If someone tells you they like you
but you don't like them back the same way
how do you let them down gently
what are the words you should say

Do you shoulder the blame for the way that you feel
Do you tell them its you and not them
Do you tell thm they are just moving too fast
that their feelings for you are too prem

Or is it like pulling a plaster
just a swift yank and then it is done
it'll hurt like hell for a minute
but at least they weren't shot with a gun

And maybe I'm making a mountain
from a molehill that doesn't exist
maybe they want to take back what they said
now wouldn't that be a twist

Perhaps they are struggling to tell you
that you're not who they thought you were
that maybe they were a tad hasty
that their words were a mite premature

It seems that whenever I set out
to do the right thing I am cursed
to hurt those whos feelings I sought to protect
to end up making things worse

So forgive me if I have ever
caused you pain or caused you distress
it was only ever my intention
to do what I thought was best

And now as this play draws to an end
and reaches the final act
time will tell if we managed
to get out with our friendship intact.

Today I found our tree
in a field by the road
I hadn’t been this way before
just got diverted cos it snowed

Its trunk is old and twisted
with its branches stretched out wide
and as snow falls all around it
neath its canopy I hide

I never pictured it in winter
always in summer, maybe fall
you and I would sit beneath
answering the poets call

We’d write about each other
sharing emotions from our past
a play performed by strangers
an imaginary cast

But as this winter storm embraces
a foot of snow falls maybe two
the only that’s missing here
my dearest love is you.

This is no Haiku.
It just looks like it might be.
But looks can deceive.

This is no Senryu
because its just one sentence
broken into three