hand, a hand on heart
A heart for her, and then you'll see
What medals in my eyes shine forth
As we turn to greet each other again'

If you know me by now
Nothing will feed me, but that
You understand what I live for
And try not to perish with

Lay me down a place to recover
A lyric in gold and green, you'll see
What a gentleman looks for
What a good lady frets of.

The way I need everything
Is in your hands, take
Care of me, I'm haggard
And lost without more adjectives,
So without my defence
Stay with me

he scraped his knee once,
when he was young,
and began to weep as
his blood trickled onto the sidewalk

his mother cleaned him up,
rested his head upon her ever-bruised shoulder,
stroked his hair,
and sang

     hush little baby,
     don't you cry
     it'll all hurt much less
     when you die

she scraped her knee once,
when she grew old,
and began to cry as
her blood trickled onto the floor boards

her son cleaned it up,
rested her head on his sturdy shoulder
stroked her hair,
and sang

     *hush now mama,
     don't you weep
     he's long gone now so
     you can sleep

When I draw you
It's not as if I use lines
A dusty black to suggest you
My pencil doesn't touch the paper
Not really
I'm not really showing you to others
And I'm not pushing your face out
But just touching it,
Just feeling it once more
Through an extended wooden finger

I'm not here to tell you
Your nose could be prettier
Your eyes straighter
Your hair more flirtatious
I'm not here for them and
I'm barely here to draw
I just want to feel you, is
That so bad?

But you seem to lose me
As I bait graphite
And plunge it in after you
What the paper reflects, like water
You're warped and don't quite grip me
Though I'd pull you out
Like an arm to the drowning I'd be there
If you'd only let me
Gloomy, I retire for the day

I can only assume
While I leave and sleep away
You come out, like the moon at night
And stretch anxiously out
In darkness
And assured solitude
You look for me
And as I'm gone you
Are quite happy to
Put your hand out finally from what I looked in
And as I'm gone
Gently feel where I threw my pencil
Softly touch the dent in the table
Where my elbow leaned me in, desperate
You come out perhaps to trace my outline
In what I left for you
And maybe
Give sensing me some time
With an outstretched finger
And a hopeful mouth
Ready, waiting
Till we can speak again.

She had presence
Left my thoughts each day
With what hints she needed
To suggest her return
And make good of it

She had lips,
And oh, what lips
As if what she had to say
Needed the sweetest cushions
To lie on before leaving

When she had opinions
What she thought sparkled
And left me aghast
At the idea that she might change her mind
And lose herself, but she never did

She had a body
I suppose she did
And others stared at it, for
All the good it did them, I suppose
She was carved by men, but
Carved into a woman

She had a god to worship
A purpose well worth her life
And as such so did I
I had a reason in her
The world had a rhythm
The temples had pillars

I had a seed
It grew into a tulip
And I spent much money to give it to her
A brooch bought for our last smiles together
What a time
What a life she had