he turned up a winning
ace on his arrival
he turned up an ace
the ace of revival

everyone engrossed
with all that he wrote
oh yeah there was a real
classiness to his tote

he'd arrived at other forums
not getting applause
those places weren't aiding
his penning cause

he turned up a winning
ace on his arrival
he turned up an ace
the ace of revival

when he found the site
where the mob noticed him
there stayed he to garner
kudos on his trim

of the adoring hordes
his arrival did infatuate
a diamond ace card
dealt him triumph's fate

he turned up a winning
ace on his arrival
he turned up an ace
the ace of revival

I lost my first
wedding ring
that summer

we floated
on inner tubes
coupled together,
drinking ice-cold
beer in the sun.

A flash of gold
and it was gone.

I lost the boots
my father wore
in Vietnam.

I lost the first
pocketknife
I ever owned.

I lost my mother.

I lost my way
in college once,
watching heavy snow
smother the foothills
and switchbacks,
watching mountain
birds turn wide circles
above rough canyons.

I lost track of time but
found my father’s gun.

Winter will always
sound like the whir
of a cylinder spun in
an unfurnished room.

I would try and hide from the horrors
and try to hide from the pain
but no matter how deep it is buried
the fact is the pain...it remains
The pain is still there every day
sometimes it is just hidden further away

I had to learn how to hide and how to retreat inside
Tried so many things to fill the emptiness the hole
So much hatred for a thief who stole so many innocent souls
Even though there are no scars on the outside to see
does not mean it did not happen to my sisters and me

thought I was to young to have a voice
to young to have a choice

Where there is darkness there is also light
Maybe some goodness can come of this after all
We can learn together how to come around that darkened wall
Our pain can produce a voice for all to hear
Make a stand.... speak up and listen with our ears

.
Your flesh lies in your grave,
my ashes fly on the breeze.
And our Ghosts intertwine,
link-haunting through the trees.

Ethereal energy in ivory white,
wraith-like tinged in blue.
Mist shroud figures wrapped
are the Ghosts of me and you.

You call across my aeons,
your shade is next to mine.
I reply within a veiled second,
deflowering the ***** of time.

Forever conjoined fog-twins,
eternity is our lust to save.
With my ashes on the wind
and your flesh lying in a grave.

© Pagan Paul (31/05/17)