You say you miss my everything
“I crave you when I’m gone”,
You say you can’t articulate
I seek to prove you wrong

I find the book of poetry
You lent me at the start,
When ‘we’ had been a fantasy,
Before you stole my heart

This time I would read slowly
I’d savor every line,
And taste them on my fingertips
They aged just like fine wine

I am your rose and you, my sun
My light, my fire, my highs
Without you I wither,
And, with you, I rise

Disappearing like the sun
with captivating grandeur
Igniting the atmosphere
and gilding silhouettes

Gradually, then suddenly
(everything goes cold)
Fleeing from my life to leave
the bittersweet aftertaste

My soul did not burn with
The passion of anger or grief,
It stifled like a flickering flame
in the stir of his very existence

I remember smiling at the grass
on the knees of my faded jeans
And later scrubbing the smoke
out of my hair and skin before bed

That day when you patiently taught me
to throw a Frisbee across the yard
And ate peanut butter on s’mores
because we forgot to buy the chocolate

Sure it may seem insignificant
Each detail I remember so clearly
But four years later this still remains,
My residual joy from that summer

My only wish that had ever been
granted at a bonfire in July
Where 10 imperfect misfits found
They were perfectly combined

Between rough choking sobs, I cried
This Life, it moves too fast
and bad things happen
For no reason at all
Where is peace in this big mess?
My gentle father stopped and thought,
Brow furrowed for a moment

He leaned in and whispered, listen
to the chaos of nature and life
You are the world’s conductor
creating symphony from the plight

minds all get mixed jumbled
lost on these dark days
when gloomy, slate heavy
clouds hug the valley,
hush the town
in damp towel gray

tingling nerves spark
against hand's naked backs
shoulders mossy in the cold
the rain seeps down
my spine in my chest
I can feel us growing old

I'm happy when I’m surrounded
by personalities and voice
Each one full of perspective
Unopened book, an open choice