I've been out on the hunt
From the moment I heard the news
That you my friend are in need of a smile
Since yours has been used and abused

You've always had the sweetest of smiles
But when you continuously give it away
And it's not returned after awhile
It can really put a crimp on your day

So I'm out looking in every direction
To find you the best of all smiles
One you can wear on any occasion
A nice one that will last you awhile

I'll continue in my searching
For the perfect smile I'm hoping to find
But if you wouldn't mind in the mean time
My friend could I give you mine

In the summer I fell in love
With a little city I found
My heart flutters every time I think of
That city full of sound
And maybe it was the voodoo
That made me so very keen
To keep coming back to that bayou
Down in New Orleans

Indelibly you spill your love onto me.

You stain me forever with yourself.

It isn't you who I am stained by; it is us.

Forever marked; like the dawn marks the day.

In dark dreams
I walk again
those empty
hospital corridors

with their dull lights
and smell of disinfect
and death
in those dreams

I look for you again
my son
passing by
the blanks faces

of others
looking at
their eyes
for glimpses of life

or concern
or such  
as humans
sometimes have

I go by
room after room
pass porters
pushing

the occasional trolley
by the various
side wards
passing by

the bright lights
of hospital shops
in the dream
I am hoping

to find you once more
sitting there
on the bed
your back turned

your head lowered
but this time
I am hoping
for a healthier you

my son
not one so ill
so lost
in this dream

sunlight shines
through the window
of the small ward
a bird sings

not that dull curtain
the murmur
of voices
the usual limbo like

air about the place
this time my son
I wish to find you well
looking at me

with your own
familiar smile
not that haunted
expression

and tired eyes
that draw from me
a steam
of deep felt cries.